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Diverse directors bring short films to Tribeca for 19th year

Close up of tasty but unhealthy food. There are basket of popcorn and a blue cup of coke on picture. Man and woman are holding it together.
Photo via Getty Images

BY GRANT LANCASTER

The Tribeca Film Festival will return to New York for its 19th year this April, featuring 64 films and 46 world premieres, with 40% of these directed by women for the fourth consecutive year.

The short films will compete in 10 different categories April 15-26 that encompass narrative, documentary and animated films, according to a Thursday press release. The competing films were chosen from more than 6,100 submissions, with the final roster including films from 20 different countries that make up 44% of the list.

Actor Whoopi Goldberg will again curate the animated portion of the festival, which includes the premiere of DreamWorks Animation’s newest short, To Gerard.

Seven student shorts will also debut at the festival.

The 64 short films will feature the talents of Benedict Cumberbatch, Dennis Quaid, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Walton Goggins.

The film categories include political films, documentaries on music and courage, science fiction films, comedies and films specifically about New York City.

“In this important election year, we have a political doc shorts program that illustrates

contemporary issues facing our country, as well as a music doc shorts program that’s very

diverse,” said Sharon Badal, vice president of Filmmaker Relations and Shorts Programming. “Everyone needs some escapism too, so our comedy shorts, sci-fi shorts, and New York shorts programs are back by popular demand.”

Tickets range from single-movie tickets to exclusive event passes.

Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff founded the Tribeca Film Festival in 2001, partially in response to the attacks on the World Trade Center.