The 2025 Tribeca Festival kicks off this week, and Lower Manhattan is about to be filled with film fans from the city and worldwide as they embrace the latest in cinema, music, and television. This year’s festival is shaping into one of the most eclectic and star-studded years yet. With a lineup that spans music documentaries, globe-trotting dramas, and buzzy feature filmmaking debuts, this year’s slate is packed with films that promise to challenge, charm, and captivate audiences. Whether you’re craving political urgency, deep psychological drama, or the energy of live performance, Tribeca 2025 has something to offer everyone!
“Everything’s Going to Be Great” leads the pack as one of the festival’s most anticipated titles, with Bryan Cranston, Allison Janney, and Chris Cooper starring in a dramedy about familial dysfunction. While in “The Best You Can,” real-life couple Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick share the screen again in a tender story of a security guard and a urologist whose chance encounter evolves into a profound relationship. Lucy Liu gives a powerful turn in “Rosemead,” an emotional true story about a mother resorting to extreme measures to save her darkly troubled son. Another family dynamic takes center stage in “She Dances,” a heartwarming, slice-of-life comedy starring Steve Zahn (who also co-wrote the script), Ethan Hawke and Rosemarie Dewitt. Another buzzed-about title is “A Tree Fell in the Woods,” a claustrophobic chamber piece starring Alexandra Daddario, Daveed Diggs, Josh Gad, and Ashley Park as two couples navigating simmering tensions over New Year’s Eve in, of course, a cabin in the woods. “Inside,” one of the most exciting entries in this year’s festival, is a psychological prison drama/thriller starring Guy Pearce, Cosmo Jarvis, and an impressive 17-year-old Vincent Miller.
On the musical side, Tribeca has long embraced music documentaries, and this year is no exception. “Billy Joel: And So It Goes,” a two-part HBO documentary, is the festival’s opener and provides an intimate portrait of the piano man’s towering legacy. In “Billy Idol Should Be Dead,” director Jonas Åkerlund dives into the chaos, rebellion, and survival of the punk icon’s life. There will be a live performance from Idol following the screening, while Joel, unfortunately, cannot attend due to a recent health diagnosis. “Boy George & Culture Club” finds the iconic 80s group receiving the definitive treatment in a documentary from Alison Ellwood, while “Depeche Mode: M” captures the electronic pioneers’ 2023 Mexico City concert in full force. A live conversation with Depeche Mode and director Fernando Frías, moderated by New York Magazine and Vulture’s Bilge Ebiri, will take place after the screening.
On the more experimental end, “Something Beautiful,” a 55-minute “pop opera” featuring Miley Cyrus, co-directed by Cyrus herself, promises an avant-garde look at the megastar’s fame and identity that will be followed by an intimate conversation with Cyrus following the screening. Hardcore band Turnstile brings explosive energy with “Turnstile: Never Enough,” featuring collaborations with Hayley Williams and Devonté Hynes. It will also feature a conversation following the premiere with Turnstile moderated by Kelefa Sanneh. On a personal level, “Metallica Saved My Life” will hopefully give this metalhead his fix as the documentary focuses on the band’s legacy and impact on its devoted fanbase. A conversation with members of Metallica and director Jonas Åkerlund will follow.
This year’s festival also tackles urgent political and humanitarian issues. In “An Eye for an Eye,” a woman in Iran faces execution under Sharia law for killing her abusive husband. It is said to be harrowing and one of the festival’s very best. Festival closer, “Yanuni,” produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, follows Brazilian activist Juma Xipaia as she battles to protect her land from environmental exploitation in the Amazon. In “One Spoon of Chocolate,” directed by RZA, a former military veteran takes justice into his own hands in a racially charged small-town thriller. Meanwhile, the British crime comedy “Deep Cover” contains an all-star cast of Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, Nick Mohammed, Sean Bean, Paddy Considine, Sonoya Mizuno, and Ian McShane. It will be released on Prime Video on June 12th.
“Honeyjoon” is a life-affirming comedy-drama about a mother (Amira Casar) and daughter (Ayden Mayeri) processing grief on a breathtaking Azorean island and is said to be stunning with sharp and darkly funny performances. The theme of personal transformation also runs through “Bird in Hand,” another charming comedy about a woman (Alisha Wainwright) planning her wedding while secretly questioning everything about her life and relationship with her mother (Christine Lahti). In “Tow,” Rose Byrne (who is about to have a career-high this year along with “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You“) stars as a homeless woman whose life is turned upside down when her car is towed, offering a unique lens on the housing crisis with both heartbreak and unexpected levity.
“Our Hero, Balthazar,” a terrifying drama starring Jaeden Martell and Asa Butterfield, is a coming-of-age story with a razor-sharp sense of what’s troubling today’s male youth, exploring themes of masculinity, social media, and mental illness. Romantic turmoil bubbles beneath the surface in “After This Death,” a lyrical tale of love and loss starring Mía Maestro and Lee Pace.
“In Cold Light,” a suspenseful thriller featuring Maika Monroe and Helen Hunt, brings icy tension to the screen with a gripping mystery about missing persons. “The Trainer,” a dark adrenaline-fueled comedy directed by Tony Kaye (“American History X”), pokes fun at L.A.’s vanity-fueled fitness elite as one aging trainer tries to stay relevant and alive in a town obsessed with appearances starring Vito Schnabel, Julia Fox, Steven Van Zandt, Beverly D’Angelo, Bella Thorne, Gina Gershon, Paris Hilton, Taylour Paige, Lenny Kravitz, Gayle King and Finneas O’Connor.
Rock legend Eddie Vedder takes center stage in “Matter of Time,” which documents a benefit concert while weaving through his decades-long musical and activist journey. On the other end of the cultural spectrum, “Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything” offers a definitive look at the late journalist’s influence and evolution through exclusive interviews and archival footage.
With this wide-ranging slate of stories, from the deeply personal to the globally political, the experimentally musical to the flat-out thrilling, Tribeca 2025 promises to be one of the festival’s richest and most exciting years to date. Whether you’re streaming from home through their virtual platform or catching premieres in Manhattan, make room for these 25 standout films. And be sure to check out some others which we’ve already reviewed, including “Come See Me in the Good Light,” Move Ya Body: The Birth of House,” “East of Wall,” “K-Pops!,” “Oh, Hi!,” “Relay,” “Twinless,” “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore,“ “Bunny“ and “Reflection in a Dead Diamond.”
What do you think of this year’s Tribeca Festival lineup? Is there any film we didn’t mention that you are excited about? Stay tuned for coverage from the Next Best Picture team over the coming days. Please let us know in the comments section below or on Next Best Picture’s X account.
