Although there is a significant decrease in films being shown this year as opposed to last, the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival kicks off with a salubrious New York flair with Woody Allen's, "Whatever Works", starring Larry David, on Wed April 22, 2009, and Spike Lee's Sports Documentary, "Kobe Doin' Work", on Saturday, April 25th!!! 

Other popular stars and directors appearing at the festival include the following: 

Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna in Carlos Cuaron's, "Rudo y Cursi",

Films with Israeli content, "Rachel" by Director, Simone Bitton, "Salt of this Sea", by Annemarie Jacir, and "Seven Minutes in Heaven" by Omri Givon, 

Musically inclined films, Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language film, "Departures", by Kundo Keyama,  "Burning Down The House: The Story of CBGB", by Mandy Stern,  "P-Star Rising" by Director Gabriel Noble, "Blank City" by Director Celine Danhler, "Soundtrack for a Revolution", and "Soul Power" with clips from James Brown and Muhammad Ali,

Sexually Explicit Films: Steven Soderbergh's,  "The Girlfriend Experience", and George Clooney produced, "Playground", and

Drama and Documentaries:  "About Elly" by Asghar Farhadi, "Garapa", by Jose Padilha, and "Transcendent Man" by Barry Ptolemy, will also be shown, along with hundreds of others.

Plan accordingly, as the festival is well under way with ticket packages having already gone on sale, film guides downloaded, and  press screenings being shown daily.