We look forward to seeing you this June at the 2025 Tribeca Festival! Prepare to experience a jaw-dropping lineup that highlights the artistry and talent in music documentaries. This year, the festival will showcase new films about iconic artists such as Metallica, Billy Idol, Culture Club, and Depeche Mode. The fest will highlight notable music docs. It will be rich in genre and modes of storytelling so that there is always something thrilling and wonderful for everyone in the audience to experience.
All told, the festival will feature 118 feature films, an incredible 95 of those as world premieres. All of these choices were clearly made by careful deliberation from an astonishing 13,541 submissions—what a huge vault of creative talent! Perhaps most strikingly, women will be at the helm of 48% of the festival’s features. Plus, 36% will be directed by BIPOC filmmakers, underscoring the festival’s deep commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion in the film industry.
Highlighted Films and Documentaries
Among those highly anticipated films debuting is the courtroom thriller Sham from genre master Takashi Miike. The festival will present “Re-Creation,” an award-winning, spellbinding docu-drama about Sophie Toscan du Plantier. Teamed with creative directors Jim Sheridan and David Merriman, this riveting film transports the viewer. Economy, environment, and empowerment combine to illustrate the festival’s commitment to looking deeply into a breadth of topics and stories.
Besides music documentaries, the festival will feature performances from some of today’s most famous actors. Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick will star in Michael J. Weithorn’s romantic comedy “The Best You Can,” while Lucy Liu takes on a leading role in Eric Lin’s drama “Rosemead.” This kind of starry, splashy programming almost guarantees to magnify the festival’s draw and lure a wide demographic.
The festival’s opening night will feature the world premiere of “Billy Joel: And So It Goes,” setting an exciting tone for the event. This year’s closing night film will be Yanuni, Leonardo DiCaprio, executive produced and directed by Richard Ladkani. All of this emphasis on the big-name premieres contributes to the hype surrounding this year’s festival.
A Focus on Music and Cultural Impact
Music docs are always a huge presence at the Tribeca Festival, but don’t line up those tickets yet. Movies featuring iconic musicians have been all the rage. This growing interest reflects our fascination with biographical storytelling and speaks to the power of music to impact our cultural consciousness.
“First times are always important and they stay with us for the rest of our lives.” This feeling ties perfectly into what makes the festival’s mission to elevate bold new voices and fresh stories particularly special this year.
Cinemas are eager for the chance to host those world premieres. They can’t wait to accompany the experimental, digital, narrative, documentary, animated, live-action feast of a festival!