I round out my prep for Tribeca 2016 with a look at some of the Shorts Programs playing. For the duration of a feature film you can see a few pieces, threaded together by a common theme. Here are a few programming blocks and a feature (or two) I think are of interest (N=Narrative D=Documentary):
New York Now Home-grown New York shorts
You Can Go (N): A high school administrator talks down a troubled student.
The Mulberry Bush (N): Two men sit next to each other on an autumn day in Central Park. They make small talk about the weather and the joys of summer. When the conversation turns personal, however, it becomes clear that this is no random encounter, and they are headed toward a startling confrontation.
Wannabe (N): NYC, 1991. During a time of tremendous racial strife, a neurotic Jewish boy must win over his crush by first impressing her skeptical Jamaican family.
Christine Turner.
Photo credit: Marshall Stief
New York Then Human stories and New York’s past
Taylor and Ultra on the 60s, The Factory and Being a Warhol Superstar (D): Warhol superstar Ultra Violet (Isabelle Colin Dufresne) and Lower East Side icon Taylor Mead (poet/actor/artist) share their stories of Manhattan in the 1960s.
Dead Ringer (D): There are only four outdoor phone booths left in all of New York City—this is a late night conversation with one of them.
Mulberry (D): This cinematic portrait of Little Italy explores how a working class neighborhood of tenement buildings transformed into the third most expensive zip code in the United States. Part funny, part sad, the film investigates how gentrification and rent control are affecting the neighborhood’s long-term residents.
Starring Austin Pendleton (D): The most famous actor you’ve never heard of; Austin Pendleton reflects on his life and craft while his A-list peers discuss his vast influence and what it means to be an original in a celebrity-obsessed world. Includes interviews with Philip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Natalie Portman, Olympia Dukakis, and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
The Carousel (D): In the small town of Binghamton, New York, there spins a 1925 carousel that once inspired Rod Serling and has since become a portal into the Twilight Zone.
Rock and a Hard Place Music-driven documentary shorts program
Let’s Dance: Bowie Down Under (D): The remarkable, forgotten story behind ‘Let’s Dance,’ David Bowie’s biggest hit record.
That’s it for now. Stay tuned for updates, tweets and some reviews!
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