Tribeca Film Festival 2019 Short Films Report #1

What a year for short films! This year’s Tribeca Film Festival was a central hub for greatness in the Short Film department, curating collection after collection of thought provoking, emotional and humorous shorts. Short films, in my opinion, are one of the most underrated avenues of film making – mostly because of a lack of accessibility. But why are they so important to the industry?

Beyond the idea of a proof of concept for budding filmmakers, they are a way to provide audiences with a moment, a glimpse into the lives of characters, a snapshot. I have always found enjoyment in the constrained time of the short, the filmmaker working with confined resources and time to tell their story from start to finish. Some are full epics, others literally a snapshot. I always try to make this a staple of my festival viewing time, and for this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, there wasn’t a better short to begin with than The Neighbor’s Window.

The Neighbor’s Window – Marshall Curry

The Neighbor’s Window explodes beyond its run time of 20 minutes, packing in a vast array of emotions and unique perspectives, taking a real life event and shaping it into a glimpse, into a moment of understanding. Envy, desire, regret and acceptance all find their way into this short, each given their due service, each allowed to ebb and flow beautifully through the obsession  of voyeurism. And just when you think you have seen all The Neighbor’s Window has to offer, there is more.

As Ali (Maria Dizzia) and Jacob (Greg Keller) settle into their evening, the children finally asleep, they notice across the way in a neighboring apartment building new tenants “Christening ” their apartment. Knowing they should look away, they turn out the light giving into their envy and desire to watch a young couple lust for one another, regretting and envying their current place in life. What turns into one night escalates into an obsession, a pair of binoculars always in arms reach to peer into the neighbors’ apartment (who after a year do not install curtains) to watch the youth before them. Though, as Ali finds out, hers is only one perspective.

The Neighbor’s Window looks at envy and grief from two angles, those who wish to be younger and those who will never have what the future should have promised. Utilizing the short film for this concept was a brilliant choice by Academy Award winning director and writer Marshall Curry as Ali and her husband are peering through a window into another couples lives, so to are we – the parallelism beautifully constructed through the film and through the film’s audience. The fact the short is based off real life events also heightens the effectiveness, the realism to the acting on screen and the story itself. There is a truth in the film beyond just the emotions it showcases. The Neighbor’s Window is a testament to the human spirit, our need for perspective and a 360 degree view beyond our eccentric natures.

Bunker Burger – Adam Yorke

When the end of the world comes, what value do you continue to sustain to the world, to those around you – and how long can you continue to stay relevant? Bunker Burger from director Adam Yorke takes a moment to hilariously examine this prospect within this short film, looking at the needs of survivors on an elitist level – where your survival could depend on the success of your audition.

A small group of survivors find that surviving the apocalypse means nothing if they can not survive each other. Having stocked their bunker with not only food and supplies, they have also ensured that their way of life is maintained. With a variety of doctors and a school teacher on hand, it is as though the end of the world has never happened. Yet, what they hadn’t planned for was the sustainability of the mentality of the group and the fractures of interpersonal relationships that can begin to appear within their forced proximity. Enter the psychologist (Sara Mitich).

Brought into the bunker by one of the children, she finds that her place is not a sure thing, where the needs of the group to survive mentally, the need to survive physically trumps. Pawned against the school teacher, she must prove why her life is more valuable than that of her opponent. Not only is a juicy cheese burger on the table (literally on the table in front of her) but so is her life. In an instant, she not only correctly diagnoses and presents resolutions to the group in front of her, she takes their lives in her hand, taking her place at the head of the group, her eloquent and intelligent cry for survival, paralleled with the animalistic devouring of the burger. Both sides of humanity displayed in this one individual, a duality that ensures her survival over the others.

This was one of my favorite shorts at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, a year where the calibre of shorts has been unbelievable. The idea is a brilliant perspective of the apocalypse and the human need for survival, as well as your animalistic nature that will supersede the rational.

Zero – The Brothers Lynch

Zero is a short film that initially I disliked. It felt bland, lost in a sea of intense and and magnetic shorts throughout this year’s festival. But then an hour passed, and a day, and Zero is one of the short films I just could not get out of my head. It is a slow burner that continues to unfold long after the short has ended, the effects and feelings reverberating in your mind –  emotions and thought provoking questions that lead to a need for this short to become a full length feature.

When an electromagnetic pulse brings the apocalypse, a young girl is left alone with only her father’s strict rules to survive by. Cooped up, she bids her time, knowing one day her home will run out of the resources she will need to survive, knowing one day she will need to break her father’s rules. As time passes, the moment comes, the world outside abandoned, eerie and terrifying with unknown dangers. With no rules for the outside world, she will need to make new rules for survival.

As the swiftly edited short builds intensity, you know she will leave the house. It may be this predictability that was off putting in the beginning, overshadowing the film itself. Yet, as you think about the loneliness and isolation of this young girl, you find yourself injecting your own being within the film, placing your self where she stands. Could you survive the end of the world?

Zero is not only thought provoking, churning in the mind at the possibilities, it is also lead by one of the strongest up-and-coming actors in the industry. Many will know her as from Game of Thrones, but here, she continues to hold her own, quietly commanding the screen. There is such an intensity in Bella Ramsey‘s performance, a resilience that oozes through her character. She will survive.

Flyby – Jesse Mittelstadt

As an asteroid makes a close flyby earth, everyone is enamored and hypnotized by the event and the effects it seems to be having on earth. The construct of time is altered and changed, though not with everyone, creating an uncertain and confusing environment and experience for those whose life literally is flashing before them. For one man (Riley Egan), what begins as a one night stand, jumps to each milestone of his ageing life. As the asteroid lingers in the earth’s atmosphere longer than anticipated, his life reaches its final moments. When the dust settles, and everything returns to normal, his life is practically over. It has literally flown by.

Flyby offers a warning to it’s viewers. Slow down, take a moment to appreciate what is in front of you – before it is too late and time has passed. Before you know it, you will be left looking at images, trying to remember where it all went. Don’t let time be your biggest regret.

Momster –  Drew Denny

This is the first short film of the festival I hope is a proof of concept. A strong short, there is without a doubt the possibility for so much more, to expand upon the brief introduction to Momster (Amanda Plummer) and Angel (Brianna Hildebrand). There is conflict, emotions and danger, all vital elements for a successful concept. With a Thelma and Louise vibe, Momster is the story of a young girl, left behind to survive as her mother runs from the law. As she waits for her mother’s return, she falls prey to those who have kept her survival intact, witnessing the cruelty she experiences be shared with those around her.

When her mother finally comes, there is a euphoric childlike wonderment, her eyes dazzling with the joy. Though it is short lived as she realizes her mother doesn’t remember her – only the criminal actions she continues to carry out. Confused at first, she realizes that while her mother has returned, it is time for her to stand up and care for her. Though not just her mother, but those around her. Taking matters of the club, customers and the employees into her hands, she makes demands she expects met, inspiring those around her.

There is an interesting line of thoughts that springs forth from Momster. A child waiting for years for her mother to ride in and save her – a rescuer. Yet, when the moment she has been waiting years for finally arrives, she becomes her own hero – and the hero those around her have been hoping for. In this moment she grows out of childhood, embracing her future, freedom and adulthood. She is her own woman ready to fulfil the needs of her ailing mother and her own desires. It would be interesting to see where Angel goes from this moment, what trouble lurks ahead as she and her mother blaze the trail before them.

40 Minutes over Maui – Josh Covitt & Michael Feld

Do you all remember when the US government “accidentally” sent an incoming ballistics warning to Hawaii – then took 40 mins to realize what they had done and notify the frantic citizens who thought they were facing the apocalypse? Well, 40 Minutes Over Maui takes a moment to comedically bring to life these 40 minutes of peril in a couple, whose Hawaiian vacation turns into an emotional rollercoaster of truth, renewal and gluttony.

What would you do in the final moments of your life? If you had 40 minutes, how would you fill them? This is not the first cultural reference made to this unbelievable mishap, a reference made in the first episode of American Horror Story: Apocalypse, yet this is the first of the two that takes a more humorous side, taking human nature into account when death is coming for them.

As this couple reveals their deepest darkest secrets to one another, eating everything in the hotel room, you find yourself feeling bad for them, yet laughing at the ridiculousness of everything they have chosen to do in their final moments, all the while cringing at the hotel bill that will still show up at their door on check out day. In the face of irresponsibility (both onscreen and in real life), viewers will find humor and entertainment.

99 and Sweater – Nick Borenstein

Nick Borenstein brings two short films to festival this year, a remarkable feat on its own. With a charismatic and likeable personality he infuses into his characters on screen, this infusion spreads to into every element of his filmmaking. With a brightness on screen to match his character, 99 and Sweater give brief five minute snap shots into a young man shopping a 99 cent store with his mother and the joyous moment of receiving a free cup of coffee. Doesn’t sound like your beverage of choice? Take my word for it, you don’t want to miss either of these.

Sweater by far was the most fun I have experienced with a short film. What starts off as a solemn rejection turns into choreographed exuberance spawned by a free coffee. The panning camera shots following Borenstein as he ignites into celebratory dance is flawless and executed with tremendous skill. This might be a happier world if every cup of coffee launched such a display of talent and appreciation. It is a quick short, but the time does not take away from the effectiveness and the emotions it will draw out of you.

99 follows a young man shopping with his mother through a 99 cent store. While also roughly 5 mins, 99 is packed with so much information, much left to be inferred by the viewer. Honestly, based off the execution of this short alone, I am eager to see what will be crafted if Borenstein were given a full length feature – I mean we need more of his craft and charming on screen personality. While he coaxes his mother to leave the store so they can attend a bar-mitzvah, viewers come to the understanding of who the mother is and the troubles she is experiencing within her life, one that has left her severely structured, unkept and seemingly a home bound (minus her trips to the 99 cent store).

This body of work, and I again stress the importance and success with having a body of work at the festival rather than a sample, is highly impressive, making Borenstein a director, writer and actor I will definitely be keeping an eye out for in the future.