With Sundance and Cannes safely in the review, the film world sets its sights on next major festival. For two weeks, some of the world’s biggest and rising filmmakers descend on the Big Apple to indulge in one of the city’s greatest festivals, Tribeca Film Festival.
Back for its 24th year, the Robert DeNiro founded event elevates the festival circuit with a wide range of selections this year. Tribeca bridges the gap in artistic expression, showcasing everything from cinematic music videos to rappers’ filmmaking debuts.
Aside from in-depth panels, podcasts and interviews, Tribeca gave space to a flourish of rising filmmakers. Under the watchful eye of the industry’s best filmmaking programs, many artists descended upon the Tribeca area for a chance to rub shoulders with executives.
Among the competition sections, a majority of the festival’s top honors went to women. Women filmmakers, in a male-dominated industry, shone through, swiftly and precisely producing groundbreaking stories and captivating cinematography.
Charliebird, Happy Birthday, and Natchez take top honors in the U.S. Narrative, International Narrative, and Documentary, respectively.
“Every year at Tribeca we set out to spotlight the most exciting new voices from around the world,” Tribeca Festival director and SVP of programming Cara Cusumano said of the films. “We are thrilled our jury honored this mission with winners that brilliantly represent the vibrancy and diversity of global independent storytelling today.”
Charliebird, making its world premiere, was a whirlwind of cinematic expression. For a film winning one of the biggest honors at Tribeca, director Libby Ewing’s directorial debut is a delight.
The film follows AI (Samantha Smart) a music therapist at a children’s hospital, as she starts on a collision course with rebellious teen Charlie (Gabriela Ochoa Perez) as they discover something within themselves. The contrast between Al’s approach with the younger patients and 17-year-old Charlie is at the forefront of this emotional film.
The duration of the film sees Al trying to build a relationship with Charlie and not much else happens. While many may see a film empty of major conflict, Charliebird is nothing if not intentional in its plot. The film doesn’t suffer as the two leads garner enough attention to carry throughout the film. Ewing directs the actors in a heartwarming song and dance that leaves the audience hooked in between every piece of dialogue.
Happy Birthday, winner of the international narrative competition, offers more in terms of showcasing the harsh realities of classism.
First time filmmaker Sarah Goher focuses her lens through the eyes of Toha (Doha Ramadan), an 8-year-old maid who faithfully tries to provide the party of the year for her best friend Nelly, the daughter of her wealthy employer.
The setting of Happy Birthday is modern-day Cairo; Nothing else matters for Toha as the child zips in front of the lens in hopes of providing for a friend she sees in need. Goher does a fantastic job of placing the weight of the film’s plot on the young actress Ramadan.
Goher doesn’t shy away from exposing the underlying cracks within the wealth class and how more than 8.5% of the world is living paycheck to paycheck. Financial status plays a major part in every character’s life and ultimately boxes in their arch.
With Natchez, racism and a self reckoning makes for a hard look in the mirror for a southern Mississippi town. For the Best Documentary Feature winner, filmmaker Suzannah Herbert explores the history of Natchez, Mississippi. Slavery and hardship rooted the town, a Deep South tourist destination built on the antebellum era. Herbert peels back the layers of the town and works to understand it more.
Natchez is ugly. The doc doesn’t pull any punches while also finding the workings of depicting history. During the duration of the doc, many of the houses shown throughout seem to be on the verge of closing down. Whether the sound of the times or post COVID having an impact, Herbert shines a lens on the overarching problem.
Questions of how to proceed with giving back to descents of the town survivors. Despite its tough theme, Herbert does find the beauty in the subtle notes of it all. Natchez is one of the most endearing and thought-provoking docs in recent years.
Outside of the top honors at Tribeca, the event still hosted incredible films and programs outreach. Musicians took the spotlight in a major way during the fest.
Coming off the recent release of her new sound expanding concept album, ‘Something Beautiful,’ pop star Miley Cyrus debuted her short film.
The ‘Something Beautiful’ short film brought out some of the music industry’s biggest and brightest stars with the woman of the hour leading the charge. Much like all concept albums, Cyrus’ expansive world on the audio project reflects in the visual form.
Rappers, Logic and RZA each showcased different sides of themselves with feature films. Logic teamed up with Kevin Smith for his director debut Paradise Records, an ode to record stores. For RZA, the icon showcased his action thriller drama, One Spoon of Chocolate, starring Shameik Moore.
Tribeca continues to play a major part in New York’s thriving film landscape. Every year artists flock to the area in hopes of showing their heart beating projects in the limelight. With DeNiro leading the charge, Tribeca and New York is part of an ecosystem that will never die out.
