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By Peter Della Penna

Director Stevan Riley’s “Fire in Babylon” will be showcased at the Tribeca ESPN Sports Film Festival as part of the wider offerings at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City later this month. The 82-minute documentary focuses on the unprecedented success of the West Indies cricket team during the 1970s and 80s.

The movie was shown last October at the London Film Festival to excellent reviews and the screenings at the Tribeca Film Festival will mark the North American Premiere of the film. In addition to “Fire in Babylon”, there are six other sports documentaries scheduled to be shown during the festival that revolve around baseball, tennis, boxing, surfing, mixed martial arts and basketball.

“Fire in Babylon” will be screened on four separate dates in New York City. On Saturday, April 23 at 8:30 pm and Thursday, April 28 at 9:45 pm, the movie can be seen at Chelsea Clearview Cinemas located at 260 West 23rd Street. On Tuesday, April 26 at 1:00 pm, the movie will be shown at the AMC Loews Village 7 located at 66 Third Avenue. The last screening will take place on Saturday, April 30 at 5:00 pm at Tribeca Cinemas located at 54 Varick Street. Tickets for the matinee show on April 26 are $8 while all other screenings are $16.

Image (right) - "Fire in Babylon" poster. [Courtesy: "Fire in Babylon" Facebook page.]

Riley previously directed a 2007 sports documentary titled “Blue Blood” about the boxing rivalry between Oxford and Cambridge in the UK. That movie made its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.

The Tribeca Film Festival was formed in 2002 by a group including Robert De Niro in an attempt to revitalize the TriBeCa neighborhood of lower Manhattan in the wake of 9/11. Now in its 10th year, it is recognized as one of the biggest and most successful film festivals in the world.