New York-----The Tribeca Film Festival will open in a little over a week with the highly anticipated new comedy from legendary filmmaker Woody Allen. WHATEVER WORKS is Allen’s first film shot in New York after a recent spate of successful films helmed in Europe. The comedy stars Larry David, Even Rachel Wood, Patricia Clarkson and Ed Begley Jr. and will have its world premiere at the Festival on 22 April.  

Allen has just had a success d’estime with his well regarded VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, which won a Golden Globe Award as Best Comedy and garnered Spanish actress Penelope Cruz her first Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The film, which will be distributed by Sony Pictures Classics in North America, the company that collaborated with the director with the musical film SWEET AND LOWDOWN (1999), which earned Oscar nominations that year for Sean Penn and Samantha Morton. “A lovely idea of showing my film in a film festival in my own city”, Allen commented in a prepared statement. Whether the reclusive director will actually show up is another matter….

Sandy Mandelberger, Film New York Editor