The 10th annual Tribeca film festival will open with the world premiere of the Elton John documentary The Union. Directed by Cameron Crowe, the film is a behind-the-scenes portrait of John's recent collaboration with the songwriter Leon Russell. For good measure, Elton John will also mark the occasion, on the evening of 20 April, with a free outdoor concert in lower Manhattan.

"To have Elton, whose music transcends generations, perform after (the screening) is an extraordinary gift to our festival and more specifically the downtown community," said Jane Rosenthal, who co-founded the Tribeca film festival with her husband Craig Hatkoff and the actor Robert De Niro in 2001.

This year's event will showcase 88 features, whittled down from a record submission of 5,624. Potential highlights include Jesus Henry Christ, a comedy-drama about a boy genius's search for his biological father, which co-stars Toni Collette and Michael Sheen. Also on the bill is the grey-bearded western Blackthorn, starring Sam Shepard as a doddering Butch Cassidy, and The Last Rites of Joe May, in which Dennis Farina plays an ageing Chicago hustler. Competing for the documentary prize is Gnarr, a Michael Moore-ish tale of Iceland's financial meltdown, and The Swell Season, which follows the romance and eventual breakup of singers Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who starred together in the 2007 Oscar-winning drama Once.

The Tribeca film festival runs from 20 April to 1 May in New York, with the complete programme due to be announced next week.