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The 2024 Tribeca Festival has concluded for this year. As details emerge for the 2025 edition, we'll be sure to update this article!
The upcoming Tribeca Festival is one of this year’s most anticipated showcases for independent movies, television, and much more. For nearly two weeks in June, the Tribeca Festival turns New York City into a filmmaker’s paradise. It’s the perfect place for producers to make connections, gather knowledge, and explore the cutting edge of art and entertainment.
In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to prepare yourself for the 2024 Tribeca Festival. We’ll break down the features that make Tribeca special, highlight key experiences from this year’s schedule, and show you how to make the most of your trip to Tribeca.
The Tribeca Festival was founded back in 2002 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff to revitalize the economy of lower Manhattan following the attacks on the World Trade Center that same year. Fueled by industry support and grounded by independent roots, Tribeca enjoyed rapid growth, joining the ranks of the best film festivals in the world almost immediately.
After two decades of evolution, the Tribeca Festival now takes place every spring with events spread over all of Manhattan. The fest hosts screenings, exclusive premieres, panel discussions, exhibitions, live performances, and more. Tribeca champions both “emerging and established voices” alike, launching small indie gems and major studio releases from the same high-profile platform.
While the Tribeca Festival still centers its role in the culture of film, its interests are no longer limited to matters of the silver screen. The current version of the festival celebrates “storytelling in all its forms.” Tribeca is a festival for movies, television, music, podcasts, video games, and immersive entertainment.
The 2024 Tribeca Festival offers more events and experiences than a single person could possibly attend on their own. If this avalanche of activities feels a little overwhelming, don’t worry. It’s only understandable, and Wrapbook has your back.
In this section, we’re going to highlight some of the key programs that filmmakers will want to keep an eye on as the festival gets into full swing. Please note that we won’t be covering Tribeca’s programming for games, music, audio storytelling, or immersive experiences. Below, we’re focusing on the event categories that cater specifically to makers of movies and television.
Let’s dig in.
The Storytellers and Directors Series of Talks are an annual highlight at the Tribeca Festival. They bring industry-leading creatives together in an intimate setting to spark meaningful dialogue about art and craft. Directors, writers, actors, and other artists convene to share their personal insight with both one another and an audience of Tribeca attendees.
For filmmakers, the Tribeca Talks are an invaluable source of information as well as a unique opportunity to meet like-minded creatives. While the Talks are not designed explicitly for networking, they’re a natural gathering place for entertainment professionals.
The heart of any film festival is its program of film screenings, and Tribeca’s lineup only seems to prove the rule. Year after year, the Tribeca Festival delivers an extensive and highly curated program that seeks to capture the diversity of both modern cinema and the people who bring it to life.
Tribeca is one of the best festivals for short films in the world, and their feature film programming is just as impressive. In addition to its slate of in-competition films, the fest regularly premieres highly anticipated independent and studio movies. The Tribeca Festival even gives its audience a sneak peek at upcoming gems of the small screen, with pilot premieres from major networks like Hulu and Apple TV+.
To cap things off, the Tribeca Festival’s NOW program uncovers and celebrates independent episodic work. It creates a unique festival home for “short and long-form pilots and series” from any genre. Tribeca’s NOW section famously highlighted the web series High Maintenance before it went on to be acquired by HBO.
The Tribeca Creators Market provides a path for emerging filmmakers and creators to forge new connections and discover fresh ways to continue telling their stories on a professional scale. It’s an innovative marketplace where independent creators can pitch their projects directly to industry leaders.
Check out the Tribeca Festival’s description of last year’s Market:
“The Creators Market exists as a pillar of Tribeca’s commitment to supporting storytellers in all stages of their careers, with a strong emphasis on diversity of creators and forms of storytelling, providing industry with a group of fresh and provocative voices.”
Through the Creators Market, Tribeca forms a bridge between independent talent and actual decision-makers. It represents a unique opportunity for both individual filmmakers and the industry as a whole.
The Tribeca Festival organizes a variety of programs that connect independent filmmakers to funding, mentorship, and professional support.
The Queen Collective offers mentorship, production support, and distribution opportunities to empower women and non-binary people of color telling stories in film and advertising. Through Her Lens organizes a three-day program to champion U.S.-based women and non-binary writers, directors, and producers through mentorship, development support, and limited funding. And AT&T Presents: Untold Stories gives underrepresented storytellers a chance at $1 million in financing for their first feature film.
If it wasn’t clear already, the Tribeca Festival is more than just a film festival. With the launch of Tribeca Films, the fest will officially plant its flag as an independent distributor.
Tribeca Films is a distribution label that empowers Tribeca to support independent filmmakers beyond their festival run by giving them access to video-on-demand and other streaming distribution outlets. The label has already acquired eight festival favorites for its initial slate (including four from Tribeca alumni) and will continue to expand through the foreseeable future.
The Tribeca Festival attracts luminaries from every corner of the entertainment industry. In any given year, you can catch your favorite writers, directors, actors, producers, executives, and more in and around the fest.
Here are a few names you might recognize from this year’s schedule:
Whether they’re premiering a film or just enjoying one, Tribeca hosts some of the best and brightest from Hollywood and beyond. The above list is just a sample of this year’s notable attendees. Be sure to check out Tribeca’s 2024 Festival Guide for more information.
This year’s Tribeca Festival offers an overwhelming variety of screening, talks, and other experiences. To help you get the most out of your festival experience, we’re highlighting four events that you don’t want to miss.
Please note that this is only a small sample of what the festival has to offer. Check out Tribeca’s 2024 Festival Guide to browse the full schedule by date, time, and subject.
Tribeca’s “Directors Series” uses an open dialogue to dig into the process and philosophy of an established director. This year’s special guest is Gus Van Sant, an artist whose wide-ranging career has produced films like My Own Private Idaho, To Die For, and Good Will Hunting.
You can catch Gus Vant Sant in conversation with host Vito Schnabel on Thursday, June 6.
The Tribeca Festival is set to host the world premiere of Boys Go to Jupiter, the first feature film from independent animator Julian Glander. Set in the abandoned swimming pools and construction sites of suburban Florida, the film “follows the adventures of Billy 5000, a teenage gig worker with a rise-and-grind mindset whose quest to make $5,000 is derailed by the appearance of a gelatinous little dude from outer space.”
The cast of Boys Go to Jupiter is a who’s who of oddball, internet comedy. Led by Jack Corbett, the film also includes Julio Torres, Sarah Sherman, Joe Pera, Cole Escola, and Elsie Fisher. You can catch the film on multiple dates through the duration of this year’s Tribeca Festival.
Hollywood Black is a four-part docuseries screening at this year’s Tribeca Festival. Helmed by Justin Simien and inspired by the work of historian Donald Bogle, Hollywood Black crafs a vital record of the Black experience in Hollywood. “By unearthing personal stories from actors, writers, directors, and producers who fought for their place on the page, behind the camera, and on the screen, the series provides a critical reexamination of a quintessentially American story – in brilliant color.”
Hollywood Black is screening for one day only on the afternoon Saturday, June 15. Stick around after the screening for an in-depth conversation with Justin Simien, Lena Waithe, and Donald Bogle with moderation by Valerie Complex.
An Update on Our Family is a three-part independent series screening as part of the Tribeca Festival’s NOW program. The provocative, timely series “exposes the hidden-in-plain-sight, unregulated family vlogging industry” by examining it through the story of one family. Check out the official description from Tribeca:
“Myka and James Stauffer were the picture of the 21st century American Dream: happy marriage, beautiful kids, and a self-built YouTube vlogging empire. At the center of it all was Huxley, an adorable young boy they adopted from China. Huxley was more than just their star – he was their son. Until one day, he wasn’t.”
An Update on Our Family screens on Thursday, June 6. Afterward, director Rachel Mason and guests will be present for a conversation about the series.
If you haven’t bought your passes to this year’s Tribeca Festival, don’t sweat it. Tickets are still on sale. The Tribeca Festival offers attendees a thorough range of passes and tickets to accommodate personal programming tastes. In general, they break down into two basic types.
The Tribeca Festival’s slate of passes and packages allow attendees to buy in bulk, grouping multiple screenings and other events under one pass. We won’t cover all the options here, but they vary according to both volume and type. Some passes cover a specific category of events, while others focus on offering access to a certain number.
Pricing ranges from $60 all the way up to a $25,000 VIP package.
Tickets for most screenings and events can also be purchased on an individual basis. Purchase prices vary according to event or screening type. Individual tickets for each event are limited, so be sure to buy yours as soon as possible.
Note that some events are completely free. The Tribeca Festival hosts a full slate of conversations and masterclasses that audiences can attend at no charge. However, tickets are still limited. While rush tickets may be available at the door, your best bet is to reserve them in advance.
The 2024 Tribeca Festival runs from June 5-16, and it has something for everyone. Reserve your tickets today to get involved with one of the best film festivals in the world.
If you’re embarking on a festival run for your own project, check out our guide to mastering your festival experience or our tips for film festival submissions.
At Wrapbook, we pride ourselves on providing outstanding free resources to producers and their crews, but this post is for informational purposes only as of the date above. The content on our website is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for legal, accounting, or tax advice. You should consult with your own legal, accounting, or tax advisors to determine how this general information may apply to your specific circumstances.
Loring is a Los Angeles-based writer, director, and creative producer. His work has been commissioned by a diverse range of clients- from Havas Worldwide to Wisecrack, inc.- and has been screened around the world. Through a background that blends project development with physical production across multiple formats, Loring has developed a uniquely eclectic skillset as a visual storyteller.
