When the Tribeca Film Festival opens April 18th for its 17th year, the spotlight will illuminate a more equal playing field that supports gender equality and diversity. Forty-six percent of this year’s films are directed by women – the highest percentage in the festival’s history.

Tribeca Film Festival spotlights gender equality & diversity
Image courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival

The 2018 feature film program includes 96 films from 103 filmmakers. The lineup includes 74 world premieres, 6 international premieres, 9 North American premieres, 3 U.S. premieres, and 4 New York premieres from 30 countries. Forty-six films are from first time filmmakers with 18 directors returning to the festival with their latest feature film projects. There were a total of 8,789 total submissions.

“We are proud to present a lineup that celebrates American diversity and welcomes new international voices in a time of cultural and social activism” — Paula Weinstein, Executive Vice President of Tribeca Enterprises

Tribeca Film Festival spotlights gender equality & diversity

Opening the Festival is the World Premiere Documentary Love, Gilda at The Beacon Theatre Wednesday evening April 18th. Directed by Lisa D’Apolito and produced by Lisa D’Apolito, Bronwyn Berry, Meryl Goldsmith, James Tumminia, the film weaves together the comedienne’s recently discovered audiotapes, where Gilda Radner looks back and reflects on her life and career. Love, Gilda opens up a unique window into the honest and whimsical world of a beloved performer whose greatest role was sharing her story. With Chevy Chase, Bill Hader, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, and Cecily Strong. Gilda Radner died of ovarian cancer at the age of 43. For Tickets visit the Beacon Theatre website at www.msg.com/beacon-theatre.

Tribeca Film Festival spotlights gender equality & diversity
Robert DeNiro & Jane Rosenthal. Image Courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival

The 2018 Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 18th to the 29th. Well known for discovering emerging voices and for celebrating new work from established filmmaking talent, the festival will close with the world premiere of The Fourth Estate, from Oscar®-nominated director Liz Garbus. The film follows the New York Times’ coverage of the Trump administration’s first year.

For the complete film festival guide visit https://www.tribecafilm.com/filmguide. For tickets to the Festival visit: www.tribecafilm.com/festival/tickets.

Founded in 2002 by Robert DeNiro, Jane Rosenberg and Craig Hatkoff, The Tribeca Film Festival has Socially Sparked® our lives for almost two decades. Born out of that horrific day known as 9/11 — as a way to revitalize lower Manhattan and put the spirit back into New Yorkers — it has become a must do on everybody’s annual calendar, film lover, fan, celebrity, musician, advocate, industry insider, politicians alike. As we enter the second half of 2018, it is invigorating to see that organizations as Tribeca Entertainment are answering the call of new movements as #METOO, #TIMESUP and others by balancing the equality scales. – Abbe is Socially Sparked! – Tweet @sosparkednews & @asparks01