The 2025 Tribeca Festival, presented by OKX, returns to New York City from June 4–15 with a powerful statement: Short films are not side dishes — they are center stage. This year, Tribeca is premiering 93 short films, the highest number ever featured by a major film festival.
In a bold move to match this momentum, Tribeca is launching its first-ever “Shorts Cinema” at Spring Studios, a dedicated screening venue embedded in the heart of the festival hub. The theater will spotlight emerging voices and give short-form storytellers a cinematic home worthy of their craft.
“This year, we received a staggering number of short submissions, and while it certainly made our job as programmers more challenging, we are confident our programs will reflect the quality, variety, and imagination of the films we received from around the world,” said Ben Thompson, vice president of Shorts Programming, in a statement. “I am proud that we have expanded our programming, selecting the highest number of short films of any major film festival. Our aim is to make shorts and music videos a major focus at Tribeca, with storytelling that dazzles and delights our audiences here in New York.”
The 2025 short film program features work from 105 filmmakers, with 82 of the shorts in competition, along with 10 music videos. Submissions arrived from more than 30 countries, with first-time entries from Ecuador, Zimbabwe, and Curaçao. The lineup includes 49 world premieres, five international premieres, eight North American premieres, and 19 New York premieres. Five directors return to Tribeca with new projects.
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Narrative, documentary, animation, and music video categories anchor the program, which ranges in tone from darkly comic to deeply personal. Audiences can expect an eclectic mix: New York love letters; late-night horrors; family comedies; and stories of survival, resilience, and joy.
These are among the standout premieres.
- “How I Learned to Die,” directed by Manya Glassman and executive-produced by Oscar-winner Spike Lee, tells the story of a fearless 16-year-old facing a life-threatening operation with grace and grit.
- “Jean Jacket,” from co-directors Maxim and Lucy Nebeker and produced by and starring AnnaSophia Robb, follows a woman gambling everything on a lottery ticket and one last shot at her dream.
- “Kiss My Grass,” directed by Mary Pryor and Mara Whitehead, and executive-produced by Rosario Dawson, Colin Kaepernick, Nancy Whiteman, and Hilary Yu, unearths the high-stakes fight of Black women trying to survive and thrive in the cannabis industry.
The animated shorts program, curated by Whoopi Goldberg, returns with its largest lineup to date.
Music video highlights include:
- “Neverland,” Kid Cudi’s new short film, directed by Ti West and produced by Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions.
- “Rock the Bells,” a joyful throwback from LL Cool J.
- Jack White’s “That’s How I’m Feeling,” a gritty, guitar-fueled confession.
- “Madame President” by Grace Bowers, a hard-charging, blues-soaked anthem.
Among the nonfiction entries, “Doc Albany,” directed by Oscar winner Ben Proudfoot, follows OB/GYN Dr. Sheena Favors as she faces a life-altering decision: stay in rural Georgia, where maternal care is scarce, or return to the ease of city life. The film is produced by Proudfoot’s Breakwater Studios, with executive producers Teresa Barreira (CMO, Publicis Sapient), Nigel Vaz (CEO, Publicis Sapient), and Kirstin Falk of Breakwater Studios.
Also drawing early buzz is “If I Can Dream,” directed by Luis Cross and shot by Toby Leary, which follows Andreas Waldem, a Korean-Swedish Elvis impersonator navigating a Tribute Act competition in South Wales. Set against a town frozen in time, it peels back layers of performance and identity, revealing a man at the crossroads of fantasy and self-reckoning.For a full list of the 2025 Tribeca Festival short film selections, visit TribecaFilm.com. Follow @Tribeca and #Tribeca2025 on social platforms for real-time updates.