Elements of Madness returns for the sixth time to cover Tribeca Film Festival. The 2026 edition is going to be special as it’s not only the 25th anniversary of the fest, but it’s going to be covered by EoM Founder Douglas Davidson and EoM Contributors Justin Waldman and Anthony Holden. Having combed through the festival guide, we’ve put together a list of films that caught our interest or recommend to keep an eye out for in wider distribution.
**These recommendations are primarily based on reading the summaries and finding them intriguing. If I’m able to cover (or EoM has covered previously), the titles will be hyperlinked with a review – so be sure to check back.**
Tribeca Film Festival 2026 takes place at several venues throughout the New York City, New York area from June 3rd – June 14th, 2026.
4000 Days
Official Synopsis:
4000 Days chronicles the agonizing public struggle of three families whose personal tragedies become part of a nationwide movement for change — and the center of a push for legislative reform around the dangers of hazing.
L-R: Julie DeVercelly and Gary DeVercelly in 4000 DAYS. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
The Accompanist
Official Synopsis:
Emily (Everly Carganilla), a young child who lives with her loving grandfather in New Jersey, is starting to be affected by the advancement of her caretaker’s dementia. When a novice Child Welfare agent (Aubrey Plaza) comes to assess the situation, she extracts Emily from her home in a panic and places her in the care of Sylvia (Susan Sarandon), a kind but mischievous old woman. As the two spend more time together, their bond grows deeper, but the mysteries of Sylvia’s past threaten to unravel their future.
A scene from THE ACCOMPANIST. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Act One
Official Synopsis:
What would you be willing to do to achieve your dreams? After lonely aspiring teen actress Hannah (Ella Beatty) is passed over for a role in her senior year high school play, she decides to take a class at “Act One Studios,” an acclaimed dramatic acting company known for bringing success to its young performers. There, she meets Melanie (Ari Graynor), a magnetic acting instructor, who, unlike Hannah’s dysfunctional family, believes in her future success as an artist completely. What starts as a rhythmic and hallucinatory story of finding where you belong quickly takes a thrilling turn.
A scene from ACT ONE. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
AI: Probably Nothing to Worry About
Official Synopsis:
The definitive documentary on AI’s origins, told by the people who built it. A thriller-paced reckoning with ambition, rivalry and the question that now haunts everyone: Will artificial intelligence save humanity or destroy it?
Geoffrey Hinton in AI: PROBABLY NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Bob and David Climb Machu Picchu
Official Synopsis:
Comedy legends Bob Odenkirk and David Cross tackle one of the world’s toughest hikes — and each other — in this high-altitude, coca-fueled meditation on friendship, mortality, and profoundly absurd comedy from two icons still magnificently in sync.
L-R: Bob Odenkirk and David Cross in BOB AND DAVID CLIMB MACHU PICCHU. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Cotton Fever
Official Synopsis:
Inspired by director Daniel Blake Schwartz’s real-life experiences, this striking debut feature charts the uneven cycles of addiction and recovery among several interconnected lives in Chelsea, Massachusetts with grit and emotional clarity.
L-R: Sosie Bacon as Dina and Kyle Gallner as James in COTTON FEVER. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Crocodile
Official Synopsis:
In Kaduna, Nigeria, a group of kids turn a backyard into a sci-fi universe using a single phone and boundless imagination. Filmed over thirteen years, Crocodile follows their homemade film collective as creativity becomes a lifeline and a bold act of rewriting their futures.
A scene from CROCODILE. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Crooks
Official Synopsis:
Genre chameleon Mickey Keating travels to a timeless Chicago for a pulpy, streetwise crime thriller where everyone’s on the take and no one is what they seem.
A scene from CROOKS. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial VS That’s the Weight of the World)
Official Synopsis:
The music you know. The story you don’t.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson tells the story of the Grammy-award winning band chronicling their evolution, highs and lows, spiritual meaning, and lasting legacy.
Finnegan’s Foursome
Official Synopsis:
Two rival brothers and their adult children head to Ireland to honor their late father’s final wish: scattering his ashes on the coastal golf course he adored. What starts as a clash of egos, old grudges, and comic misadventures becomes a week of unlikely bonding and hard-won warmth. Along the way, the Finnegans learn that family—like golf—takes patience, forgiveness, and a willingness to play through the rough.
Frampton
Official Synopsis:
From the arena-shaking triumph of “Frampton Comes Alive!” to a final tour shaped by a degenerative diagnosis, Frampton follows a rock icon who lost everything and fought his way back—again and again.
Peter Frampton in FRAMPTON. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Full Circle: The First All Black Everest Ascent
Official Synopsis:
An all-Black team sets out to summit Mount Everest not just to make history, but to redefine what it means to climb and who belongs in the mountains.
A scene from FULL CIRCLE: THE FIRST ALL BLACK EVEREST ASCENT. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Hadestown: The Musical
Official Synopsis:
Anaïs Mitchell’s Tony-winning musical Hadestown comes to the silver screen as the five principal members of the original Broadway cast—Reeve Carney, André De Shields, Amber Gray, Eva Noblezada, and Patrick Page—reunite on the West End for this reinterpretation of timeless love stories from Greek mythology.
A scene from HADESTOWN: THE MUSICAL. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Holo
Official Synopsis:
When her abusive partner dies, Claire contacts Looking Glass, a company specializing in artificial encounters by means of an actor and facial technology to confront him and gain closure.
A scene from HOLO. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Iconoclast
Official Synopsis:
Gabriel Basso (The Night Agent) writes, directs and stars in this tightly coiled psychological thriller. A reclusive loner’s obsession with a live-streaming influencer reshapes his entire existence through one unsettling choice at a time.
A scene from ICONOCLAST. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
In Memoriam
Official Synopsis:
What is the one thing that a dying man feels will prove his life was worth something? A place in the Academy Awards® “In Memoriam” segment, of course. A unique, heartfelt dramedy about waking up in life before it’s too late.
L-R: Marc Maron as Langston and Talia Ryder as Maura in IN MEMORIAM. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
In the Hand of Dante
Official Synopsis:
Lives run in parallel in Julian Schnabel’s ode to art and the ineffability of creativity as Oscar Isaac takes on the dual roles of 14th Century poet Dante Alighieri, who is agonizing over his Divine Comedy, and 21st century author Nick Tosches, who is tasked by a mafia don to steal a handwritten manuscript of the poet’s masterpiece.
IX XI
Official Synopsis:
Twelve unique individuals recount their lives leading up to and during the tragic events of 9/11. As everyday New Yorkers, their narratives embody the impact the attacks had on the millions of people who call this city home.
A scene from IX XI. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Kids Like Me
Official Synopsis:
The charming Kids Like Me explores the life and aspirations of Oliver, a rambunctious and imaginative preteen growing up with disabilities, who’s an avowed murder-mystery aficionado about to craft the perfect mystery caper.
L-R: Oliver Odwazny-Beebe and Chad Odwazny in KIDS LIKE ME. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
The Leader
Official Synopsis:
Tim Blake Nelson and Vera Farmiga star in the unsettling true story of Heaven’s Gate, the cult that convinced dozens to abandon their lives and await evacuation from planet Earth.
A scene from THE LEADER. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
The Long Haul
Official Synopsis:
Three-time Emmy winner Margo Martindale is CJ, a long-haul trucker who’s been running from a dark truth for decades. When long-buried demons reemerge, the road she’s lived on can no longer keep the past at bay.
Margo Martindale as CJ in THE LONG HAUL. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Lucy Schulman
Official Synopsis:
After a crushing breakup, Lucy moves back in with her eccentric single dad and dives into bad dates, false starts, and growing pains. Big-hearted and sharply funny, Lucy Schulman is a charming comedic coming-of-age story from multihyphenate Tribeca alum Ellie Sachs.
L-R: David Cross and Ellie Sachs as Lucy in LUCY SCHULMAN. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Micronations
Official Synopsis:
From backyard kingdoms to full-blown diplomatic summits, the world’s self-declared kings, queens and emperors invite you in. A whimsical and surprisingly timely documentary about borders, identity and the human need to belong.
A scene from MICRONATIONS. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Only What We Carry
Official Synopsis:
Long-buried secrets and emerging romances bubble up and boil over between a dancer, her sister, her former choreographer, and his visiting friend in this improvisational drama shot in six days on the Normandy coast.
A scene from ONLY WHAT WE CARRY. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Playing POTUS
Official Synopsis:
From Chevy Chase’s Gerald Ford to Maya Rudolph’s Kamala Harris, Playing POTUS explores how comedians don’t just parody leaders, they help define them. Featuring comedy legends and late-night insiders, this sharp, entertaining documentary reveals how presidential impressions became one of America’s most influential, and surprisingly powerful, forms of political storytelling.
Dana Carvey in PLAYING POTUS. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Ponderosa
Official Synopsis:
When the buffet where Zeke’s mom works closes down, he’s forced to entertain the wild advances of a rich regular who is weirdly and vehemently obsessed with becoming his father.
A scene from PONDEROSA. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Recluse
Official Synopsis:
After being summoned back to her childhood home to care for her bedridden father, Joan must confront the unearthed demons of her family’s past and contend with the home’s dark, malevolent energy that is both unseen and, much to her horror, seen.
A scene from RECLUSE. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
The Revisionist
Official Synopsis:
Searching for inspiration for her next novel, Elise subtly manipulates the people closest to her like characters in a book. The sudden return of an old friend challenges just how far she’s willing to go in pursuit of her art.
A scene from THE REVISIONIST. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Sara Bareilles: Good Grief
Official Synopsis:
Seven years after her Grammy Award-winning Amidst the Chaos, Sara Bareilles reunites with her closest collaborators to record a new album. What emerges is an intimate, cinematic process that lays bare the musician’s deep connections and inspirations in Tribeca alum Josh Alexander’s moving music documentary.
Sara Bareilles in SARA BAREILLES: GOOD GRIEF. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Stealing Magic
Official Synopsis:
Someone is stealing the secrets behind magicians’ greatest tricks and selling them on illicit websites. Magician Andi Gladwin leads an unlikely team of illusionists on an international caper to track down the culprits.
A scene from STEALING MAGIC. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
That Friend
Official Synopsis:
A trip to Palm Springs, meant to be refreshing for Henry and his girlfriend Penny, escalates to cackling shenanigans when his bombastic friend Paul tags along. Armed with laced cigarettes and a passion for taking things too far, Paul tests the bonds of everyone involved.
A scene from THAT FRIEND. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Time Warp
Official Synopsis:
50 years after The Rocky Horror Picture Show electrified audiences, a drag theater company in the once-booming mining town of Rock Springs, Wyoming, stages a shadow cast of the cult classic. Led by the charismatic 25-year-old performer Kenny Starling, the determined troupe spotlights the ongoing fight for queer visibility and acceptance in their community.
A scene from TIME WARP. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
Turn It Up
Official Synopsis:
An indie rock band struggling to make its mark finds a possible meal ticket in an infectious new guitar riff. Unfortunately, it’s also a cursed melody that just so happens to open a portal to another, much scarier dimension.
A scene from TURN IT UP. Photo courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
About Tribeca Enterprises:
Tribeca Enterprises is a multi-platform media and entertainment company that owns and operates the Tribeca Festival, Tribeca Studios, and production company m ss ng p eces. With strong roots in independent film, Tribeca is synonymous with creative expression and entertainment. Founded in 2003 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff, Tribeca Enterprises brings artists and audiences together to celebrate storytelling in all its forms, including film, TV, music, audio storytelling, games, and immersive. Tribeca champions emerging and established voices, discovers award-winning talent, curates innovative experiences, and introduces new ideas through exclusive premieres, exhibitions, conversations, and live performances. In 2019, James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems bought a majority stake in Tribeca Enterprises, bringing together Rosenthal, De Niro, and Murdoch to grow the enterprise.
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