Tribeca Film Festival Lineup Features A Sandra Bland Documentary And Tessa Thomspon Thriller

The Tribeca Film Festival lineup has arrived.

This year’s lineup features 44 films directed by women, the highest percentage in the festival’s history. Festival-goers will be treated to stirring documentaries and dramatic narrative films.

The festival includes a dramatic thriller from director Nia DaCosta, Little Woods, which stars ESSENCE Black Women In Hollywood 2018 honoree Tessa Thompson and tells the story of two estranged sisters driven to extremes when their mother dies. 

Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland will also premiere at the festival. The documentary follows the two-year battle to uncover what exactly happened the day Bland died in jail after a traffic stop.

Cara Cusumano, Tribeca’s Director of Programming, said in a statement, “In a year that has reminded us more often of our divisions than our connections, this festival’s program embraces film’s unique power to overcome differences – that connecting with stories not our own is the road into our deeply programmed human capacity for empathy and understanding. We hope that in representing a wealth of undiscovered stories and unique perspectives- including those of a record number of female directors- these 96 films offer a collective journey towards narrower divides and smaller obstacles.”

Last year’s festival featured Diddy’s Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: The Bad Boy Story, a documentary that went behind the scenes of 2016’s Bad Boy reunion tour. The 2017 festival also included For Ahkeem, a poignant doc about girlhood in a marginalized St. Louis community.

The Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 18-29 in New York City. Festival-goers can find more information at www.tribecafilm.com/festival.