Tribeca Film Festival lineup stacked with female directors

Forty-six percent of the 96 films premiering at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival are directed by women — a record for Tribeca — including the festival’s closing night selection: Liz Garbus’ New York Times documentary “The Fourth Estate.”

The annual New York festival announced the feature film lineup for its 17th edition (April 18-29) on Wednesday. Closing the festival will be “The Fourth Estate,” for which Garbus spent months in the Times newsroom documenting the paper’s inner-workings after President Donald Trump’s inauguration. It debuts on Showtime in May.

The festival’s centerpiece will be the sci-fi romance “Zoe,” from director Drake Doremus and starring Ewan McGregor and Léa Seydoux.

Among the Tribeca documentary selections are “Unbanned: The Legend of AJ1,” about Air Jordan sneakers; “Bleeding Edge,” Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick’s exposé on medical technology that causes harm; “The Rachel Divide,” about the disgraced NAACP leader Rachel Dolezal; “Every Act of Life,” about the Tony-winning playwright Terrence McNally; and “Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes,” about the storied jazz record label.

Fiction film entries include the latest from “Beatriz at Dinner” filmmaker Miguel Arteta, “Duck Butter”; the Stockholm syndrome drama “Stockholm,” with Ethan Hawke and Noomi Rapace; “Jonathan,” a sci-fi drama starring Ansel Elgort; and the directorial debut of Paul Lieberstein, best known as Toby from “The Office.”

Making a stop at Tribeca after earlier festival premieres are Michael Mayer’s “The Seagull,” starring Annette Bening and Saoirse Ronan; Susanna White’s “Woman Walks Ahead,” with Jessica Chastain; and Haifaa Al Mansour’s “Mary Shelley,” with Elle Fanning.