BY SCOTT STIFFLER | During the run of the Tribeca Film Festival (through April 19), you’ll be able to hunker down in a stadium seat, sink your choppers into a tub of popcorn and not come up for air until the sprawling event has presented 89 features and 60 short films (most of them, several times over). Just beyond the red carpet arrivals, the world premieres and the freewheeling Q&As that follow many screenings, there’s an equally packed schedule of outdoor events and panel discussions. For much more information, visit tribecafilm.com.
TRIBECA FAMILY FESTIVAL STREET FAIR Greenwich Street, from Hubert to Chambers, will be packed with food, games, activities and entertainment — and not a single vendor hawking cheap sunglasses in sight. That’s what sets this annual spring event far apart from the crowded field of cookie cutter street fairs poised to clog up our city streets, somewhere, pretty much every single weekend throughout this summer. Broadway veterans and emerging Tribeca talent will perform on stages, while restaurants and merchants will offer the immediate area’s finest foods, refreshments and merchandise. The screening of a classic family-friendly film will be held at BMCC Tribeca PAC (at 199 Chambers Street). At 4pm, at the Tribeca Film Center Screening Room (375 Greenwich Street, 2nd Floor), there will be a special screening of “Freej Folklore” — presented by the Doha Film Institute and directed by Animator and TFF Juror Mohammed Saeed Harib. Tickets are limited, so email ldomnitz@tribecaenterprises.com for reservations. Outside, weather permitting (it rarely rains on this street fair), kids can create kid-sized bubbles in the Bubble Garden, dance to live music and channel their inner artists at one of the Arts & Crafts pavilions. FREE. Sat. 4/28, 10am-6pm, on Greenwich St. (from Hubert to Chambers Sts.).
TRIBECA/ESPN SPORTS DAY The activities include football and cricket training as well as an appearance by former New York Knicks shooting guard John Starks (as well as some mascots and members of other sports teams). The “Wheels of Freestyle BMX Stunt Show” has BMX riders flying high and performing daring tricks (on North Moore Street, at noon, 1:30pm, 3pm and 4:30pm). This free event happens Saturday, 4/28, from 10am-6pm at North Moore St. (from Greenwich St. to West St.).
TRIBECA/NYFEST SOCCER DAY With its debut last year and return this year, Soccer Day seems locked down to join the Family Festival Street Fair as a regular featured event that encourages the exploration of life outside the screening room. Produced by TFF in partnership with NYFEST, this day of soccer and special events invites (or, more accurately, challenges) you to “kick it.” Company teams from the film, music, sports, fashion, TV, advertising and design industries will compete in a 5-a-side tournament — while the Youth Soccer Showcase provides skill-sharpening drills, pointers and competitions. FREE. Sat. 4/21, 9am-6pm. At Hudson River Park’s Pier 40 (353 W. St.).
TRIBECA TALKS This series of panels and conversations brings together creative minds and big thinkers with one eye on the past, one on the present and one on the future (that’s not fuzzy math, folks, these are all capable multitaskers). Our favorite: “Avant-Garde Masters: A Decade of Film Preservation” celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the Avant-Garde Masters grants — which were created in 2003 by the National Film Preservation Foundation and The Film Foundation to preserve American Avant-Garde cinema. Among the films screened will be Kenneth Anger’s “Rabbit Moon” (1950-70), Carolee Schneemann’s “Body Collage” (1967) and George Kuchar’s “Motel Capri” (1986). Afterwards, filmmakers Carolee Schneemann, Abigail Child and Larry Gottheim participate in a conversation with Tribeca Film Festival experimental film programmer Jon Gartenberg (moderated by Assistant Director of the National Film Preservation Foundation Jeff Lambert). On Sat. 4/21, 5:30pm at Chelsea’s SVA Theater (on 23rd St., between 8th and 9th Aves.). For ticketing info, visit tribecafilm.com.
