Tribeca Festival 2022 begins with a showcase beyond films

The annual event, co-founded by Robert De Niro, has been reinvented and expanded with a wide-ranging selection

'Halftime', a documentary shot around Jennifer Lopez's Super Bowl performance, will open the Tribeca Festival. Photo: Netflix

The 21st Tribeca Festival is under way with a bold selection of films, television, video game premieres, documentaries and panel talks scheduled for the event. Such a diverse programme explains why the festival – co-founded by superstar Robert De Niro – has dropped "film" from its name.

This prime American gathering is clearly reinventing itself as a festival of the moving image. There’s even a virtual component, a hangover from the pandemic that will probably become permanent, as those not in New York are encouraged to buy tickets.

With 110 feature films from 40 countries — and 88 world premieres — it’s a wide-ranging selection, with the festival set to open on Wednesday with the Netflix documentary Halftime, an intimate portrait of actress-singer Jennifer Lopez. Other highlights include Jerry and Marge Go Large, a comedy starring Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening, and American Dreamer with former Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage.

And while the focus is primarily American fare, perhaps understandably, there are some films with local interest to pay attention to as well. While the 2021 festival featured a strong Arab showing, with premieres of films including Souad, Simple as Water and Ballad of a White Cow, this year still has some intriguing selections. In the New Perspectives shorts section, you’ll find Beirut Dreams in Colour, a 28-minute film that tells an indelible story of repression and resistance. The film is directed by Michael Collins, whose first film, Give Up Tomorrow, had its premiere at Tribeca in 2011, where it won the Audience Award and a Special Jury Prize for Best New Director. This latest effort details an interaction between the frontman of Lebanese rock band Masrou’ Leila and a female fan, Egyptian activist Sarah Hegazy.

Also playing in the shorts strand is Touchline by American-Palestinian writer-director Mohammed Saffouri. An American-Jordanian co-production, this Arabic-language project is the first from Jordan to play at Tribeca. It's set in 1948 and is inspired by Saffouri’s grandfather. It tells the tale of Ahmed, a young football-mad boy who gets an offer to play for the Palestinian national team on the day his family are forced to flee as the war in the region begins.

Playing in the documentary section is An Act of Worship, a feature from Pakistani-American filmmaker Nausheen Dadabhoy, which brings together a range of personal stories about the Muslim-American experience. Using archive material and home movie footage, Dadabhoy looks at the way Muslims have been perceived in America since the 9/11 terror attacks, as travel bans, surveillance and deportations fuel the rise in Islamophobia. Focusing on women, including a young hijab-wearing activist in Michigan, it’s crucially made by an all-Muslim team.

Across the festival, you’ll also find some actors going behind the camera, including Kyra Sedgwick for Space Oddity. A futuristic tale, it's about a young man (played by Kyle Allen) who finally gets his opportunity to visit Mars, thanks to a colonisation programme — only to meet the girl of his dreams. Meanwhile, former Mrs Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, has written produced and directed Alone Together, in which she also stars as a food critic in this pandemic-centric romantic story.

The big Hollywood draw will be a 50th anniversary screening of The Godfather. One of its stars, Al Pacino, will also give a talk prior to the event. Michael Mann’s crime classic Heat will also be screened, followed by a sure-to-be-fascinating live talk between Mann and his two leads Pacino and De Niro. Mega-producer Adam McKay (Don’t Look Up, Vice) will also join the festival to discuss his career. And there will even be a talk between Grammy-winning musician Taylor Swift, who wrote and directed 2021’s All Too Well: The Short Film, with filmmaker Mike Mills (Beginners, Thumbsucker).

Music fans will also get a treat with a personal post-screening appearance by rock-rapper Machine Gun Kelly, aka Colson Baker, who plays the lead in Tim Sutton’s Taurus, a grimy, grungy film about a musician spiralling out of control (which even features Kelly’s real-life wife Megan Fox). Given the hysteria that Baker’s appearance at the Berlin Film Festival caused earlier this year, when Taurus received its European premiere there, you can expect much the same again.

All told, it promises to be a rich, rewarding festival for those in New York.

The Tribeca Festival runs until June 19.