Justin Arnold in Leads. The Austin-made film, directed by Bryan Poyser and starring Heather Kafka, will be screening as part of the narrative feature competition at this year’s Tribeca Festival Credit: Image Courtesy of Tribeca

New York’s Tribeca Festival has just announced its 2025 lineup, and it’s big news for the Austin film scene as two movies made in and around Austin by Austin filmmakers are heading to the Big Apple.

The festival (running June 4-15) is opening with a homecoming for the piano man himself, with Long Island native William Martin Joel looking back on a legendary musical career in opening night gala presentation Billy Joel: And So It Goes. The festival also includes the New York premiere of the live action remake of DreamWorks Animation’s beloved How to Train Your Dragon, true crime what-if Re-Creation about the unsolved murder of French filmmaker Sophie Toscan du Plantier, and The Inquisitor, a new documentary about political trailblazer and Black icon, Texas’ own Barbara Jordan.

But the indie capitol of the world is represented in the lineup, starting in the Narrative Feature competition with the return of several familiar faces in the Austin film scene, including one behind the camera. Bryan Poyser’s been busy with short films like “Don’t You Go Nowhere” and in his day job as a lecturer at Texas State in San Marcos, but now he’s made his first feature since 2013’s Love & Air Sex with Leads. The goofy yet bittersweet comedy focuses on siblings Mags and Merritt Malloy as they contend with their own arrested development and each other’s issues.

Leads reunites Poyser with his Lovers of Hate star Heather Kafka as Mags, a one-time Sundance star now contending with life as an acting teacher, while Love & Air Sex‘s Justin Arnold (Pit Stop) is back in the fold as ambitious reprobate Merritt. Filmed in Austin and on the Texas State campus, the film also stars another Austin regular, Macon Blair (Blue Ruin, Green Room, Hold the Dark) ahead of the release of his reboot of The Toxic Avenger, as well as long time South by Southwest regular Sara Paxton (The Innkeepers, Cheap Thrills).

Kelsey Pribilski Ray in Man Finds Tape. The Austin-made horror, written and directed by Peter Hall and Paul Gandersman, will screen as part of the Escape From Tribeca strand at this year’s Tribeca Festival. Credit: Image Courtesy of Tribeca Festival

But Leads isn’t the only Austin film headed to NYC. Man Finds Tape is first feature from writer/director duo Peter Hall and Paul Gandersman, creators of festival fave short “Givertaker” and co-authors of YA horror novel The Dead Friends Society.

Produced by newly-minted Austin transplant David Lawson Jr. (Descendent), long term local Ashley Landavazo (Scare Package, Hypnotic), and another famous creative duo, Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson (Moon Knight, Loki, Spring, Synchronic, and Something in the Dirt), it’s a small town Texas horror about adult siblings who uncover a dark secret through a series of strange video clips.

Man Finds Tape also stars Kelsey Pribilski Ray (Yellow Rose, Rondo and Bob), William Magnuson (In Between Girl), Brian Villalobos (The Crucible, Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood), and Chronicle cover artist and comedy scene mainstay John Gholson (Make Popular Movies) in a performance that’s already being called a game changer for the polymath.

Tribeca Festival 2025 runs June 4-15. Tickets and info at tribecafilm.com.

This article appears in April 11 • 2025.

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The Chronicle's first Culture Desk editor, Richard has reported on Austin's growing film production and appreciation scene for over a decade. A graduate of the universities of York, Stirling, and UT-Austin, a Rotten Tomatoes certified critic, and eight-time Best of Austin winner, he's currently at work on two books and a play.