by Jason Adams

When the Tribeca Film Festival (2021 edition) kicks off in June -- it runs from June 9th through the 20th -- it will have been 25 months since my last rendezvous with the festival, way back in the spring of 2019. Some stuff has happened in the in-between, ya know? But we're still plugging along, thank the Movie Gods, and pretty excited to have this little slice of our routine slipping back into its slot. I've been here in NYC long enough that I was around for the first edition of the fest, founded in 2002 in the wake of the September 11th attacks, and already I can feel in the air a similar sense of celebratory survival. It's been a tough 25 months, but spring feels finally in the air. 

The entire line-up for the festival was announced last week -- including the Opening Night premiere of this year's big musical sensation-to-be In the Heights -- and you'll find all of the titles down below. But first I just want to highlight a small selection of five titles (because five's a good solid respectable number) that immediately leapt off the page and poked me in my eyeballs. And you can no doubt expect to hear my thoughts on these ones (and plenty more) once the coverage kicks up in June...