Tribeca Festival: Stan Lee, Dan Rather, Gloria Gaynor Documentaries; David Duchovny-Directed Film Among 2023 Lineup

The 2023 Tribeca Festival has revealed its feature narrative, documentary and animated film lineups.

The selection consists of a number of actor-directed titles, including the world premieres of David Duchovny’s Bucky F*cking DentMichael Shannon’s Eric LaRueChelsea Peretti’s First Time Female DirectorJohn Slattery’s Maggie Moore(s)Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater’s Downtown Owl and Jennifer Esposito’s First Kill; the North American premiere of Steve Buscemi’s The Listener; and the New York premiere of Randall Park’s Shortcomings.

The documentary lineup features films about Stan Lee, Biz Markie and Dan Rather, with a conversation with Rather and director Frank Marshall following the world premiere of the Rather documentary.
The Rather talk is just one of the live events set to take place following screenings, which also include a performance from Gloria Gaynor after the world premiere of Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survivea performance from Sara Bareilles after the world premiere of Waitress, the Musical – Live on Broadway! and the New York premiere of It’s Only Life After All will be followed by a songwriting masterclass by Indigo Girls.

“The Tribeca Festival is a celebratory event that honors artists and uplifts attendees, and this year is no exception with a lineup of 109 feature films from 127 filmmakers. Over the course of 12 thrilling days, we invite audiences to explore the magic of storytelling as a powerful tool of democracy, activism and social awareness,” Tribeca Festival co-founder and Tribeca Enterprises CEO Jane Rosenthal said in a statement. “We’re also proud to highlight the 50th anniversary of hip-hop as a culture-defining genre that originated right here in New York City, with insightful world premieres about beat-boxing legends and live performances from today’s top-charting musicians.”

Indeed the features program includes films from 36 countries and 43 first-time directors. The lineup has 93 world premieres, one international premiere, eight North American premieres, one US premiere and six New York premieres. Forty-one percent of all films in the feature lineup are directed by women, with more than half of the competition feature films directed by women at 68 percent. Thirty-six percent of all feature films are directed by BIPOC filmmakers, including two Indigenous filmmakers.

“This year’s slate of films is a joyful celebration of everything we love about the big screen experience,” Tribeca Festival director and VP, programming Cara Cusumano. “We are bringing to New York eye-popping 3D films and rousing music docs, white-knuckle thrillers and knee-slapping comedies, independent edge and old Hollywood glamour. And as potent as the work is on-screen, we are equally excited to ‘plus up’ the moviegoing experience off-screen with an incredible lineup of live experiences in ‘Spotlight+’.”

The festival, running from June 7-18 in New York, will also commemorate Juneteenth for the third year in a row with its “Expressions of Black Freedom” program, including a celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. Tribeca is also expanding its “Midnight” program with the launch of the “Escape from Tribeca” sidebar of genre movies from around the world. There will also be a 50th anniversary screening of Enter the Dragon followed by a talk with co-star Angela Mao and producer Andre Morgan.

And selections from the festival will be available to stream via the Tribeca at Home platform, from June 19 through July 2.

And finally the festival is announcing that the second annual Human/Nature Award, given to a film that emphasizes solution-focused environmental storytelling, goes to Rebecca and Josh Tickell’s Common Groundwhich will have its world premiere at the festival.

More info about the films in this year’s lineup is available here.