These Are the 5 Must-See Movies From the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival

It's festival season — and no, not just of the music variety. Film festivals have been sprouting up all over the world as summer officially kicks off, from last month's Cannes Film Festival to the Tribeca Film Festival, which just took over the Big Apple from June 7 to 18 to showcase upcoming feature films, documentaries, short films, TV shows, and more.

While the stars were busy stepping onto the red carpet in some very good fashion looks (hello, Vanessa Hudgens), press and industry insiders screened the expansive catalogue of films premiering at this year's event. For an entertainment writer (hi, it's me), that means early access to countless movies with some of Hollywood's most renowned stars (I know, it's a hard job).

Luckily for you, I've narrowed it down to the top five movies that will most likely be on everyone's radar (and perhaps a few awards-show ballots) in the coming year when they officially hit the big screen. Read on for which movies you'll definitely want to add to your "must-see" list this year.

The Line

In his feature narrative debut, Ethan Berger explores the toxic culture of scandal-ridden collegiate fraternities by following a fictional frat that faces some very real consequences when a hazing incident goes awry.

The film's cast is stacked with the up-and-coming stars of Hollywood's next generation, including Alex Wolff, Halle Bailey, Austin Abrams, Lewis Pullman, Will Ropp, Angus Cloud, and more. The group of actors portray a scarily accurate depiction of the coked-out, degenerate fraternity brothers that currently reside on college campuses. In fact, at the end of the film, a photo of Timothy Piazza — a Penn State student who tragically died during a hazing exercise in 2017 — flashes across the screen as a warning of the dangerous real-life outcomes of hazing. While the movie is a work of fiction, Piazza's parents did approve the making of the film, according to Deadline.

He Went That Way

Jacob Elordi and Zachary Quinto both give outstanding and captivating performances in the thrilling retelling of a true story of a chance encounter between a celebrity animal trainer and a serial killer in 1964. The movie is inspired by Conrad Hilberry’s book, titled Luke Karamazov, which tells the real-life tale of a three-day roadtrip with Dave Pitts, his famous monkey Spanky, and killer Larry Lee Ranes. Elordi plays Bobby Falls (based off Ranes) who bums a cross-country ride from the monkey handler Jim Goodwin (inspired by real-life trainer Dave Pitts). The two strike-up an unlikely friendship which ultimately saves Jim's life. Elordi eerily portrays the deranged and enigmatic murderer, who finds moments of redemption with both Jim and the viewer alike.

Downtown Owl

Lily Rabe and her real-life husband Hamish Linklater make their directorial debut with this film adaptation of Chuck Klosterman’s 2008 novel of the same name that details a massive (fictional) snowstorm in a 1984 North Dakota. A star-studded cast including Vanessa Hudgens, Henry Golding, Ed Harris, Finn Wittrock, and August Blanco Rosenstein depicts the residents of the small midwestern town, Owl, that are brought together under the weather-induced circumstances.

The Graduates

This narrative feature film follows high school senior Genevieve (played by Mina Sundwall), who is still processing the traumatic aftermath of a school shooting that took the life her boyfriend and other classmates, something that plagues her as she gets closer to graduation. The film also stars Alex R. Hibbert, Maria Dizzia, and John Cho, and is executive produced by Chloé Zhao, best known for directing the Oscar-winning film Nomadland. The Graduates also took home the 2023 festival's award for Best Cinematography in a U.S. Narrative Feature.

Cinnamon

This romantic noir thriller, which marks Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr.'s directorial debut, follows a young, down-on-her-luck singer Jodi Jackson (Hailey Kilgore) who falls in love with crook Eddie (David Iacono) while on a quest to pursue her dreams. The two devise a plan to propel Jodi's career, but when the scheme goes south, the two must find a way out of the mess they created.