Eye For Film >> Festivals >> Tribeca >> 2023 >> Spotlight Narrative
View other Tribeca Festival Films by strand: Documentary Competition, Escape From Tribeca, International Narrative Competition, Midnight, Shorts, Spotlight Documentary, Spotlight+, US Narrative Competition, Viewpoints
Afire and The Lesson
The Adults
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Dustin Guy Defa; Stars: Michael Cera, Hannah Gross, Sophia Lillis)
North American premiere
The plan to make a trip back home as short as possible begins to unravel when Eric has to balance his addiction to poker with the challenging relationships with his two sisters Rachel and Maggie.
Afire (Roter Himmel)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2023; Director: Christian Petzold; Writer: Christian Petzold; Stars: Thomas Schubert, Paula Beer, Langston Uibel, Enno Trebs, Matthias Brandt)
Tensions and desire bloom among five people at a holiday home by the Baltic Sea.
Full Review
See:
Thomas Schubert on imposter syndrome and tonal ambiguity in Afire
, Christian Petzold in conversation on Afire (Roter Himmel), An Affair To Remember, summers, and pronouncing Walter Benjamin and Uwe Johnson
, Christian Petzold in conversation on Afire (Roter Himmel) and summer movies
New York premiere
, Christian Petzold in conversation on Afire (Roter Himmel), An Affair To Remember, summers, and pronouncing Walter Benjamin and Uwe Johnson
, Christian Petzold in conversation on Afire (Roter Himmel) and summer movies
The Blackening
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Tim Story; Writer: Tracy Oliver, Dewayne Perkins; Stars: Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, Jay Pharoah, Yvonne Orji)
World premiere
tells the story of old friends who reunite in a cabin in the woods. The fun weekend quickly becomes a fight to survive, and the only way to make it out is to figure out which friend is the Blackest of them all.
Blood For Dust
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: David Ebeltoft; Writer: David Ebeltoft)
World premiere
Jeff loses his traveling salesman job and decides to take on a risky new opportunity with Ricky, an old acquaintance. Soon, he is submerged into a dangerous underworld.
Bucky F*cking Dent
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: David Duchovny; Writer: David Duchovny; Stars: David Duchovny, Logan Marshall-Green, Stephanie Beatriz)
World premiere
Aspiring novelist and Yankee Stadium peanut slinger, Ted, discovers his estranged, Red Sox fanatic father is terminally ill. Wanting to mend fences and take care of the old man, Ted returns home with results as wild and unpredictable as the 1978 baseball season.
LaRoy and Maggie Moore(s)
Cinnamon
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr; Writer: Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr; Stars: Damon Wayans, Hailey Kilgore, David Iacono, Jeremie Harris, Pam Grier)
World premiere
Two young lovers risk it all to chase their dreams.
Cold Copy
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Roxine Helberg; Writer: Roxine Helberg; Stars: Bel Powley, Tracee Ellis Ross, Jacob Tremblay, Nesta Cooper)
World premiere
Follows an ambitious journalism student’s tactics to impress, and get into the good graces of, an esteemed yet cutthroat news reporter — even if it involves manipulating her latest story … and truth itself.
Downtown Owl
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Lily Rabe, Hamish Linklater; Writer: Hamish Linklater, based on the novel by Chuck Klosterman; Stars: Lily Rabe, Ed Harris, Vanessa Hudgens, August Blanco Rosenstein, Jack Dylan Grazer, Arianna Jaffier, Finn Wittrock, Henry Golding)
World premiere
The inhabitants of a small town brace themselves for a blizzard.
Eric LaRue
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Michael Shannon; Writer: Brett Neveu; Stars: Judy Greer, Alexander Skarsgård, Alison Pill, Paul Sparks, Tracy Letts)
World premiere
In the aftermath of a shocking crime at the hands of their son, two parents seek solace in rival religious congregations.
First Time Female Director
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Chelsea Peretti; Writer: Chelsea Peretti; Stars: Chelsea Peretti, Amy Poehler, Kate Berlant, Benito Skinner, Megan Stalter, Megan Mullally)
World premiere
Ensemble comedy set in a Glendale theater where a new female director struggles to fill the shoes of her male predecessor, putting her Southern rural drama in jeopardy.
Eric LaRue and Bucky F*cking Dent
Fresh Kills
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Jennifer Esposito; Writer: Jennifer Esposito; Stars: Emily Baden, Odessa A’zion, Jennifer Esposito, Dominick Lombardozzi, Annabella Sciorra, Nicholas Cirillo)
World premiere
After their patriarch goes to prison, the loyal women of the Larusso family must survive by following the unspoken code of the New York City mafia world in the late Eighties and early Nineties.
The Good Half
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Robert Schwartzman; Writer: Brett Ryland; Stars: Nick Jonas, Brittany Snow, Matt Walsh, David Arquette, Alexandra Shipp, Elisabeth Shue)
World premiere
An emotionally distant writer returns home for his mother’s funeral.
He Went That Way
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Jeffrey Darling; Writer: Evan M Wiener; Stars: Jacob Elordi, Zachary Quinto)
World premiere
A fateful meeting in 1964 along Route 66 pairs a 19-year-old serial killer with a celebrity animal handler shepherding an American TV darling — his chimpanzee, Spanky.
I.S.S.
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite; Writer: Nick Shafir)
World premiere
Tensions flare in the near future aboard the International Space Station as nuclear war begins on Earth. Reeling from these events, astronauts and cosmonauts receive similar orders: take control of the station at any cost.
John Early: Now More Than Ever
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Emily Allan, Leah Hennessey)
World premiere
John Early performs his silly, surreal, spontaneous stand-up set in front of a live audience, a full band ... and his parents.
He Went That Way and Downtown Owl
LaRoy
(Country: US, France; Year: 2023; Director: Shane Atkinson; Writer: Shane Atkinson; Stars: John Magaro, Steve Zahn, Dylan Baker, Megan Stevenson, Matthew Del Negro, Brad Leland)
After discovering his wife’s affair, Ray Jepsen plans to kill himself, but fate intervenes. Through a bizarre turn of events, he is mistaken for a low-rent hired killer and decides to become one.
World premiere
The Lesson
(Country: UK; Year: 2023; Director: Alice Troughton; Writer: Alex MacKeith; Stars: Richard E Grant, Julie Delpy, Daryl McCormack, Stephen McMillan, Crispin Letts)
A young novelist eager to make a name for himself begins tutoring the son of one of the most influential writers in the world. Good intentions soon give way to suspicion as darker motivations surface and the lines of master and protégé are blurred.
World premiere
The Line
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Ethan Berger; Writer: Ethan Berger, Alex Russek; Stars: Alex Wolff, Lewis Pullman, Halle Bailey, Austin Abrams, Angus Cloud, Scoot McNairy, John Malkovich)
World premiere
Coming-of-age drama explores the moral ambiguity of loyalty to tradition, as seen through a college sophomore in the throes of fraternity culture.
The Listener
(Year: 2022; Director: Steve Buscemi; Writer: Alessandro Camon; Stars: Tessa Thompson)
North American premiere
The story of a helpline volunteer's life comes to light over the course of a shift.
Maggie Moore(s)
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: John Slattery; Writer: Paul Bernbaum; Stars: Jon Hamm, Tina Fey, Micah Stock, Nick Mohammed, Happy Anderson, Mary Holland)
World premiere
Comedy that sees a small-town sheriff baffled when two women with the same name get murdered days apart.
The Miracle Club
(Country: Ireland, UK; Year: 2023; Director: Thaddeus O'Sullivan; Writer: Joshua D. Maurer, Timothy Prager, Jimmy Smallhorne; Stars: Laura Linney, Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, Agnes O’Casey, Stephen Rea)
World premiere
Three close friends who have never left the outskirts of Dublin get the journey of a lifetime - a visit to Lourdes, the picturesque French town and place of miracles.
Our Son
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Bill Oliver; Writer: Peter Nickowitz, Bill Oliver; Stars: Billy Porter, Luke Evans, Robin Weigert, Andrew Rannells, Isaac Powell, Phylicia Rashad)
World premiere
Fed up with the state of his relationship, Gabriel files for divorce from his partner of 13 years, Nicky. Thus begins their complex journey to find themselves and support their son along the way.
The Perfect Find
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Numa Perrier; Writer: Leigh Davenport; Stars: Gabrielle Union, Keith Powers, Aisha Hinds, DB Woodside, Janet Hubert, Alani “La La” Anthony, Gina Torres)
World premiere
Looking for a fresh start, a 40-year-old returns to the workforce, where she must navigate a challenging workplace, a demanding boss, and a lusty secret romance.
Shortcomings
(Country: US; Year: 2023; Director: Randall Park; Writer: Adrian Tomine; Stars: Justin H Min, Sherry Cola, Ally Maki, Debby Ryan, Tavi Gevinson, Sonoya Mizuno)
New York premiere
Following Ben, Miko, and Alice as they navigate a range of interpersonal relationships and traverse the country in search of the ideal connection.
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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