Tribeca to Kick Off With The Five-Year Engagement

The Tribeca Film Festival approacheth. The 11th edition of the festival, founded in 2001 by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff as a way to assist the economic and cultural revitalization of post-9/11 lower Manhattan, doesn’t kick off until April 18th, but today movie fans found out one film they’ll have to look forward to at the fest: The Five-Year Engagement, directed by Nicholas Stoller (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Get Him to the Greek), which has been chosen as Tribeca’s opening night film.

The romantic comedy stars Emily Blunt and Jason Segel as an engaged couple who can’t seem to get past “engaged” to “actually married.” The film was written by Stoller and Segel and produced by Stoller, Rodney Rothman (Get Him to the Greek) and Judd Apatow. The Tribeca Film Festival will mark the world premiere of the film, which is scheduled to hit theaters nationwide on April 27th.

“When Jason and I met during the production of ‘Undeclared,’ we couldn’t have imagined that one day we would write a comedy that would open such a prestigious film festival as Tribeca,” says Stoller. “We are so honored that the festival organizers have given us this platform to premiere the film. To be honest, this is all just a ploy to stand on top of a building with Robert De Niro and look out over New York City at dusk.”

Tribeca’s complete feature film slate will be announced on March 6th and 8th, so check back then to find out which films the indie world will be talking about come April.

For more information on the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, taking place from April 18-29, visit www.tribecafilm.com/festival.