Tribeca 2026 overflows with greatness

TRIBECA 2026

Tribeca 2026 poster

Every year, just as summer creeps around the corner, New York City is buzzing with fresh storytelling ideas, and at Tribeca 2026, a whopping 103 World Premieres are taking place. One of the best aspects about the festival, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, is the reminder that cinephiles, both serious and casual, can mix and mingle and claim bragging rights to having seen “the” film everyone will be talking about all year. You might find yourself scoring a rush ticket, and accidentally ride the escalators alongside your favorite star or filmmaker. It really is that special and unexpected. Without exception, the fest boasts something for every moviegoer, and Tribeca 2026 promises to deliver the thrills, chills, laughs, tears, gasps, and gaffaws. Here are some of the films we are saving a seat for.

NARRATIVE FEATURES

Act One

large_Act_One-Clean-16x9-01 Tribeca 2026In this rhythmic psychological thriller, a lonely aspiring teen actress finds herself drawn to an acting teacher who pulls her into a web of desire and control, blurring the lines of seduction and obsession.


What Is To Come Tribeca 2026

what is to come tribeca 2026After backing out of a suicide pact that leaves her husband dead, a sheltered farmer’s wife flees the shame and hidden debts that destroyed their life together and disappears into the port city of Eilat, where an unexpected bond with migrants, refugees, and a compassionate hotel manager forces her to rebuild herself from nothing and discover a life beyond the one she was told to live.


Lucy Schulman

Tribeca 2026 Lucy_Schulman-Clean-16x9-01After a crushing breakup, Lucy moves back in with her eccentric single dad and dives into bad dates, false starts, and growing pains. Big-hearted and sharply funny, Lucy Schulman is a charming comedic coming-of-age story from multihyphenate Tribeca alum Ellie Sachs.


Ponderosa

Ponderosa-16x9-01 Tribeca 2026Synopsis: When the buffet where Zeke’s mom works closes down, he’s forced to entertain the wild advances of a rich regular who is weirdly and vehemently obsessed with becoming his father.


Deepfake

large_Deepfake-Clean-16x9-01 Tribeca 2026After a breakup, rudderless millennial Jane hires a team of Gen-Z consultants to reinvent her life. But what begins as a makeover soon spirals into a sharp social media satire about image, app culture, and the cost of becoming someone else.


DOCUMENTARY Tribeca 2026


Sara Bareilles: Good Grief

Tribeca 2026 Sarah_Bareilles_-_Good_Grief-Clean-16x9-01.jpgSeven years after her Grammy Award-winning Amidst the Chaos, Sara Bareilles reunites with her closest collaborators to record a new album. What emerges is an intimate, cinematic process that lays bare the musician’s deep connections and inspirations in Tribeca alum Josh Alexander’s moving music documentary.

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‘I Got Bombed At Harvey’s’ (SXSW2026) A truly explosive heist

sxsw 2026 cartoon vectorI Got Bombed At Harvey

i got bombed at Harvey'sSXSW 2026 true-crime doc I Got Bombed at Harvey’s tells the off-the-wall tale of a casino, a ransom note, a homemade bomb with 1000 pounds of dynamite, and 24 hrs. Your jaw will drop as one absolute narcissistic lunatic’s spiral brings his kids down with him.
 
The film follows the 1980 story of a giant bomb appearing inside a very busy Lake Tahoe casino office. With local law enforcement and nationwide news media coverage, the perpetrators were doomed, but not from the start. The film’s structure consists of archival reels, sit-down interviews with the bomb squad members, photographs, blueprints, physical evidence, and reenactments. Oh, and one of the men involved. The only crystal clear aspect of this crazy endeavor is the mastermind. The absolute havoc and ripple effect of one man’s ego is diabolical.
 
The footage is genuinely shocking. I jumped out of my seat at one point. The number of times I audibly exclaimed WTF should be outlawed. Without spoiling the outcome, I will say that the complexities of this case will have you shaking your head. This entire scheme sounds like a movie script. Motivated by spite, revenge, mental illness, addiction, trauma, and fear, I Got Bombed at Harvey’s gets wilder by the minute. Just when you think the story could not possibly get any nuttier, think again.
 
I Got Bombed at Harvey’s is a romp through madness, money, and mayhem worth your eyeballs.

I Got Bombed at Harvey’s

Director:
Amy Bandlien Storkel, Bryan Storkel
Executive Producer:
Chris Smith, Andrew Corkin, Howard Owens, Ben Silverman, Theo Love, Michael Driscoll, Robert Marshall, Brian Lazarte, James Lee Hernandez
Producer:
Bo Butterworth, Karen Bowlin
Cinematographer:
Britton Foster
Editor:
Evan Vetter, Scott Evans, Amy Storkel, Dava Whisenant, ACE
Production Designer:
Adam Henderson
Music:
Michael James Lee
Cast:
Igor Grbesic, Ethan Riley, Ian S. Peterson, Michael Solarez, Jennylyn Caterina, Marianne Wiedeman, William Swartzbaugh

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‘The Ascent’ (SXSW 2026) An extreme upward journey.

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The Ascent

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Directors Edward Drake, Scott Veltri, and Francis Cronin document the unbelievable story of a double amputee’s climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. As if that’s not impressive enough, SXSW 2026 film The Ascent also delves into a mystery sure to infuriate and inspire audiences.

During a night out in 2014, Mandy Horvath died three times. Suspicious circumstances placed her unconscious body in the middle of train tracks. Then she was run over by a 20-car locomotive that severed her legs but not her ungovernable spirit.

Horvath was on her way to greatness in life, although slightly tethered by functioning addiction. Considering her childhood trauma, her resilience is astounding. She should have been dead long before. Sitting down with her parents is viscerally uncomfortable, but it speaks volumes to Mandy’s FU attitude. The film tackles trust and loyalty with authentic complexity.

Her accident was initially written off as a suicide attempt and not a crime. Filmmakers recreate the train conductor and engineer’s witness testimony to explain their perspective of the incident. It is shocking, but almost nothing compares to the dismissal of law enforcement and the missing pieces of evidence from the very people Mandy was with that night. Your jaw will drop.

Animation illustrates Mandy’s most painful memories. The score perfectly matches her indelible spirit. Filmmakers give us visual altitude and mile markers along her journey, but that’s not all we track. Jasleen Kaur‘s editing elevates this entire documentary. To seamlessly weave in what is essentially a true-crime story alongside Mandy’s climbing journey is award-worthy.

The Ascent is an extraordinary tale of survival and perseverance against all odds. Mandy Horvath is simply unstoppable. She is the female spirit personified. Tell a woman she can’t and see what happens.


The Ascent The Ascent The Ascent

Director: Edward Drake, Scott Veltri, Francis Cronin
Executive Producer: TIME Studios, Loren Hammonds, Kyle Hentschel, Francis Cronin, Yvette Zhuang, Jasleen Kaur, Ali Samadi
Producer: Edward Drake, Scott Veltri
Cinematographer: Laffrey Witbrod
Editor: Jasleen Kaur, September Club / Matt Prekop
Music: Adam Peters
Cast: Mandy Horvath, Julius John White aka ‘Whitey’, Carel Verhoef, Sally Grierson
Crew:Animator: Mike Lloyd, Co-Producer: Jon Schafer, Additional Editing: Kevin Barth, Executive Finishing Producers: Gloria F. Coronado, Ashely Reese, Re-Recording Mixer: Cameron Tracy, Colorist/Online Editor: Christian Navas, CSI, Graphics: COED Studios
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