Things are tough all over, and that includes the Tribeca Film Festival, which just announced a program that’s 28% slimmer than last year’s last year’s lineup – 86 films, down from 120 in 2008.
The eighth edition of the fest opens April 22 with Woody Allen’s Whatever Works, featuring “Seinfeld” creator Larry David, star of HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” and Evan Rachel Wood, and continues through May 3.
Tribeca offers another rangy mix of features, including:
- Stay Cool, directed and written by the Polish brothers (Northfork) with Winona Ryder and Hilary Duff
- Tony-nominated playwright Conor McPherson’s The Eclipse, with Aidan Quinn, Ciaran Hinds, and Iben Hjejle
- Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi’s About Elly, winner of the Berlin fest’s award for best direction
- Burning Down the House, a documentary on late, great NYC punk club CBGB’s
- Accidents Happen, with Geena Davis
- Caroline Bottaro’s Queen to Play, with Kevin Kline
- The Fish Child, directed by Lucia Puenzo (XXY)
Tribeca by the numbers – 48 world premieres, five international premieres, 14 North American premieres, and three U.S. premieres; films represent 33 countries.
The downsizing is largely due to sponsorship woes, as major sponsors Cadillac and Target dropped out, according a report in Variety, written by Dade Hayes.
“When we cut back a few years ago, it was because the festival had grown a little out of control,” fest executive director Nancy Schafer told Bloomberg News. “This time it’s because of financial considerations.”
The festival was founded in 2001 by Robert DeNiro and two partners, on the heels of the Islamofascist terrorist attacks on New York.
For complete details, visit the official festival site. For more coverage of the lineup announcement, click on the below links: