The Tribeca Film Festival kicks off Wednesday, April 23rd and lasts through Sunday, May 4th. It’s always a great affair to remember, so I suggest getting some tickets before they all sell out.

Opening on the 23rd with a gala presentation of “Baby Mama”, the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler film directed by Lorne Michaels, the festival then becomes a melange of different moods and nationalities.

Being always partial to ethnic films from around the world, there a few Middle Eastern entries that stand out, like the documentary “Baghdad High” about four classmates belonging to four different religious faiths, each filming their last year of high school from their personal point of view.

Or in the South Asian category there is “Before the Rains” directed by Santosh Sivan and starring Linus Roache, Rahul Bose and Nandita Das. Set in Kerala in 1937, the film deals with forbidden love, the test of loyalty and the last issues of the British Raj. Don’t miss “Ramchand Pakistani”, adapted from actual events and directed by Mehreen Jabbar, about an eight-year old Pakistani boy who decided to fight his own war by marching across the invisible line that separates bitter enemies India and Pakistan. The entries are fabulous, there is just so much to see and you simply cannot afford to miss this rocking NYC institution.

Images courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival