Twenty-two years after it began, Tribeca has moved permanently—in one of the happier developments of the Covid pandemic—from its mid-spring April slot into June, to capture the start of the outdoorsy New York summer. 

Less committed to its downtown origins, and increasingly documentary-heavy, Tribeca has a devoted programming bent towards music. This year’s fest included spotlights on Harry Belafonte, Linda Perry, Ani DiFranco, Steven Van Zandt, the late Avicii, a look at the diversifying faces of country music in Rebel Country and the man behind the Montreaux Jazz Festival. Not to mention more raucous screenings of Rich Peppiatt’s Kneecap, a loosely true origin story of the Irish rap trio. There was also a three-day mini-fest devoted to the festival’s co-founder, Robert De Niro, appropriately called DeNiroCon. 

Some favorites from other festivals made hype-building appearances at Tribeca ahead of their looming theatrical releases. Those include Kill (which was a bloody TIFF 2023 Midnight riot), the latest Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz joint The Devil’s Bath, Levan Akin’s Crossing and Skywalkers: A Love Story (which Matt hopes will be “shown in IMAX theaters because I can’t think of a better way to watch this stunningly shot, tensely edited film about two rooftoppers who compete, meet, fall in love & conquer unimaginable heights together”). 

As for the best world premieres from this year’s Tribeca Festival feature film lineup, we did what we always do: checked out the ratings and reviews from our community to unearth eleven films that made their mark on you, paired with some of the best Letterboxd reviews of them written during the festival.

Vulcanizadora

Written, directed and edited by Joel Potrykus
Special Jury Mention for Performance in a US Feature for Joshua Burge

“A ten-year follow-up to Buzzard—Joel Potrykus drops in those same characters to show that they haven’t so much as grown up, but that life has moved forward. Derek and Marty show the extremes of immaturity—the goofy, playful one and the seedier, darker one. Derek can’t be alone in his thoughts while Marty is in a pool of them—swimming. You get an extra pay-off (instantly) if you have seen that earlier film, but Vulcanizadora stands on its own deranged self—thanks to a much-expanded role of Derek, played by Joel himself (my man—writes, directs, edits, casts his child—puts himself out there HARD with this one). Whereas that first film felt more relentless—a boxer coming in hard with a flurry of left hooks and right uppercuts—Vulcanizadora is one big knockout blow.” —Caleb 

Jazzy

Written by Morrisa Maltz, Lainey Bearkiller Shangreaux, Vanara Taing and Andrew Hajek, directed by Maltz 
Best Performance in a US Narrative Feature for Jasmine Bearkiller Shangreaux 

“My heart! Morrisa Maltz does such a stunning job of allowing Jazzy to be a companion piece to her feature directorial debut The Unknown Country while allowing this film to exist on its own. I love films about girlhood and the tenderness of friendships.” —Morgan

Bad Shabbos

Directed by Daniel Robbins, written by Robbins and Zack Weiner
Winner of the Audience Award, Narrative 

“Oy vey iz mir! In order to avoid a shande, a mishpucha gets up to some mishegoss when they invite the parents of their shiksa almost-daughter-in-law over for some shabbos nosh on the wrongggg night. Mishuganneh ensues!

“If you understood the above (glad my Yiddish education is paying off), don’t schlep to the theater, run and get your tuches in a seat for this uproarious comedy about family, acceptance, and criminal hijinks. And, hey, if you didn’t understand, get your butt into a theater for a zany, incisive time, anyway. You won’t regret it.” —lmh2600

Boys Go to Jupiter

Directed by Julian Glander

“Answering the eternal question of ‘would you love me if I was a worm?’ with the correct answer: ‘yes!’” —Q:)

“What a magical, amazing work of art. Julian blends together his unique art style with transcendent musical sequences (featuring original compositions written by him!) and satirical+surreal slice-of-life plotting to create a singular work of film that excites me to see what he will do next.” —Tyler

I’m Your Venus

Directed by Kimberly Reed

“As an obsessive fan of all things RuPaul’s Drag Race and FX’s legendary drama series Pose, I am ashamed to say that I still have yet to watch 1990’s acclaimed cult hit, Paris is Burning. The unique documentary broke new ground for telling queer stories, with reverberations in LGBTQIA+ culture still felt to this very day. One of its biggest breakout stars, Venus Xtravaganza, would not even live to see the film’s release. Tragically, this trailblazing trans Puerto Rican Italian was murdered and left for dead—to this day, her case still remains unsolved. Director Kimberly Reed’s fiercely moving portrait of a ballroom icon and her family’s quest for revitalizing their sister’s legacy posses a heartbreaking power in its story of resilience.” —Josh@TheMovies 

“Jeremy O. Harris could dabble in contemporary auditory wood working and it would be a masterpiece.” —Harrison

Rent Free 

Written by Fernando Andrés and Tyler Rugh, directed by Andrés

“Almost inevitable that you’ll come to know Andrés’ name sooner or later, it’s just a matter of time. Reminds me of fellow Texan filmmaker Cooper Raiff’s recent Cha Cha Real Smooth, a similar story about a young man stuck financially and emotionally. Where the two differ is in Andrés’ far less navel-gazey focus on a wide ensemble and sense of humor—Cha Cha Real Smooth is textbook Comedy of Embarrassment, Rent Free feels like watching the antics of your friends in their own words. Only complaint is that I want to see some full-frontal in his next movie, but I’ll be there for it regardless!” —Luke

“This is kinda like boy Girlfriends (1978).” —Brianna

Don’t You Let Me Go

Written and directed by Leticia Jorge and Ana Karina Guevara
Winner of the Nora Ephron Award

“I wept and I laughed and my heart broke and put itself back together again. All within 74 minutes. Every ‘normal’ moment was touched by the twinkle of magic. Every surreal moment was dipped in the plausibility of reality. It made me want to wash curtains in a yard with my best friends and hug them tight. Life will keep fluttering away like a butterfly but it’ll look damn good doing it if you love it.” —Ellie

Sabbath Queen

Directed by Sandi Simcha Dubowski

“Sabbath Queen serves as the perfect film to capture the complexities found in traditions thousands of years old. Sandi DuBowski captures the profoundly personal nature of grappling with the themes of birthright and legacy. A timely piece as the world Jewry grapple with ancient traditions and a modernizing world that is increasingly embracing deeper and more open forms of love with a deep political backdrop of modern events. Watching and hearing how Amichai navigates the conflict of not just belonging to a legacy of rabbis but takes his Judaism and leadership in his own hands to find love and openness for his community is a lesson the world needs right now.” —Manilan

It Was All a Dream

Directed by dream hampton

“As someone who[se] love of rap was spawned during this era, this film hit me on several levels. dream hampton creates something far richer than a nostalgic look at a golden age of hip hop. She captures the humanity and intellectual depth of these iconic artists, while simultaneously challenging them, and men in general, to be better than the misogyny they spout and consume. A riveting and meditative work, this is one of the better hip hop documentaries released in the past decade.” —Courtney