2020 has not been a good year for the world of the international film festival, to put it mildly. Sure, we managed to get a Sundance on the books before COVID-19 shut the entire circuit down, but for the most part, the major festivals have been lucky to get even a virtual version of themselves up and running during lockdown conditions. That’s a bummer for movie fans, obviously, but it’s an even bigger hit for filmmakers, considering that festivals are the primary way many less-established movie makers get their work in front of both critics, and the people with the money. There’s no way to know for sure, but the loss of the 2020 festival season is likely to do unprecedented harm to the independent side of the industry for years to come.
Still, at first you don’t succeed and all that, right? And so today, the Tribeca Film Festival—which was forced to completely skip over its scheduled April 2020 incarnation this year—has just set a date for its 2021 incarnation, its 20th since being launched in the wake of 9/11. Said festival will run from June 9 to June 20, 2021, provided that…
Oh, sorry! We just sort of drifted off there, on account of trying to think about all the things that could possibly go wrong between now and June 2021.
Anyway, submissions for the festival will open next month, with the deadline closing on December 2. Owing to the realities of the current situation, the festival has also loosened its entry restrictions, allowing films that previously debuted at online film festivals to still have a possible Tribeca debut.