In less than 24 hours, this year's Tribeca Film Festival will open to an exciting line-up of independent films, narratives, shorts, and documentaries from around the world. The festival, which will run from April 15 to 26 in New York City, boasts of a program that will cater to lovers of art, film, and music.

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One significant highlight of this year's festival is the surge of female directors. Out of the 119 feature-lengths films, 40 were directed by women -- making it the highest percentage of female filmmakers in the festival's 14-year history. Nine of these women directors will be featured in the World Documentary Feature Competition.

Star Wars fans will be thrilled to know that in this year's Tribeca Talks: Directors Series, George Lucas will be giving a talk, with comedian Stephen Colbert on April 17 at 4:00 p.m. Christopher Nolan will be in conversation with Bennett Miller, and James Schamus will interview Cary Fukunaga.

For those looking forward to the festival's live musical performances, Tribeca has an impressive line-up of artists from Pharell, to The National Nas, and the legendary Elton John, and will be also be honoring all-time great Frank Sinatra. Music lovers will also be treated to premiere screenings of music documentaries from around the world.

Some of the films that stand out in the lineup include ALS sufferer and experimental filmmaker Patrick O'Brien's "TransFatty Lives," which chronicles his life as a creatively defiant artist in the midst of his crippling illness.

With the escalating threats of ISIS in different parts of the world, also to watch out for is the timely documentary "Among the Believers," by directors Hemal Trivedi and Mohammed Ali Naqvi. The documentary is an in-depth examination of religious extremism, also giving viewers a chance to research into a Muslim leader, Maulana Aziz, who runs an organization that trains children for holy war.

This year's filmfest will also glisten with Hollywood stars, which include Richard Gere, James Franco, Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart, Christian Slater, Ed Harris, Olivia Wilde, Luke Wilson, Giovanni Ribisi, Zooey Deschanel, John Hawkes, and more.

TagsTribeca Film Festival, films, documentaries, narratives, shorts, directors, artists