Tribeca Festival blends films, live performances in varied slate
From a crime drama starring actress Glenn Close to an Arnold Schwarzenegger film about a deadly zombie epidemic to an expose of the financial crisis, the Tribeca Film Festival unveiled a varied slate of movies on Thursday.After announcing the documentary and narrative films in competition on Tuesday, the festival revealed its full schedule of nearly 100 feature-length films. As in previous years, the downtown New York event will pair films with live music, dance and comedy performances linked to them."Mary J. Blige - The London Sessions," about the recording of one of the rhythm and blues singer's albums, will be followed by a concert at the Beacon Theater. A special dance performance will accompany "A Ballerina's Tale," which offers a peek into the daily life of Misty Copeland of New York's American Ballet Theatre."Seeing a film together alongside a live performance heightens the experience, engages the imagination and brings audiences together is an unforgettable way," Genna Terranova, the festival's director, said in a statement.The festival line-up will include the world premiere of "Anesthesia," about a New York college professor mugged near his home and starring Sam Waterston, Glenn Close and Kristen Stewart.Schwarzenegger, California's former governor, will be back on the big screen in "Maggie" as a small-town farmer whose daughter is infected in an epidemic threatening humanity.And in "The Wannabe," based on the events surrounding the trial of American mobster John Gotti in 1992, best supporting Oscar winner Patricia Arquette ("Boyhood") embarks on a crime spree.Documentaries, always a major component at Tribeca, include    "The Emperor's New Clothes," an expose of the impact of the financial crisis by English writer/director Michael Winterbottom and comedian Russell Brand.The festival, which runs from April 16-26, was founded in 2001 by actor Robert De Niro, producer Jane Rosenthal and investor Craig Hatkoff to revitalize the downtown New York neighborhood following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.