Six short films playing during the Tribeca Film Festival hold firm with an interesting slice of life from around the globe.
On the fiction slate, a short directed by Manya Glassman and executuve-produced by Spike Lee How I Learned to Die follows 16-year-old Iris as she navigates mortality with remarkable wit and courage. She’s gotta live it up. Chasing a wild bucket list, she makes unexpected discoveries along the way.
Iris is pretty brave facing a surgery that could end her life but is very necessary. She goes through many emotions, experiencing her first kiss, giving away a sentimental keepsake. But the greatest gift she could give would be to her parents regarding tremendous insight in dealing with life’s unexpected challenges.
Experience the absurd divine gift of a party entertainer in God’s Lonely Magician. A depressed magician is blessed by God with the power to perform impossible tricks. But when his gift ruins his life, it takes a manic clown to remind him of what his conjurations really are – miracles.
And feel the spine-chilling horror when a Swedish car bass system unleashes unexpected horrors in Terror Night. In northern Sweden, Josefine installs the world’s fattest bass box in her car before her evening date with Billy. Young love fills the night air, but the loud music does not impress everyone. Soon, the date turns into a battle for life and death.
Josefine had been warned about that darn speaker, but she sets off into the woods with her boyfriend for a romantic rendezvous—that turns more blood-thirsty than erotic.
Witness the heartwarming antics of two best friends Sam & Becky attempting to save humanity in Apocalypse Besties. They accidentally survive a sudden apocalyptic pandemic. With maybe one hard skill between the two of them, they decide it’s up to them to save and repopulate the earth. Step one? Take out each other’s IUDs.
Such a weird solution for a situation where both women find out more about each other—the kind of confessions shared if you think you’re going to die.
The documentary selections include two powerful explorations of race, identity, and reconciliation. Freeman Vines follows an 82-year-old musician whose decades-long quest to recreate a haunting guitar tone led him to craft instruments from lynching trees, transforming him into one of America’s greatest 21st-century artists.
Amazing story of an elder who died in March of this year. Among Vines’ innovative work, he took lumber made from a tree that was used for a lynching and created a guitar.
His creative work speaks to his lifelong conflict with racism in the eastern region of North Carolina.
I will cover this short further in my June 14 column.
Ask Me Anything sees a Sudanese refugee build profound cultural bridges by inviting Dutch citizens into honest dialogue. The group is free to ask him anything, opening up an exploratory dialogue between two parties when confronted with ‘the other.’
In this short, Abdulaal Hussein is welcomed by a Rotary Club group who is intrigued by his story. The all-white audience is guarded in their questioning and, to my surprise, they were empathetic to his journey.
Hussein is brave in putting himself out front like this. I will cover this short further in my June 14 column.
This set of shorts was not only entertaining but greatly informative about many aspects of life in general and cultural aspects, as well.
Elaine Hegwood Bowen, M.S.J., is the Entertainment Editor for the Chicago Crusader. She is a National Newspaper Publishers Association Entertainment Writing’ award winner, contributor to “Rust Belt Chicago” and the author of “Old School Adventures from Englewood: South Side of Chicago.” For info, Old School Adventures from Englewood-South Side of Chicago (lulu.com)