Topical slate at Tribeca festival

This year’s Tribeca Film Festival plans to offer Americans insights on the Muslim world that may come as a surprise, including skiing in Iran, homosexuality in Egypt and conflicting views on the war in Iraq.

“The aim is to give people a kind of handle on what’s going on in this troubled world,” said Peter Scarlet, executive director of the festival, which actor Robert De Niro founded in 2002 to help revitalize Lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Scarlet said the war in Iraq, now 3 years old, was a prominent theme in the program.

“The War Tapes,” edited from footage by National Guard soldiers in Iraq, and “The Blood of My Brother: A Story of Death in Iraq,” about an Iraqi family whose son is killed by a U.S. patrol, are among 16 documentaries competing at the April 25 to May 7 festival.