Audiences have been given a glimpse at the lineup for this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, which runs in New York from April 21 to May 2, with 33 out of the 85 feature-length films and 47 shorts being revealed. This includes all 24 films playing in the world narrative and documentary competition, seven being shown in the global cinema showcase and three from the special events category.

This year’s line-up was chosen from a record 5,055 submissions, and the organisers decided to pare down the number of films shown from over 100 to 85 as that was more suitable for such an urban festival. “We decided to go smaller. This is New York City, so 120 films was overwhelming. We feel our programme reflects harder choices being made,” said Tribeca’s executive director Nancy Schafer.

Thirty-eight filmmakers will be making their feature debuts at this year’s festival, which will feature the work of directors from 38 different countries. This is also the inaugral year of Tribeca’s new distribution programme, which will see 12 pictures being released on VoD and made available to households across America. Seven of these 12 films are part of this year’s lineup.

A highlight of this year’s festival, particularly for a native New York audience, will be a work-in-progress screening of Alex Gibney’s (Taxi to the Darkside) documentary on disgraced NYC politician Eliot Spitzer. “New York is our primary audience. It is an audience very, very perceptive to trying new things, and to showing films that no one’s heard of. They trust us now,” Schafer said.

For more details, visit the Official Tribeca Film Festival Website