The 18th annual Tribeca Film Festival, presented by AT&T, starts today, taking place from April 18 to April 29 in New York City.
The 2019 feature film program includes 96 films from 103 filmmakers. Of the 96 films, 46% of them are directed by women, the highest percentage in the Festival’s history. The lineup includes 75 World Premieres, 5 International Premieres, 9 North American Premieres, 3 U.S. Premieres, and 4 New York Premieres from 27 countries. This year’s program includes 46 first time filmmakers, with 18 directors returning to the Festival with their latest feature film projects. Tribeca’s 2019 slate was programmed from more than 8,789 total submissions.
Among the films with Black talent being showcased are Luce, directed by Julius Onah and starring Kelvin Harrison Jr., Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer Marsha Stephanie Blake, Tim Roth, and Only starringTony Award-winner Leslie Odom, Jr. (Hamilton), and The Weekend, directed by Stella Meghie and starring Sasheer Zamata, Tone Bell, She’s Gotta Have It star DeWanda Wise, Insecure’s Y’lan Noel and Kym Whitley. Among the documentaries worth mentioning are Say Her Name: The Life and Death of Sandra Bland, The Gospel According to Andre, M. Soul! and Rest In Power: The Trayvon Martin Story.
Congrats to those films that will be playing this year and hopefully, the rest of the world, will get a chance to see them, should it be picked up for theatrical release.
Here’s a breakdown of films that have African American themes or has Black talent in prominent roles
Opening Night – The Apollo
The Apollo Theater has been a cultural anchor on Harlem’s West 125th St. since 1934, and through its doors have passed the most legendary African American artists of the past nine decades. Academy Award® winning filmmaker and Tribeca alum Roger Ross Williams looks at the storied history of this iconic space while following the Apollo’s inaugural staging of Ta-Nehisi Coates‘ acclaimed Between the World and Me.
The Apollo Theater itself represents the ongoing struggle of black lives in America and The Apollo demonstrates the elemental role that art plays in that struggle by highlighting the broad range of African American achievement that has been discovered, championed, and thrived on its stage. The Tribeca Film Festival is proud to open our program in 2019 with this celebration of art and community in New York City.
U.S Narrative Competition
Burning Cane – directed by Phillip Youmans
A worried mother (Karen Kaia Livers) caring for her mange-ridden family dog; her unemployed, alcoholic son (Dominique McClellan) and the wife (Emyri Crutchfield) who supports him; and a preacher (Wendell Pierce) whose wife’s recent death has pushed him toward the bottle are a few of the characters who make up the beautifully rich world of Southeastern Louisiana in Phillip Youmans’ extraordinary debut feature, Burning Cane. The poetic lyricism of the film’s handheld camerawork calls to mind a Terrence Malick-like interest in the influence of place on the people who inhabit it, and how deeply the beauty of the natural world can contrast with the brutality of human acts. As one of the principal embodiments of this contradiction, Pierce gives a powerful performance as the preacher who is struggling to both help his flock as well as himself.
Gully – directed by music video director Nabil Elderkin
Set in a dystopian Los Angeles, Gully focuses on three best friends—Calvin (Jacob Latimore), Nicky (Charlie Plummer) and Jesse (Kelvin Harrison Jr.)—who struggle to survive in the bleak and alien environment. Traumatized by troubled family relationships and socioeconomic hardships, they seek escape through video games, doing drugs, and hard partying, which provide only a temporary relief from their pain. After a shattering and unexpected discovery, the boys further lose touch with reality and lash out through dangerous acts of violence and revenge that lead to an uncertain future.
The film features strong supporting turns from Terrence Howard, Amber Heard, Robin Givens, and John Corbett, along with a cameo by Travis Scott
Documentary Competition
17 Blocks – directed by Davy Rothbart
Nine year old Emmanuel began filming himself and his family with a home video camera in 1999, capturing his Washington D.C. neighborhood through the eyes of an innocent child. Growing up just 17 blocks from the U.S. Capitol, however, proved more difficult than expected. Filmmaker, journalist, and frequent This American Lifecontributor Davy Rothbart befriended the Sanford family as they continued to document their daily life over a 20-year period in a city plagued by poverty, addiction, and gun violence.
Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project – directed by Matt Wolf
Long before our current era of “fake news,” Marion Stokes was amassing an incredible archive in an effort to protect and tell the truth. Beginning with the Iranian Hostage Crisis in 1979 and ending in 2012 with the massacre at Sandy Hook, Stokes archived and preserved the television that others were not. She recorded an incredible 70,000 VHS tapes capturing wars, triumphs, catastrophes, and more. The archive reveals the past and how it shaped television and the present moment.
International Narrative Competition
Roads – directed by Sebastian Schipper
Two loners in search of family find solace in friendship in this cross-cultural road movie from Sebastian Schipper (Victoria). Fionn Whitehead (Dunkirk) plays Gyllen, a rebellious British teen who escapes a stifling family vacation by stealing his step dad’s campervan and driving through Morocco and Spain to visit his real father in France. Joining forces with William (Stéphane Bak), the two 17 year olds hit the road in an impromptu border-crossing adventure.
Visiting from the Congo, William is headed to a French refugee camp to look for his missing brother and is trying to stay under the radar. But it doesn’t take long for their personalities to rub off on each other and they soon cheerfully dub themselves “Team Crazy, Risky, Stupid.”
Spotlight Narrative
Only – directed by Takashi Doscher
Will (Leslie Odom, Jr.) and Eva (Freida Pinto) seem destined for a storybook life together, so pure and supportive is their mutual love. But their alone time is suddenly interrupted when Eva’s roommate, Carolyn (Tia Hendricks), bursts through the door and collapses as torrents of mysterious ash fall from the sky. During a chaotic trip to the hospital, Will learns what he needs to do, quickly covering Eva in a hazmat suit, then rushing home with her and hermetically sealing the doors and windows. Weeks become months become years and, after Eva makes a desperate move, the couple is forced to run for their lives.
Tony Award-winner Odom, Jr. (Hamilton) and Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire) play the doomed couple whose fear that their secret will be revealed unveils the layers of pain and longing between them. As Will and Eva struggle to reach a beloved waterfall from their past, the couple attempts to survive in a new world where she is a commodity of unparalleled worth.
Skin – directed by Guy Nattiv
As the adopted son of two fiercely committed leaders of their local neo-Nazi sect, Bryon Widner’s (Jamie Bell) life has been shaped in the shadow of the white supremacist movement. Covered head to toe in coded tattoos, Widner is a walking embodiment of the world in which he was raised, as he fills his nights with wanton acts of hate-fueled violence and fascist marches. But when he meets Julie (Danielle Macdonald), a single-mother looking to raise her daughters outside of the influence of the extremist movement, Widner is pushed towards the potential of a new life built outside of the hate that has propelled him for so long.
Following his Academy Award win for a short film of the same name, director Guy Nattiv tells the true story of Widner’s decision to finally leave the movement, with the aid of a rich ensemble cast including Vera Farmiga, Bill Camp, and Mike Colter.
Spotlight Documentary
Devil’s Pie – D’Angelo – directed by Carine Bijlsma
An intimate and revealing portrait of a legend-in-the-making, Devil’s Pie—D’Angelo buzzes with the soulful intensity of its subject, Grammy Award winning R&B artist D’Angelo. Never-before-seen live footage and painfully honest interviews combine to present this once larger-than-life superstar at his most vulnerable. The film traces the unexpected path of D’Angelo’s career and personal life, from his meteoric rise to his sudden disappearance and 14 year absence from the public eye.
With appearances from D’Angelo’s friends and collaborators including Questlove and Dave Chappelle, along with some eye-popping performance footage and revealing home video footage, Bijlsma gets to the heart of a sometimes enigmatic man.
The Dominican Dream – directed by Jonathan Hock
In the early 1990s the hoops in the Bronx belonged to a young immigrant from the Dominican Republic, Felipe Lopez. Ranked first in the country as a high school senior, featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated at the age of 17, and referred to affectionately as the “King of New York,” Lopez’s prospects appeared limitless. Many speculated Lopez would go straight from high school to the NBA, becoming the ultimate success story for children of the working class. With his community piling their hopes and dreams upon his back, Lopez chose to pursue education over fame, attending St. John’s University. This major life decision, made at such a young age, would go on to affect the rest of Lopez’s career. The film features interviews with Alex Rodriguez, Chauncey Billups, and Zendon Hamilton.
A Kid From Coney Island – directed by Chike Ozah and Coodie Simmons
Tribeca alums Chike Ozah and Coodie Simmons take viewers along on a deeply personal journey, following basketball star Stephon Marbury from his early days on the streets of Coney Island, through high school, and on through his career as a professional. Along the way Starbury’s closest friends and family share their insights of a kid pursuing a dream, but also the massive weight and expectation placed on him to obtain his goals.
As early as high school, this passionate kid from Brooklyn set his sights on the fame and fortune of the NBA, and those around him expected him to be the next New York basketball star. But the fight for the dream and the realities of a professional basketball career were perhaps not what anyone expected. Stephon’s journey demonstrates that fulfillment and happiness can often be found in the unlikeliest of places, and a world away from Coney Island.
Lil’ Buck: Real Swan – directed by Louis Walleca
On the streets, parking lots, and slippery floors of the Crystal Palace Roller Rink in Memphis, Tennessee, Charles “Lil Buck” Riley learned the smooth art of Memphis jookin, igniting a lifelong passion for dance. From the time he was 12 years old, Lil Buck worked to perfect the intricate footwork of jookin, a fluid street dance style that evolved from the Gangsta Walk, as well as the eye-popping isolated jolts of bucking. Quickly, he became one of the most admired street dancers of his generation. Lil Buck won a scholarship to study ballet and took his dancing to a whole new level, merging street-style jookin with classical technique. After a breathtaking video taken of him dancing to Camille Saint-Saëns’ “The Swan” accompanied by famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma went viral, Lil Buck’s career exploded.
What’s My Name / Muhammad Ali – directed by Antoine Fuqua
Muhammad Ali’s incredible life has become the stuff of American legend. From his incomparable athletic career and change-making social activism to his larger-than-life personality—was there ever a character more suited for the big screen? Many have told his story over the years, but with Antoine Fuqua’s comprehensive, two-part documentary, Ali finally tells it in his own words.
Utilizing an all-archival approach—including some never-before-seen-or-heard material—What’s My Name is a stunning achievement in documentary filmmaking. From the highest achievements on an international stage to the most intimate personal moments, new depths of character are revealed of one of the most well known figures in modern history as Fuqua immerses the viewer in one of the biggest lives ever lived.
Viewpoints
Goldie – directed by Sam De Jong
Goldie (Slick Woods) is a street-wise, 18-year-old dancer with big dreams of big fame, even as she is stuck at home minding her two sisters while their mother is in jail. When an opportunity to audition for a real music video comes her way, Goldie feels the time has finally come for her star to rise. All she needs is the perfect canary yellow fur coat she has had her eye on in a local vintage store window. But with the day of the shoot rapidly approaching, and Goldie’s pockets still empty of the cash needed to purchase the coat, her desire for it—and its perceived promise of transformation—becomes an all-consuming obsession.
See You Yesterday – directed by Stephen Bristol
Spike Lee continues his commitment to elevating emerging voices by executive producing this homegrown feature debut from Stefon Bristol. Based on Bristol’s NYU short thesis film of the same name, See You Yesterday is a time travel adventure about a pair of Brooklyn teens trying to undo the damage of a police shooting.
High school best friends and science prodigies C.J. (Eden Duncan-Smith) and Sebastian(Danté Crichlow) spend every spare minute working on their latest homemade invention: backpacks that enable time travel. But when C.J.’s older brother Calvin (Brian Vaughn Bradley, Jr.—better known as Astro ) dies after an encounter with police officers, the young duo decide to put their unfinished tech to use in a desperate bid to save Calvin.
Tribeca Critics’ Week
In Fabric – directed by Peter Strickland
Set against the backdrop of a wintertime department store sales spree, his latest phantasmagoria concerns a cursed scarlet dress as it encounters unsuspecting customers and corrupts their lives.
The ghost story horror film is set at a winter sale in a department store where customers, from a lonely divorcee (Jean Baptiste) to the wife (Squires) of a washing machine repairman end us being cursed by a scarlet dress.
Jean-Baptiste is an English actress best known for her roles as Hortense Cumberbatch in Secrets & Lies, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. Most recently she starred as a series regular in the NBC series Blindspot.
The Weekend – directed by Stella Meghie
Starring former SNL castmember Sasheer Zamata, Disjointed‘s Tone Bell, She’s Gotta Have It star DeWanda Wise, Insecure’s Y’lan Noel and Kym Whitley.
Getting over an ex can be tough. But getting over an ex who’s intent on staying friends, and who appears to have had no trouble getting over you can be downright brutal. That’s the situation 29-year-old comedian Zadie (Sasheer Zamata) finds herself in—still hung up on her old boyfriend Bradford (Tone Bell) and still using him as fodder in her stand-up act, even though he’s now dating the very different Margo (DeWanda Wise).
When Zadie agrees to travel with the couple to her mother’s (Kym Whitley) bed and breakfast for a weekend getaway, disaster seems like it could be imminent. But instead, especially after the arrival of handsome solo traveler Aubrey (Y’lan Noel), it begins to feel like maybe third-wheeling it was the best idea Zadie ever had.
Midnight
Knives and Skin – directed by Jennifer Reeder
Surreal forces lurk behind the fluorescent facade of an unassuming Midwestern town in Jennifer Reeder’s hyper-stylized Knives And Skin. Sophomore year of high school is upended when Carolyn Harper (Raven Whitley) suddenly vanishes after being abandoned at the lake by her jock boyfriend (Ty Olwin). In the wake of Carolyn’s mysterious disappearance, a dark abyss widens among the inhabitants of Big River as the ripples of anxiety and mistrust begin to permeate through the high school halls and beyond. In a series of intertwined suburban vignettes, fear and loss cause the members of Carolyn’s inner-circle to develop unexpected and desperate coping strategies as they slowly begin to unravel under the impact of their grief and suspicions.
Movie Plus
Inna De Yard: The Soul of Jamaica – directed by Peter Webber
While Bob Marley may be most closely associated with the heyday of reggae music, there are others who did not achieve international stardom, ones who remain popular in Jamaica and among reggae fans, singers and songwriters who maintain the spiritual and social values reflected in their music from the 70s and 80s. Now they will once again sing about those values, as relevant as ever, on an international tour. Inna de Yard captures the musicians—among them Ken Boothe, Winston McAnuff, Kiddus I, and Cedric Myton—as they reacquaint, swap stories, and talk of their lives as they rehearse in a studio in the hills above Kingston in a house adorned with hundreds of old LPs and 45s from back in the day.
Luce – directed by Julius Onah
High schooler Luce (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) overcame a nightmarish past as a child soldier in Eritrea to become the definition of the All American teenager. As a valedictorian, track star, and all-around popular kid, his life seems set until he suddenly finds himself at odds with an overbearing teacher Ms. Wilson (Octavia Spencer). When his loving adoptive parents (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth) become entangled in the suspicions of this teacher, complex questions of prejudice suddenly bubble to the surface, threatening to expose the ugly truths about all involved.
The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion – directed by Lisa Cortés and Farah X
As hip hop music was taking off in the late 80s and 90s, associated fashion trends and styles were also making their voice heard. And both were largely dominated by men. But as the voices of Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliot, and Lil’ Kim grew louder, so too did the influence of their female designers and stylists working behind the scenes.
The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion takes a look at the journeys of fashion architect Misa Hylton and streetwear designer April Walker, among others, who grabbed a foothold in hip hop fashion and never let go. The film focuses on the cultural impact these talented women and Dapper Dan and Kerby Jean-Raymond have made in the fashion world, from iconic looks styled in influential music videos to their global cultural impact.
Tribeca TV
In Living Color – Celebrating 25 Years since the Finale
Twenty-five years after its finale, the cast and creator of the groundbreaking sketch comedy show In Living Color will reunite to reflect on the Emmy Award-winning show that upended the landscape of television comedy and launched the careers of some of the greatest entertainers of our time. Following a screening of the pilot episode of In Living Color, the series creator and stars will come together to celebrate the show’s immeasurable influence and illuminate how the show continues to be equal parts subversive and hilarious.
After the Screening: A conversation with creator and star Keenan Ivory Wayans,and co-stars Shawn Wayans, Kim Wayans, Tommy Davidson, Rosie Perez, and David Alan Grier.
Tuca & Bertie (Netflix) – New Series World Premiere
Creator: Lisa Hanawalt
Executive Producers: Lisa Hanawalt, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Noel Bright, Steven A. Cohen, Tiffany Haddish, Ali Wong.
Tuca & Bertie is an animated comedy series about the friendship between two 30-year-old bird women who live in the same apartment building. It features Tuca, a cocky, carefree toucan, and Bertie, an anxious, daydreaming songbird.
After the Screening: A conversation with stars Ali Wong and Tiffany Haddish, and creator Lisa Hanawalt.
Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics And Men (Showtime) – New Series New York Premiere
Director: Sacha Jenkins
Executive Producers: Sacha Jenkins, Peter Bittenbender, Chris Gary, Peter J. Scalettar.
The series looks back on the group’s career, combining intimate interviews from each of its nine living members with never-before-seen archival footage and performances. Join us at the Beacon Theatre for the premiere with all of the living members in attendance: RZA, GZA, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Ghostface Killah, Method Man, Raekwon da Chef, Cappadonna and Masta Killa.
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