NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — The Tribeca Festival is back and celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic forced organizers to cancel the festival and opt for a handful of virtual events instead.
This year’s festival, which runs from June 9 to June 20, will aim to “support New Yorkers and encourage people to get back together and realize that art can heal,” Loren Hammonds, the festival’s Vice President of Immersive Programming, told 1010 WINS’ Sharon Barnes-Waters.
“When we were putting the festival together, we thought a lot about the kinds of films and experiences that we would want to bring to the community here in New York City,” Hammonds said. “And I think we’ve done our job in terms of bringing some really exciting films and… even more experiences to everyone here.”
Approximately 65 official selections will be featured this year, he said. “In the Heights” — a film adaptation of ”Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit musical — is opening the festival on June 9, with a screening at the United Palace theater in Washington Heights, as well as several simultaneous screenings at outdoor screens across the city.
Organizers brought back several films that had been slated to premiere last year, Hammonds said.
“We found that it was important to give those filmmakers a chance, those people that did not get a chance to premiere elsewhere, or had their festival circuit kind of cut off ceremoniously due to COVID,” he explained.
The festival’s screenings will be outdoors, socially-distanced and held at venues in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, as part of a “Borough to Borough” initiative, Hammonds said.
“It was important to us to really give something special to the audience here in New York City, so our ‘Borough to Borough’ made sure that we’re able to hit every single borough with our screenings,” he said. “We’re really just leaning into the feeling of community, and being able to bring people together outside.”
This year’s festival will also include games, immersive experiences, podcasts, television shows and talks, he noted.
“There’s really something for everyone,” he said.
Tribeca Festival passes are on sale now. Listen to Barnes-Waters’ full interview with Hammonds above.