As New York emerges from its spring allergy haze, the Tribeca Film Festival is once again blooming in various theaters and event spaces throughout the city. Running from June 3 to June 14, the festival is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a slew of special events, dozens upon dozens of screenings and Q&As, panels galore, and even some live podcast tapings. The A.V. Club got to check out a decent amount of the film slate ahead of the festival, but our recommendations are just a taste of the movies screening in NYC over the next few weeks.
If you don’t see something for you listed below, rest assured there’s plenty more where that came from, spanning Broadway (Hadestown: The Musical), music (Mumford & Sons: The House Band), comedy (Bob And Dave Climb Machu Picchu), heartful coming-of-age stories (Summer Of Three), and beloved character actors shining in leading roles (Tim Blake Nelson in The Leader, Margo Martindale in The Long Haul). Here are the movies you shouldn’t miss at Tribeca 2026.
Caity
Written and directed by Lindsay Calleran, Caity follows a 16-year-old (Chiara Aurelia) stepping up to help her father (Morgan Spector) run their family-operated haunted house. As she tries to cover for him as he slowly loses control of his sobriety, she realizes she has feelings for one of the new girls on staff and wants to test her own boundaries with drugs. This tender coming-of-age story finds moments of levity and love amid the personal tragedy and chaotic teen decisions, with playful edits that sometimes look rough around the edges but feel almost experimental in the way they drop images on top of one another. Anchored by great performances from a headstrong Aurelia and charming, heartbreaking Spector, Caity stands out in the U.S. Narrative Competition.
Memorizu
Miiku Sakanishi’s feature debut in the International Narrative Competition is a gentle drama about the need to take photos to help us keep our memories and share them. Memorizu follows Yuta (Tasuku Emoto) as he arrives at a remote island town to look after his photographer father-in-law, learning more about the art and rekindling his interest in photography. He tries to stay connected with his wife and daughter back home in Tokyo, sharing photos and videos with his family. Sakanishi plays with different formats throughout the feature, moving between beautiful film photography to the crisp digital intermediary the family uses to send each other messages. With a pensive approach, Memorizu looks at the way we use cameras, photos, and videos not just for ourselves but for others, bringing them into a kind of shared experience they otherwise would miss because of distance. The movie is a reflection on sharing memories just as much as it is about making them, and about finding interest in the banalities of everyday life.
Next Life
Playing with the two timeline concept of Sliding Doors, Drake Doremus’ film Next Life revisits ideas of fate and true love from his breakout Like Crazy for a sweet, romantic, “what if”-style drama that shines in the Spotlight Narrative section. Ivy (Emilia Clarke) takes a train to her goddaughter’s christening, accidentally bumping into a handsome jazz musician (Édgar Ramírez) and finding an instant connection after spilling coffee on them both. But in her second timeline, which runs concurrent with the first, they don’t share a meet-cute, and instead Ivy reconnects with her ex-fiance (Jack Farthing) at a party. As these possible relationships play out, the challenges Ivy faces are shaped by her partner and his response to her hopes and crises, adding or assuaging stress. Choosing the right partner doesn’t alleviate all of her problems, but it makes life’s tougher moments play out differently.
Sad Girlz
Back in the International Narrative Competition, Sad Girlz is an impressive coming-of-age film that feels more like hanging out with friends than following a dramatic story. Fernanda Tovar’s feature debut follows two teenaged competitive swimmers, La Maestra (Rocío Guzmán) and Paula (Darana Álvarez), as they prepare for a high stakes competition in Brazil. But after something happens at a party, the once inseparable best friends are torn over how to handle the situation. Written and directed by Tovar, the film feels lived in and loose, almost as if the camera were an extra member of their group listening to the girls on their way out of school. Despite the heavy subject matter, Tovar immerses her film in the colors of the girl’s surroundings, especially in the rich aqua blue that brings them together through their troubled times.
Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders
Jeffrey Schwarz’s documentary Mineshaft: The Cruising Murders looks past the scandalous headlines for the real story behind the case that inspired William Friedkin’s Cruising. The documentary begins as an investigation of what happened to Addison Verrill, a young reporter and film critic for Variety who was murdered in 1977 after a night out in the West Village, inspiring Friedkin to make his own interpretation. As the film gets underway and protestors disrupt the production, tensions boil over the controversial film—with those like Village Voice columnist Arthur Bell criticizing it as portraying the gay community in a bad light. As queer, New York City, and film histories intertwine, the documentary becomes a tribute to a bygone era and the closing of shared spaces, like the club Mineshaft, in the wake of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Led by interviews with Verrill’s loved ones and many memories of those who remember spending time at Mineshaft, the documentary takes a sensitive approach to exploring this story in all its complexity.
House Of Criticism
I’m perhaps the target audience for a movie about critics working in New York City, but Alison Chernick’s documentary House Of Criticism offers more than a round of applause for the profession. Following a legendary couple in arts criticism, Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith, House Of Criticism retraces their lives, their careers, and their distinct approaches to art. They’re a beautiful odd couple, mismatched in almost every way but wonderfully complementary to each other’s needs. It’s perhaps the most romantic movie in the lineup, full of life lessons and art appreciation.
Hollywood Does Abortion
One of a handful of issue documentaries in the Spotlight Documentary section, Hollywood Does Abortion is a timely reexamination of how media has the power to shape public perception and policy. Directed by Barbara Attie, Janet Goldwater, and Mike Attie, the documentary begins with the landmark episode of the Norman Lear show Maude, which made an abortion a central part of the plot. What was supposed to be a watershed moment ends up taking on new meaning in a post-Dobbs world as subsequent TV shows and movies skirt talking about the procedure or worse, platform misinformation about its risks. Hollywood Does Abortion is an infuriating and informative watch, exploring how pop culture has shaped public opinion and policy and examining how changes in attitudes towards abortion are reflected through the media of the time.
Mexicanamerican
In the Documentary Competition, director Eddie Sanchez retraces his family’s immigration story through old VHS tapes and candid interviews with his parents and siblings. In reexamining the past, Sanchez brings up many uncomfortable questions and realities around chasing the American Dream, including the isolation his parents felt when they moved to the U.S., how he and his siblings struggle to speak Spanish, and the mental and emotional toll of growing up as the children of immigrants. But the bittersweet conversations are interspersed with rosy memories of sharing tapes that the families would exchange between the U.S. and Mexico to share messages of support and news from home. Mexicanamerican is both a nostalgic portrait of a family as well as an exploration of what the American Dream means to those who give up everything just for a chance to achieve it.
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