Tribeca Festival: A$AP Rocky, Emily Ratajkowski and Vanessa Hudgens among stars to attend premieres

The New York event is the US's first in-person film festival since the start of the pandemic

A$AP Rocky attends the premiere for 'Stockholm Syndrome' during the 20th Tribeca Festival at The Battery on Sunday, June 13, 2021, in New York. AP

Vanessa Hudgens attends a special screening of 'Asking For It' at the SVA Theatre on Saturday, June 12, 2021, in New York. AP

Executive producer and actor Lisa Yaro attends a special screening of 'Asking For It' at the SVA Theatre on Saturday, June 12, 2021, in New York. AP

Actors Vanessa Hudgens, left, poses with executive producer and actress Lisa Yaro a special screening of 'Asking For It' at the SVA Theatre on Saturday, June 12, 2021, in New York. AP

Actors Alexandra Shipp, left, and Vanessa Hudgens pose together at a special screening of 'Asking For It' at the SVA Theatre on Saturday, June 12, 2021, in New York. AP

Actor Leslie Stratton attends a special screening of 'Asking For It' at the SVA Theatre on Saturday, June 12, 2021, in New York. AP

Emily Ratajkowski attends 'Storytellers: Amy Schumer & Emily Ratajkowski' during the 2021 Tribeca Festival at Spring Studios on June 12, 2021. AFP

Tommy Thayer, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, and Eric Singer of Kiss attend the 2021 Tribeca Festival screening of 'Biography: KISStory' at The Battery on June 11, 2021. AFP

Actor Luke Kirby attends the premiere for 'No Man of God' during the 20th Tribeca Festival at Pier 76 in Hudson River Park, New York on Friday, June 11, 2021. AP

John Legend attends the screening for 'Legend of the Underground' during the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival at Brookfield Place on Thursday, June 10, 2021. AP

Director Eamon O'Rourke attends aa special screening of 'Asking For It' at the SVA Theatre on Saturday, June 12, 2021, in New York. AP

Actor Katerina Baker attends a special screening of 'Asking For It' at the SVA Theatre on Saturday, June 12, 2021, in New York. AP

Rebecca Hall attends the premiere of 'With/In' during the 20th Tribeca Festival at Brookfield Place on Sunday, June 13, 2021, in New York. AP

Bart Freundlich and Julianne Moore attend the premiere of 'With/In' during the 20th Tribeca Festival at Brookfield Place on Sunday, June 13, 2021, in New York. AP

Producers Matthew Perniciaro, left, and Michael Sherman attend the premiere for 'Stockholm Syndrome' during the 20th Tribeca Festival at The Battery, New York on Sunday, June 13, 2021. AP

Rita Moreno attends the premiere of 'Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It' during the 20th Tribeca Festival at Pier 76, New York on Saturday, June 12, 2021. AP

The Tribeca Festival is underway in New York, marking the US's first in-person film festival since the start of the pandemic.

Now in its 20th year, the event has dropped "film" from its title, as the event also features shorts, TV series, podcasts and games.

This year, the Features programme will include 66 productions from 81 filmmakers from 23 countries, as well as 56 world premieres. The event kicked off on Wednesday with the premiere of Jon M Chu's adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical In the Heights.

Over the weekend, a number of premieres took place, including A$AP Rocky documentary Stockholm Syndrome. The film follows the rapper's rise to fame, and details the dark turn his story took when he was imprisoned following a violent altercation in Stockholm, Sweden, during the European leg of his 2019 tour. Rocky, real name Rakim Mayers, was present at the documentary's premiere, alongside co-producers Matthew Perniciaro and Michael Sherman.

Also enjoying its premiere at the festival was Oklahoma-made thriller, Asking For It, which stars Vanessa Hudgens, Ezra Miller and Luke Hemsworth. Hudgens attended the film's presentation, dressed in a leopard print shirt dress, which she teamed with a slick bun up-do.

With/In, a documentary-style film starring Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, Rebecca Hall and more, was shot on iPhone and tasked people to shoot a short film dealing with quarantine life in 2020. Sanaa Lathan and Chris Cooper make their directorial debuts with With/In as Bart Freundlich helms the project. The result is a touchingly optimistic record of one of this generation's most difficult years.

Tommy Thayer, Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and Eric Singer of Kiss were also in attendance for the premiere of their documentary, Biography: KISStory. 

The celebrate, the band also put on a mini concert at the Festival's Battery Park location, with performances of Detroit Rock City, Shout It Out Loud, War Machine and Heaven's on Fire. It was the band's first live performance in more than a year.

While there was initial worry that submissions for this year's Tribeca would be on the lower side because of the pandemic, festival director Cara Cusumano said it’s had an opposite effect.

"We didn't know what to expect, submissions wise," she told Variety magazine. "I had heard from colleagues that festivals had been seeing fewer submissions this year, which makes sense, but our submissions actually did go up. We had over 10,000 in total, across all of our sections."