The 2022 Tribeca Festival kicked off Wednesday, with an atmosphere reminiscent of pre-COVID days including large in-person crowds and minimal health restrictions.
Interestingly, festival organizers chose to drop the word “film” from their official name, now simply the “Tribeca Festival”. This is an acknowledgment of the new world of “content”, no longer exclusively focused on theatrical release movies. The most obvious example of this is the festival’s opening night feature HALFTIME, a behind-the-scenes documentary starring Jennifer Lopez. Even with Lopez’s star power, the movie will skip theatres to play exclusively on Netflix beginning next Tuesday.
Tribeca also features examples of films that premiere at the festival and then go on to successful runs in theatres. One of the festival darlings last year was the thriller POSER by first-time filmmakers Noah Dixon and Ori Segev. Its theatrical run was managed by indie distributor Oscilloscope, beginning with a massive $15,000 opening weekend at the Gateway Film Center in Columbus, Ohio, where the film’s story is based.
See also: 14 Movies We’re Excited to See at This Year’s Tribeca Festival (Variety)