Next month begins the latest installment of the Tribeca Film Festival. I was one of many observers last year who noted that the festival had too many movies in too many venues away from lower Manhattan which, after the Sept. 11th attacks, was the reason for the festival's creation by Robert De Niro and others; to get people back to that area. We were seeing movies screened all over town.

Now it's been announced that the seventh festival has trimmed its content, the 122 entries being 37 fewer than last year's glut of movies. They will be screened at fewer venues as well. As for the films themselves, the full slate has just been announced. Among the ones I'm looking forward to seeing:

Films with Frank Langella, Sissy Spacek and William H. Macy, directorial efforts by Mario Van Peebles and the gifted artist Bill Pympton, and documentaries on John F. Kennedy and the Dalai Lama. The festival runs April 23rd through May 4th. We'll be covering some of the key films in an upcoming edition of REEL TALK. In the meantime, you can read up on all the Tribeca movies here.

(NOTE: NBC Universal, REEL TALK's parent company, is a sponsor of the Tribeca Film Festival)