What’s that descending on New York City? No, not the apocalyptic smoke that has made the air quality rank among the worst in the world, I mean the independent Film community, congregating for the Tribeca Film Festival!

As Short of the Week’s resident New Yorker, I always make a point of attending, alongside fellow local Chelsea Lupkin, and this year’s lineup is very rewarding for Short of the Week fans…at least on the feature film side. That said, under the leadership of Sharon Badal, the shorts program consistently offers something different than the other major North American festivals (which often have considerable overlap in their programming), so we’re excited to make new discoveries. Here are the new projects from our alums in the feature section as well as picks we’re excited by in the shorts. 

Features

The New York City festival starts next week and a bunch of filmmakers featured on Short of the Week will be presenting feature films there. Congrats, and join me and members of the Shortverse/Short of the Week team at some of these screenings.

Hannah Peterson directs and writes The Graduates, her debut feature film about a group of friends facing an unsettling senior year after tragedy strikes.

Katherine Propper, seen earlier this year as a finalist for our Short Awards with Birds, writes and directs Lost Soulz, a feature about a young rapper as he leaves behind his surrogate family and sets out on an expedition across Texas, contemplating new and old friendships.

Benjamin Weissner, the longtime collaborator of Danny Madden and Jim Cummings is producing The Secret Art of Human Flight. While mourning the death of his wife and fending off an ambitious detective who thinks he killed her, Ben encounters a man who claims that he can teach him to fly.

Pier-Philippe Chevigny is presenting Richelieu, a film about a woman who must decide whether to speak out about injustice among seasonal migrant workers.

Zoe McIntosh directs a very cool-sounding feature doc called Stylebender about the MMA champion Israel Adesanya.

Dustin Guy Defa delivers The Adults, a feature-length drama about 3 siblings with a complicated past.

Rod Blackhurst will world premiere Blood for Dust, an action thriller that stars Scoot McNairy, Kit Harrington, and Stephen Dorff among others.

James Gallagher is sharing Songs About Fucking, a documentary on the road with Marc Rebillet as he embarks on one of the first live music tours after COVID-19 lockdown.

Jennifer Reeder delivers Perpetrator in the fest’s Midnight section. Teenager Jonny gains supernatural abilities through a mystical transformation, just as girls from her new school go missing. Jonny takes the investigation into her own hands in this coming-of-age, feminist horror-noir

Travon Free, Oscar-winner for Two Distant Strangers, has the World Premiere of his feature doc BS High about the scam prep school Bishop Sycamore which became a national story when they frauded their way onto ESPN for a televised football game.

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Shorts

Not a lot of alums to point out, but here are 8 shorts we’re curious to learn more about. 

Tits by Eivind Landsvik

Fresh off a premiere in the Official Selection at Cannes, this Norwegian short was one of Céline’s favorites while out in France. Check out the trailer on its Shortverse page. 

Brenda and Billy (and the Pothos Plant) by Dave Solomon

With a bevy of Tony-nominated talent, this dark horror-comedy promises to be distinctive at the very least, and the trailer on Shortverse has my interest piqued.

Burrow by Leaf Lieber

I quite liked Lieber’s VFX tone-poem of a short,  My Dear Boy, so I’m excited to see his latest. Also, a post-apocalyptic queer story? Yes, please!

HEARTBEAT by Michèle Flury

Well-received out of Locarno this fall, Flury was the editor of the popular documentary short All Cats Are Grey in the Dark, and this tale of female friendship and abortion sounds heavy. 

Shadow Brother Sunday by Alden Ehrenreich

Do we agree that big-name actors should automatically get their directing efforts programmed at major festivals? No, I find it annoying in fact! But, the Solo star is at Tribeca with his short and is also running an auction Friday night to sell 35mm frames of the film as NFTs. Honestly, that sounds so annoying that I’ve horseshoed all the way back around to perverse interest. Plus, maybe the short is great!

Regular Rabbit by Eoin Duffy

Eoin is a legend of long-time fave of ours from works such as On Departure and The Missing Scarf. His trademark animated minimalism is instantly recognizable and Regular Rabbit is near the top of the list of films I look forward to this year. 

The Winterkeeper by Laurence Topham, David Levene

Topham’s My Brother’s Keeper ranked very highly on our list of 2021 documentaries. Working with The Guardian again, this time he, with David Levene, tackle climate change in America’s most iconic national park, Yellowstone.

Then Comes the Body by Jacob Krupnick

Krupnick was behind one of the more beloved web video projects of all time, the fascinating Girl Walk All Day. Excited by this new short which documents a ballet school in Nigeria after a video of kids dancing in the rain goes unexpectedly viral. 

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For more short films from Tribeca, check out our DEDICATED CHANNEL to the festival