A Bright Future by Lucía Garibaldi
The Tribeca Festival has just announced the lineup for its 2025 edition, taking place June 4–15 in New York City, featuring a strong presence of U.S. Latinx and Latin American titles across its different sections.
Having its world premiere as the Closing Night Gala is the Brazilian co-production YANUNI by Austrian director Richard Ladkani. Both a love story and a call to action, the film—produced by Leonardo DiCaprio—follows fearless Indigenous chief Juma Xipaia, who has survived six assassination attempts as she leads a relentless fight to defend her people’s land alongside her husband, Hugo Loss, a steely Special Forces ranger. When she discovers she is pregnant, their battle takes on new urgency.
The Puerto Rican film Esta Isla, the debut feature by writer-directors Lorraine Jones Molina and Cristian Carretero, will have its world premiere in the U.S. Narrative Competition. This visually striking and emotionally mature drama follows young lovers Bebo and Lola—both from opposite social circles in Puerto Rico—as they flee to a remote part of the island in the wake of a heinous murder.
Also competing in the U.S. Narrative section is The Scout by Colombian writer-director Paula González-Nasse. Sofia, a location scout for a TV show in New York City, is invited into homes, businesses, and lives across the city over the course of one day. As she witnesses the private spaces and dramas of countless strangers, her work takes a sudden, personal turn.
Two Latin American films will have their world premieres in the International Narrative Competition: the Chilean film Cuerpo Celeste by Nayra Ilic and the Mexican drama Twelve Moons by Victoria Franco. Cuerpo Celeste follows 15-year-old Celeste, coming of age in post-Pinochet Chile, whose life shifts dramatically after a traumatic event. In a country undergoing its own uncertain transition, Celeste must grow up faster than she ever imagined.
Esta Isla by Lorraine Jones Molina and Cristian Carreter
Produced by acclaimed director Michel Franco and starring Ana de la Reguera and Enrique Arreola, Twelve Moons centers on Sofía, a 40-year-old childless woman trapped in a neglectful marriage and unraveling life. With striking imagery and a raw central performance, the film becomes a haunting character study.
Two South American films will premiere in the Viewpoints section, Tribeca’s platform for audacious storytelling and genre-bending cinema. The Uruguayan sci-fi A Bright Future by Lucía Garibaldi (The Sharks), starring Martina Paseggi, Soledad Pelayo, Sofía Gala, and Alfonso Tort, follows Elisa, a clever and curious young woman selected for mysterious work in “the North”—a place from which no one seems to return.
The Brazilian film Kites by U.S. Latino director Walter Thompson-Hernández tells the story of Duvo, a 25-year-old gangster seeking redemption in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. With lyrical visuals and emotional depth, it paints a striking portrait of transformation and longing.
Three Latino filmmakers will premiere their works in the Documentary Competition: Backside by Mexican-American director Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana captures the lives of immigrant workers who care for racehorses at Churchill Downs, offering a rare, intimate view of labor behind the Kentucky Derby. For Venida, for Kalief by Black and Indigenous Latina director Sisa Bueno traces the legacy of Kalief Browder and his mother Venida. Through poetry, archival material, and political context, the film honors the family’s legacy and the injustices they endured. Runa Simi by Peruvian director Augusto Zegarra follows a father and son’s mission to dub The Lion King into Quechua—an effort to preserve their endangered language and culture.
Runa Simi by Augusto Zegarra
Three music-centered documentaries directed by Latino filmmakers will premiere in the Spotlight+ section: Depeche Mode: M by Mexican director Fernando Frías (I’m No Longer Here) blends live footage from the band’s 2023 Mexico City shows with meditative reflections on mortality, music, and Mexico’s cultural relationship with death. A conversation with the band and the director will follow the screening.
Just Sing, co-directed by Latina filmmaker Angelique Molina and Abraham Troen, follows USC’s SoCal VoCals as they prepare for their final challenge: the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella in New York City. And Rebecca (AKA Becky G) by Jennifer Tiexiera and Gabriela Cavanagh follows Latin pop star Becky G as she crafts her debut Mexican regional album—an emotional journey into her heritage and family legacy.
After This Death, the second feature by Argentine New York–based director Lucio Castro (End of Century), starring Mia Maestro, Lee Pace, Rupert Friend, and Gwendoline Christie, will have its North American premiere in the Spotlight Narrative section. A woman falls into a passionate affair with a rock frontman who vanishes without a trace, leaving her trapped between toxic fandom and lingering desire.
She Dances by Latino director Rick Gomez will also premiere in the Spotlight Narrative section. In this heartfelt father-daughter comedy, a harried dad and his teenage daughter confront their fractured relationship during the Young Miss Southeast Regional Dance Finals.
In the Spotlight Documentary sidebar, Dear Ms.: A Revolution in Print, co-directed by Latina filmmaker Cecilia Aldarondo (Landfall) alongside Salima Koroma and Alice Gu, explores the iconic legacy of Ms. magazine through archival footage and interviews. The film is produced by William Ventura and will be released by HBO Documentary Films.
