Two Indies Take Home Tribeca Awards for Screenplay and Cinematography

Posted on June 12, 2026 by admin

Tribeca handed out some major wins to the indie world this year. ZEJTUNE, a Maltese drama directed by Alex Camilleri, won Best Screenplay in the International Narrative Feature category. THE SIEGE OF PARADISE, a documentary from Irish filmmaker Gar O’Rourke, earned a Special Jury Mention for Best Cinematography.

ZEJTUNE follows Mar, a woman who returns to Malta after her estranged mother’s death, planning to sell inherited farmland and leave for good. Instead, she meets Nenu, an 80-year-old folk singer whose music pulls her back toward the island she wanted to escape. The film is a co-production between Malta, Germany, and Qatar, produced by Oliver Mallia, Ramin Bahrani, and Camilleri himself.

THE SIEGE OF PARADISE takes a sharp, funny look at Cinque Terre, where fewer than 3,000 locals deal with over four million tourists every summer. The doc follows six lives across one chaotic season, exposing what happens when social media driven tourism crushes a small Italian paradise.

Both films prove that strong storytelling and vision still cut through, even in a crowded festival landscape. For indie filmmakers grinding through the circuit, these wins matter.

“Miss Representation” Returns With a Tech Era Warning About Sexism’s Digital Amplification

Posted on June 9, 2026 by admin

Filmmaker Jennifer Siebel Newsom is back at Tribeca with “Miss Representation: Rise Up,” a follow-up to her 2011 doc that examined how media distorts the image of women and keeps them out of power.

The new film, running 87 minutes, tackles how technology is making everything worse. It looks at cultural backlash against women’s mental health, agency, and power, with digital platforms accelerating sexism and misogyny in ways that couldn’t have been predicted when the first film dropped.

Newsom, California’s First Partner, brings a heavy lineup of voices. Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, and tech critic Safiya Noble all feature, alongside activists Reshma Saujani and Jameela Jamil.

The original “Miss Representation” led Newsom to create The Representation Project, which sparked campaigns like #NotBuyingIt and helped amplify #MeToo and #TimesUp. Her films have reached tens of millions globally. She’s also behind “The Mask You Live In” and executive produced Oscar-nominated “The Invisible War.”

This matters because while women have made gains since 2011, the digital landscape has created new battlegrounds. Understanding how tech amplifies old biases is crucial for anyone trying to level the playing field in media and beyond.

Gidi Dar’s Hasidic Comedy “The Wedding Entertainer” Premieres at Tribeca

Posted on May 26, 2026 by admin

A disgraced Jewish wedding comedian fights to save his reputation and marry off his daughter in “The Wedding Entertainer (The Tale of Moishe Badhan),” making its world premiere at Tribeca Festival next month.

Director Gidi Dar (“Ushpizin,” “Legend of Destruction”) brings together Shuli Rand and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star Elon Gold in what’s billed as a hilarious caper set in Jerusalem’s Hasidic community. Rand plays Moishe Striker, a former Badchan (a traditional Hasidic wedding MC and comedian) who lost everything to addiction. Now he needs one last gig to raise $20,000 for his daughter’s wedding.

The setup gets messy fast. Moishe convinces his childhood friend to let him co-host a ceremony alongside Meshulam (Gold), a younger, flashier performer already hired for the job. When the two Badchans clash, the whole thing spirals.

Malky Goldman from “Unorthodox” plays Moishe’s daughter, Sarah-Leah. Tal Friedman rounds out the cast.

The film screens June 4 at Village East by Angelika in New York. It’s a rare spotlight on a specific cultural tradition that doesn’t often make it to festival circuits, giving indie audiences something genuinely fresh.

Black-and-White Jazz Musical ‘Airport BLVD’ Heads to Tribeca Competition

Posted on May 25, 2026 by admin

A black-and-white musical about gentrification and belonging in East Austin is heading to the U.S. Narrative Competition at Tribeca 2026.

Airport BLVD follows Xavier as his neighborhood, friendships, and sense of home slowly vanish around him. Writer-director Alejandro Hendricks shot the film in luminous black-and-white with an original jazz score, centering Black creative lives in a city rarely shown from this perspective onscreen.

The film tackles displacement, intimacy, ambition, and what happens when a city transforms faster than the people who made it home. It’s a love letter to East Austin, old and new, caught in that bittersweet space between memory and evolution.

The cast includes Jamal Gamble, Toluwani, Kenny Duet, Mor Cohen, Matthew Graham Wagner, and Azeem Williams. Brannin Webber, Jamal Gamble, and Trai Wade produced.

Airport BLVD world premieres June 5 at 6:15 PM at Village East Theater by Angelika, with additional screenings June 6 and 10.

For indie filmmakers tackling gentrification and cultural erasure, this one hits close to home. Austin’s transformation has pushed out countless artists and communities of color. Hendricks is putting that story, and those faces, front and center.

Mexican Director Fernanda Tovar’s “Sad Girlz” Brings Double Berlinale Win to Tribeca

Posted on May 23, 2026 by admin

Fernanda Tovar’s debut feature is heading to New York with serious momentum. “Sad Girlz” (Chicas tristes) will make its North American premiere at Tribeca Festival next month after sweeping Berlin’s Generation 14plus section with both the Crystal Bear and the Grand Prix.

The Mexico City-set drama follows Paula and La Maestra, two 16-year-old competitive swimmers training for the Junior Pan American Championship. After a party where Paula is left alone with a longtime crush, something shifts. She becomes withdrawn. Her best friend pushes for answers. As Paula slowly shares what happened, neither girl can fully name the experience or its weight.

What starts as an unbreakable bond begins to fracture under the pressure of fear, guilt, and anger. Tovar captures how teenage friendship can become both refuge and battlefield when trauma enters the frame.

Produced by Colectivo Colmena, the film recently added another prize at Cartagena Film Festival. Tovar’s shorts have played Cannes Critics’ Week and Morelia, but this marks her most ambitious work yet.

“Sad Girlz” screens June 4-12 at Tribeca, with its North American premiere on June 4 at 5:15pm at Village East by Angelika. For indie filmmakers watching, it’s a reminder that intimate, emotionally precise storytelling still cuts through.

Zoey Deutch Chases Jon Hamm Through L.A. in David Wain’s Sundance Comedy

Posted on May 21, 2026 by admin

A small-town hairdresser’s quest to even the score after her fiancé sleeps with his celebrity pass gets wildly out of hand in Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass. The new comedy from David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer, Role Models) stars Zoey Deutch as Gail, whose wedding plans implode when her high school sweetheart follows through on that infamous relationship agreement.

Her solution? Track down Jon Hamm in Los Angeles and claim her own celebrity pass. What starts as an impulsive road trip spirals into a full-blown Hollywood adventure involving a psychic’s advice, a talent agency assistant, a paparazzo, and actor John Slattery, who apparently helps her hunt down Hamm himself.

The film, written by Ken Marino and Wain, features a stacked cast including John Slattery, Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Ben Wang, and Sabrina Impacciatore. Hamm appears as himself, which already feels like the kind of meta comedy Wain fans will eat up.

Gail Daughtry premiered at Sundance earlier this year and heads to Tribeca on June 10 before hitting theaters July 10 via Sony Pictures Classics. A teaser dropped this week, and judging by the premise alone, this one’s leaning into the absurd in the best way. For indie comedy lovers, Wain’s return to rom-com chaos feels overdue.

Alicia Scherson Brings Roberto Bolaño’s “The Third Reich” to Life in “Summer War,” World Premiering at Tribeca

Posted on May 12, 2026 by admin

A tabletop wargame becomes terrifyingly real in Alicia Scherson’s “Summer War,” adapting Roberto Bolaño’s novel “The Third Reich” for its world premiere at Tribeca Festival 2026.

The Chilean director returns to Tribeca two decades after winning Best New Narrative Director for her debut “Play.” This time she’s crafted a psychological thriller set in 1989, as Pinochet’s dictatorship crumbles. It’s Scherson’s second Bolaño adaptation, following 2013’s “Il Futuro.”

Dan Beirne stars as Udo Berger, an obsessive wargame champion whose beach vacation spirals when his WWII battle simulations start bleeding into reality. After a tourist vanishes at sea, Udo faces off against a mysterious local in a match where strategy dictates what’s real.

The international cast includes Lux Pascal, David Gaete, Aline Kuppenheim, and Agustín Pardella. Scherson relocates Bolaño’s story to Chile’s fragile political transition, turning it into a meditation on masculinity, paranoia, and how simulated violence echoes real-world consequences.

For indie filmmakers wrestling with literary adaptations, Scherson proves that respecting the source while making bold creative choices pays off. Her dry, dark humor captures Bolaño’s quiet unease without losing the tension.

The film screens June 7 at AMC 19th St. East 6 in New York.

Marcel Ruiz Makes His Screenwriting Debut With “Summer of Three” at Tribeca

Posted on May 8, 2026 by admin

Marcel Ruiz, best known for playing Alex Alvarez in Netflix’s One Day at a Time, is stepping behind the camera for the first time. His debut as a screenwriter and producer comes with Summer of Three, which world premieres at Tribeca Festival’s U.S. Narrative Competition in June.

The film is directed by his father, Carlitos Ruiz-Ruiz, whose debut Lovesickness premiered at Tribeca back in 2007. Now they’re back together with a deeply personal collaboration.

Summer of Three follows 17-year-old Javi, who returns to Puerto Rico after years away, first for his grandfather’s funeral. What starts as a reluctant trip turns into an unexpected homecoming when he meets Luife and Kiki, two misfits who pull him into a sultry love triangle. The film explores identity, grief, and belonging through a summer of heat, music, and emotional awakening.

The soundtrack blends reggaeton classics with Puerto Rico’s indie scene, grounding the story in the island’s youthful energy. Newcomers Kiki Montilla and Paolo Schoene join Ruiz in the cast.

This is exactly the kind of project Tribeca was built for: personal, bold, and rooted in cultural identity. A father-son collaboration premiering where the father’s career began? That’s the indie dream.

Spike Lee’s Apartheid Story “Apart” Heads to Tribeca

Posted on April 22, 2026 by admin

Spike Lee co-wrote an animated short about friendship under apartheid, and it’s making its world premiere at Tribeca Festival next month.

“Apart” follows two boys, Themba and Joel, whose bond is tested by the violence and racism of apartheid-era South Africa. The film was directed by Pola Maneli, a South African artist whose work has appeared on the cover of The New Yorker and hangs in the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Grammy-winning South African musician Black Coffee supervised the music, while fashion designer Laduma Ngxokolo designed isiXhosa-inspired wardrobe for the characters.

The 15-minute short blends traditional 2D animation, cutout, 3D, and 2.5D techniques. Over 600 days, a crew of 266 people produced 18,000 frames using 14 different software tools. The animation style nods to woodcut prints, the DIY art form used to spread anti-apartheid messages and evade censorship.

The entire film was made by human artists, no AI involved.

“Apart” screens twice at Tribeca as part of the Animated Shorts program curated by Whoopi Goldberg: June 6 at Spring Studios and June 13 at AMC 19th Street East.

For indie creators, it’s a reminder that handmade animation still matters, especially when telling stories rooted in history and cultural resistance.

Uruguay Selects Don’t You Let Me Go as Its Oscar Submission

Posted on November 22, 2025 by admin

Uruguay has chosen Don’t You Let Me Go (Agarrame fuerte), the latest feature from filmmakers Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, as its official entry for Best International Feature at the 98th Academy Awards. The film previously premiered at the Tribeca Festival, where it won the Nora Ephron Award, and later earned a nomination for Best Ibero-American Film at Spain’s Goya Awards.

Produced by Agustina Chiarino’s Bocacha Films, the 74-minute drama centers on Adela, a woman grieving the sudden death of her closest friend. During the funeral, she slips into an otherworldly journey that takes her back a decade, where she reunites with her younger friend group for one final weekend together. Through its mix of intimate realism and gentle fantasy, the film explores memory, loss, and the enduring bonds that shape women’s lives.

Featuring performances by Chiara Hourcade, Victoria Jorge, and Eva Dans, the film continues the longtime collaboration between Guevara, Jorge, and Chiarino, and underscores their focus on female-driven stories both in front of and behind the camera.

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