NEW YORK — The Tribeca Festival is back with some of music’s biggest hit-makers — and one of baseball’s greatest hitters.
A Jennifer Lopez documentary, events featuring Taylor Swift and Derek Jeter, and a celebration of the 50th anniversary of “The Godfather” headline the annual New York City entertainment festival as it returns to its traditional full-size format for the first time in three years.
The festivities begin Wednesday and run through June 19, with 110 feature films on the schedule and 16 more to premiere online. The lineup includes 58 movies directed by women; 43 by Black or Indigenous filmmakers or people of color; and 10 by members of the LGBT community.
“There’s a lot to look forward to, because there’s a lot,” Cara Cusumano, the festival’s director, told the Daily News. “There’s a little bit of everything and, we hope, every audience.”
Organizers are excited to return to a full movie and TV lineup with standard indoor screenings after COVID-19 caused the festival to cancel in-person events in 2020 and to transition to outdoor showings last year.
Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff created the festival in 2002 to help New York rebound after 9/11. Formerly named the Tribeca Film Festival, the event rebranded as the Tribeca Festival last year to recognize a variety of programming that also includes podcasts, games and virtual experiences.
Here are some of Tribeca’s top events this year:
'Halftime'
Let’s get loud for the world premiere of Netflix’s “Halftime,” which explores the career of the Grammy-nominated Lopez.
Directed by Amanda Micheli, the documentary is the festival’s opening night selection and will screen at 7 p.m. Wednesday at United Palace in Washington Heights, near Lopez’s hometown in the Bronx.
“Opening night is always about setting the table for the whole festival and striking the right tone for what you’re about to see, which is, for us, a celebration,” Cusumano told The News. “It’s about artists. It’s about activists. It’s about New York. This film about Jennifer Lopez really spoke to all of that.”
Taylor Swift
Wildest dreams come true for Swift fans when the 11-time Grammy winner sits down for a “Storytellers” talk at the Beacon Theatre at 3 p.m. on June 11.
The event will feature a screening of 2021′s “All Too Well: The Short Film” — which Swift directed, wrote, produced and starred in — followed by a conversation with the singer.
“Taylor Swift, who is an incredibly accomplished songwriter, singer and performer, has now directed this film, and what better platform to be able to show that and talk about it than Tribeca, where that’s what we’ve championed all along?” Cusumano said. “This interdisciplinary, interconnected ecosystem of artists.”
'The Captain'
Another home run on the schedule is ESPN’s multipart documentary about the Yankees great Jeter, which promises to showcase “the man behind the icon” while highlighting No. 2′s ascent to MLB superstardom.
Jeter, who won five World Series and recorded 3,465 hits during his 20 seasons with the Yankees, will take part in a discussion with director Randy Wilkins after the project premieres at 8 p.m. on June 12 at BMCC Tribeca PAC.
“Things that I didn’t know about his earliest career, and before the Yankees, is covered in this first episode,” Cusumano said. “Having him there in person to be able to talk to that, with obviously a rapturous hometown crowd, I think will be really special.”
'Vengeance'
B.J. Novak, best known as an actor and writer on the sitcom “The Office,” is out to prove he’s no joke as a filmmaker with his directorial debut.
Selected as the festival’s centerpiece film, the dark comedy-thriller stars Novak as a New York City journalist who travels to rural Texas to investigate the death of a former lover.
It makes its world premiere at 5 p.m. on June 12 at BMCC Tribeca PAC.
'Somewhere in Queens'
Everybody loves a directorial debut, and native New Yorker Ray Romano is also set to make his with this comedy-drama.
Romano stars as a meddling Italian-American father of a high school basketball player in “Somewhere in Queens,” which makes its world premiere at 8 p.m. on June 10 at BMCC Tribeca PAC.
'The Godfather' and 'Heat'
Here’s an offer audiences can’t refuse: Al Pacino will be on hand to introduce a screening of the Oscar-winning mob movie “The Godfather” at 7 p.m. on June 16 at United Palace.
The screening commemorates the 50th anniversary of “The Godfather,” which happened in March.
Pacino will then sit down with De Niro for a conversation and retrospective of the classic crime drama “Heat” at 7 p.m. on June 17 at United Palace.
'Better Call Saul'
Attending this midseason premiere should be an easy verdict for fans of the acclaimed drama, which stars Bob Odenkirk as attorney Jimmy McGill.
The series, which is a spinoff of “Breaking Bad,” is in its sixth and final season. The latest episode’s world premiere takes place at 5 p.m. on June 18 at BMCC Tribeca PAC.
'The Forgiven'
Audiences can buckle in for a twist-filled ride with this drama about a fatal car accident during a vacation in Morocco — and the whirlwind chain of events that follows.
Oscar winner Jessica Chastain and Ralph Fiennes headline the film, which makes its U.S. premiere at BMCC Tribeca PAC at 8 p.m. on June 14.
'Official Competition'
Fresh off rave reviews at last year’s Venice Film Festival, this Spanish-Argentina comedy looks to similarly entertain New York audiences in its U.S. premiere.
Led by Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas, the movie follows a group of filmmakers enlisted by a billionaire to create an instant-classic movie.
“Official Competition” premieres at 5 p.m. on June 14 at BMCC Tribeca PAC.
'Loudmouth'
Tribeca aims to finish strong with its closing night selection: a documentary directed by Josh Alexander about the life of civil rights activist the Rev. Al Sharpton.
Sharpton will sit down for a chat featuring Spike Lee and John Legend following the world premiere, which takes place 8 p.m. on June 18 at BMCC Tribeca PAC.
“The closing night is on the eve of Juneteenth, and having just experienced the 10 days of the festival and all of this breadth of stories, speaking to everything going on in the world, again getting to celebrate a great New Yorker in a very different way, in all of his contributions to the country and to this fight, is really meaningful,” Cusumano said.
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