Feature films from 31 countries, many of them about the struggles of everyday life and featuring stars such as Richard Gere, James Franco and Dakota Fanning will be screened at the 14th Tribeca Film Festival.
More than 6,200 films, from countries ranging from Costa Rica and Iceland to Albania and South Africa, were submitted for the festival, which runs from April 15 to 26.
Half of its slate of 97 feature-length films, including selections for the world narrative and documentary feature competitions and entries for its Viewpoints section, were announced by organisers.
“We were inspired by, and really admire the ambition and risk-taking of the film-makers who are striving to capture the emotion and complexities of everyday life in this year’s submissions,” Frederic Boyer, artistic director of the festival, said in a statement.
We really admire the ambition and risk-taking of the film-makers who are striving to capture the emotion and complexities of everyday life
In Franny, from director/writer Andrew Renzi, Gere is a rich eccentric who gets involved in the lives of the daughter of a dead friend, played by Fanning, and her husband.
Franco is a novelist suffering from writer’s block in the crime thriller, The Adderall Diaries, which also stars Amber Heard and Cynthia Nixon and is based on the bestselling memoir of the same name by Stephen Elliott.
Meadowland, with Olivia Wilde and Luke Wilson, follows the strained relationship of a couple whose son goes missing.
This year’s festival will open with the world premiere of Live from New York!, about the NBC late night comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live.
Films in the documentary competition include Havana Motor Club, about drag racers preparing for a race in Cuba, and In Transit, which travels America’s busiest long-distance train route from Chicago to Seattle.
Autism in Love tells the story of adults with the disorder and Thank You for Playing details a couple’s efforts to make a videogame about their son’s fight against cancer.
The Tribeca Film Festival was founded in 2001 by actor Robert De Niro, film producer Jane Rosenthal and investor Craig Hatkoff to revitalise the downtown New York neighbourhood following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre.