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Tribeca Festival · 2020

Tribeca Festival 2020

US Narrative Competition

Programme

10 films · 5 reviews

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12 Hour Shift

Review preview for 12 Hour Shift

A splatter-happy romp through one night in the organ trade.

Jennie Kermode · 3 out of 5
Nurse Mandy is just trying to make it through her double shift alive, but her nasty drug addiction, annoying coworkers, needy patients, and devious cousin are making it pretty tough, not to mention organ-stealing criminals and an injured convict.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Brea Grant; Writer: Brea Grant; Stars: Angela Bettis, David Arquette, Chloe Farnworth, Mick Foley, Kit Williamson, Nikea Gamby-Turner, Tara Perry, Brooke Seguin, Dusty Warren, Tom DeTrinis, Thomas Hobson, Julianne Dowler, Briana Lane, Taylor Alden, Scott Dean)

Full review

World premiere

Cowboys

Review preview for Cowboys

Rather than following somebody raised a girl who is learning to live as a boy, it's about a boy who, all too quickly, has to start learning to be a man.

Jennie Kermode · 4.5 out of 5
Troy and his young transgender son Joe are on the run from his conservative mother in the Montana wilderness, with a detective in hot pursuit.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Anna Kerrigan; Writer: Anna Kerrigan; Stars: Steve Zahn, Jillian Bell, Ann Dowd, Chris Coy, Bob Stephenson, Gary Farmer, Sasha Knight, Steve Zahn, Jillian Bell, Ann Dowd, Chris Coy, Bob Stephenson, Gary Farmer, Sasha Knight)

Full review See: Interview with Anna Kerrigan about Cowboys, part two , Interview with Anna Kerrigan about Cowboys

World premiere

Fully Realized Humans

Parents-to-be Elliott and Jackie embark on a quest for self-actualisation before the imminent birth of their first child.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Joshua Leonard; Writer: Joshua Leonard, Jess Weixler; Stars: Jess Weixler, Joshua Leonard, Beth Grant, Tom Bower, Michael Chieffo, Janicza Bravo, Erica Chidi Cohen, Zach Shields, Ross Partridge, Jennifer Lafleur, Dan Pfau, Whitney Moorman, Bryan Ross, Jess Weixler, Joshua Leonard)

World premiere

The Half Of It

Review preview for The Half Of It

There's a generosity of spirit here that is increasingly a feature of teenage dramas as writers and directors move away from stereotypes to more complex characters.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A shy Chinese-American straight-A student finds herself helping the school jock woo the girl they both secretly love.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Alice Wu; Writer: Alice Wu; Stars: Leah Lewis, Daniel Diemer, Alexxis Lemire, Wolfgang Novogratz, Collin Chou, Becky Ann Baker, Enrique Murciano, MacIntyre Dixon, Catherine Curtin, Alec Tincher, Bonnie Flannery, Tyler Crozier, Spencer Wawak, Patrick T. Johnson, Gabi Samels)

Full review

World premiere

Little Fish

A pandemic attacking people’s memory is spreading around the world at an alarming rate. Two young newlyweds struggle to hang onto who they are, both as individuals and as a couple.

(Country: US, Canada; Year: 2020; Director: Chad Hartigan; Writer: Aja Gabel, Mattson Tomlin; Stars: Olivia Cooke, Jack O'Connell, Raúl Castillo, Carmen Moore, Leanne Khol Young, Katerina Katelieva, Toby Hargrave, Soko, Chris Shields, Kwesi Ameyaw, Barbara Patrick, Angela Moore, Mackenzie Cardwell, Jeff Sanca, Albert Nicholas)

World premiere

Lorelei

Review preview for Lorelei

With women like this so often reduced to a sexy and destructive cliché by male directors, it's interesting to observe her from a more human angle.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Reformed ex-con Wayland returns to his hometown and reconnects with his high school girlfriend Dolores, now a single mom with dreams of Hollywood in Doyle’s fable-like tale of second chances.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Sabrina Doyle; Writer: Sabrina Doyle; Stars: Jena Malone, Pablo Schreiber, Gretchen Corbett, Dana Millican, Quinn Liebling, Sabina Friedman-Seitz, Jeb Berrier, Joseph Bertót, Jerry Bell Jr., Trish Egan, Ryan Findley, Lynn Sher, Chancellor Perry, Bob Barr, Bionka Simone)

Full review

World premiere

Materna

Four women whose lives are separated by race, culture, and class but connected by the complexities of motherhood become inextricably bound together by an incident on the New York City subway.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: David Gutnik; Writer: Assol Abdullina, Jade Eshete, David Gutnik; Stars: Rory Culkin, Michael Chernus, Kate Lyn Sheil, Sturgill Simpson, Jade Eshete, Lindsay Burdge, Cassandra Freeman, Kaili Vernoff, Kara Young, Jake Katzman, Assol Abdullina, Jamal Seidakmatova, Zhamilya Sydykbaeva, Rory Culkin, Michael Chernus)

World premiere

My Heart Can't Beat Unless You Tell It To

Dwight and his sister Jessie reach a crossroads over what to do about their little brother Thomas, a sickly child with a mysterious affliction.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Jonathan Cuartas; Writer: Jonathan Cuartas; Stars: Patrick Fugit, Owen Campbell, Ingrid Sophie Schram, Katie Preston, Anthony Pedone, Moises L. Tovar, Judah Bateman, Lizzy Dabczynski Bean, Jeffrey Hanson, Jesse R. Brown, Gary Mclaren, Waine Riches, Ivanna Picon, Camilla Fowler, Nancy Fong)

World premiere

No Future

Review preview for No Future

Well acted and sensitively delivered, No Future is a reminder that addicts don’t exist in isolation; that their suffering, and the paucity of state services to support them.

Jennie Kermode · 4 out of 5
Following the overdose of an estranged friend, recovering addict Will, still struggling with his own sobriety, returns to his hometown where he begins a troubled affair with his friend’s grieving mother.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Mark Smoot; Writer: Andrew Irvine, Mark Smoot; Stars: Catherine Keener, Charlie Heaton, Rosa Salazar, Jackie Earle Haley, Jefferson White)

Full review

World premiere

The Violent Heart

Fifteen years after the murder of his older sister, taciturn Daniel finds himself falling for Cassie, a vivacious high school senior in this southern gothic-inspired Romeo and Juliet story.

(Country: US; Year: 2020; Director: Kerem Sanga; Writer: Kerem Sanga; Stars: Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Lukas Haas, Cress Williams, Grace Van Patten, Jovan Adepo, Mary J. Blige, Jahi Di'Allo Winston, Cory Scott Allen, Dean Shortland, Rayven Symone Ferrell, Markus Silbiger, Rebecca Lines, Allison Shrum, Josefina M Boneo, Clyde C Harris)

World premiere