As well as the one day event Tribeca Celebrates Pride on Saturday 4th May, the 18th Tribeca Film Festival, which continues in New York until 5th May 2019, boasts a wealth of LGBTQ+ related storytelling. Here are some of this year’s LGBTQ+ highlights, for a full list of remaining Tribeca events and to purchase tickets head to the official Tribeca website.
Tribeca 2019 LGBTQ+ Related Feature Films:
CHANGING THE GAME – Viewpoints
Directed by Michael Barnett. World Premiere.
Transgender high school athletes from across the USA compete at the top of their fields, while also challenging the boundaries and perceptions of fairness and discrimination.
CIRCUS OF BOOKS – Viewpoints
Directed and written by Rachel Mason. World Premiere.
How do you explain to your friends that your mom and pop run a gay pornography shop? That is just one question asked in this playful documentary about the titular LA store and its unlikely proprietors. Features Larry Flynt, Justin Honard (aka Alaska Thunderfuck) and Jeff Stryker.
CLEMENTINE – U.S. Narrative Competition
Directed and written by Lara Jean Gallagher. World Premiere.
Reeling from a one-sided breakup, heartbroken Karen breaks into her ex’s lakehouse. There, she strikes up a complicated relationship with a provocative younger woman, Lana, in this psychological drama and sexual coming of age story.
CRSHD – Viewpoints
Directed and written by Emily Cohn. World Premiere.
Best friends Izzy, Anuka, and Fiona have a pact to lose their virginity before the summer break. They pin their hopes on getting into their college’s super exclusive “crush party.”
FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO – Documentary Competition
Directed by Daniel Karslake. World Premiere.
When the US Supreme Court legalised marriage equality, the backlash by the religious right was swift and severe. Karslake’s documentary looks at four faith-based families with LGBTQ children caught in the crosshairs of sexuality, identity, and scripture.
FLAWLESS (HANESHEF) – International Competition
Directed and written by Sharon Maymon and Tal Granit. World Premiere.
Three teenage girls in search of physical perfection are drawn down a dark path of black-market plastic surgery, an impulsive adventure that ultimately becomes a journey of self-discovery.
GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH – Movies Plus
Directed by David Charles Rodrigues. World Premiere.
To confront a resurgence of anti-LGBTQ laws, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus embarks on an unprecedented bus tour through the Deep South, celebrating music, challenging intolerance, and confronting their own dark coming out stories.
GOLDIE – Viewpoints
Directed and written by Sam De Jong. North American Premiere.
Goldie takes care of her sisters while their mother is in prison, but her true dream is stardom. With child protective services looming and a real music video shoot on the horizon, Goldie’s last option is to make her dreams come true or lose it all in Sam de Jong’s stylish and gritty New York City fable.
HALSTON – Spotlight Documentary
Directed and written by Frédéric Tcheng. New York Premiere.
From Jackie Kennedy to Studio 54, Halston’s minimalist designs put American fashion on the map in the 1970s. Tribeca alum Frédéric Tcheng examines the work and life of the enigmatic visionary who called himself Halston. With Tavi Gevinson, Cornelia Guest, Liza Minnelli, Marisa Berenson, Joel Schumacher and Pat Cleveland.
HOUSE OF HUMMINGBIRD (BEOL-SAE) – International Narrative Competition
Directed and written by Bora Kim. North American Premiere.
In 1994 Seoul, quiet eighth-grader Eunhee spends her time consumed by love and friendship, shoplifting, and karaoke. But it’s in her new teacher that Eunhee finds the unlikely connection that she has been desperately seeking in this touching coming-of-age drama.
SEAHORSE – Viewpoints
Directed and written by Jeanie Finlay. World Premiere.
Director Jeanie Finlay charts a transgender man’s path to parenthood after he decides to carry his child himself. The pregnancy prompts an unexpected and profound reckoning with conventions of masculinity, self-definition and biology.
TRIXIE MATTEL: MOVING PARTS – Movies Plus
Directed and written by Nick Zeig-Owens. World Premiere.
With razor-sharp wit and authentic country music chops, Trixie Mattel charmed audiences and judges as winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars . But the grind of performing and the pressure of the title proves that heavy is the head that wears the tiara.
WIG – Movies Plus
Directed by Chris Moukarbel. World Premiere.
Wig explores the origins and the influence of the historic festival through rich archival footage, as well as provides a look into the contemporary drag movement that the festival served as a foundation for. It’s a celebration of New York drag culture, and those personalities and performances that contribute to the ways we understand queerness, art, and identity today. With Lady Bunny, Charlene Incarnate, Flotilla DeBarge, Kevin Aviance, Neil Patrick Harris, Willam, Linda Simpson, Naomi Smalls, Tabboo!
XY CHELSEA – Movies Plus
Directed by Tim Travers Hawkins. World Premiere.
Following the shock commutation of her sentence, whistleblower and trans woman Chelsea Manning prepares to leave an all-male military prison in Kansas and transition to living life for the first time as a free woman. With Chelsea Manning, Nancy Hollander, Vince Ward, Chase Strange.
YOU DON’T NOMI – Midnight
Directed and written by Jeffrey McHale. World Premiere.
Released in 1995, Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls was met by critics and audiences with near universal derision. You Don’t Nomi traces the film’s redemptive journey from notorious flop to cult classic, and maybe even masterpiece.
Tribeca 2019 LGBTQ+ Related Short Films:
Black Hat – Roads Less Traveled
Directed by Sarah Smith. New York Premiere.
A pious Hasidic man living a secret double life misplaces his hat one night, which will cause his two separate lives to collide in a way he never imagined.
Carlito Leaves Forever – Roads Less Traveled
Directed and written by Quentin Lazzarotto. New York Premiere.
A short poetic film following Carlito, a young man living in an indigenous village at the heart of the Amazonian jungle, who decided to leave and change his life forever.
Framing Agnes – Forces of Nature
Directed by Chase Joynt and Kristen Schilt. North American Premiere.
In 2017, trans artists gained access to a 1950s archive of never-before-seen histories of transgender people. Through reenactment and documentary, they revive the past to redefine the future. With Angelica Ross, Chase Joynt, Max Wolf Valerio, Silas Howard, Zackary Drucker.
His Hands – WTF
Directed and written by Arron Blake and Darius Shu. North American Premiere.
Two men of different ages meet for the strangest encounter of their lives.
I Think She Likes You – Funhouse
Directed by Bridey Elliott. New York Premiere.
When Justine and Julia pick Jake up at a bar, it’s not quite the threesome he was expecting.
Mack Wrestles – Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival: Sports Shorts
Directed by Taylor Hess and Erin Sanger. New York Premiere.
Mack Beggs loved wrestling—it gave him a sense of purpose and a sense of self.Mack Wrestles , takes the audience behind the scenes as this gifted athlete from Euless, Texas, struggles against the outside forces that stigmatize transgender athletes.
Momster – WTF
Directed and written by Drew Denny. (USA) – World Premiere.
When notorious bank robber, the Momster, catches her daughter Angel mid-gunfight, Angel thinks she’s being rescued… until she realizes she has to do the saving. With Brianna Hildebrand, Amanda Plummer, John Ennis, Josh Fadem, Ryan Simpkins.
Ponyboi – Express Yourself
Directed by River Gallo, Sadé Clacken Joseph, written by River Gallo. (USA) – New York Premiere.
Ponyboi, an Intersex sex-worker, looks for love and to escape his seedy life in New Jersey. Through an encounter with the man of his dreams, Ponyboi discovers his worth. Ponyboi, is the first narrative film, by and starring an out intersex individual.
Stanley Stellar: Here For This Reason – Forces of Nature
Directed and written by Eric Leven. (USA) – World Premiere.
40 years of New York City gay history told through photographs and the man behind the camera there to capture it all.
This Perfect Day – Express Yourself
Directed and written by Lydia Rui. (Australia) – World Premiere.
Across the street, a music store is closing. With only a few minutes to make their move, Julia realizes it’s time for them to face their fears. With Michelle Keating, Lee Mason, Hannah Koch.
Tribeca 2019 LGBTQ+ Related TV:
Vida (Starz) – Season 2 World Premiere
Executive Producers: Tanya Saracho, Robin Schwartz, Marc Turtletaub, Peter Saraf, Stephanie Langhoff.
In the second season of Vida, Lyn and Emma begin the monumental task of rebuilding the bar. They navigate obstacles while contemplating the relationships in their lives, including their own, and are forced to dig deep to unearth what their mother’s legacy means to them.
Tribeca 2019 LGBTQ+ Related Immersive:
ANOTHER DREAM
Netherlands, USA, Egypt – World Premiere
Project Creator: Tamara Shogaolu, Ado Ato Pictures
Another Dream brings to life the gripping, true story of an Egyptian lesbian couple. Faced with a post-Revolution backlash against their community, they must choose between love and home.
N.O.W. (New Online Work):
99 – Reality Check
Created by Nick Borenstein (USA) – World Premiere.
A mother and son shop for a Bar Mitzvah gift at a 99 Cent store.
Anne+ – Reality Check
Created by Maud Wiemeijer & Valerie Bisscheroux (NED) – Episode 1 (North American Premiere), Episode 2 (International Premiere).
The weekend 24-year-old Anne moves into her Amsterdam apartment, she unexpectedly runs into ex-girlfriend Lily. Her reappearance pushes Anne to reflect on the diverse women from her past and their influence on her life.
Kiss of the Rabbit God – Headspace
Created by Andrew Thomas Huang (USA) – World Premiere.
A young Chinese restaurant worker falls in love with a god who leads him on a journey of sexual awakening and self-discovery.
MotherStruck – Reality Check
Created by Staceyann Chin & Micaela Birmingham (USA) – Episodes 1 & 2 (World Premiere).
The true story of a lesbian’s quest to become a mother. With her closest friends by her side, she embarks on a wild road toward motherhood.
Sweater – Headspace
Created by Nick Borenstein (USA) – World Premiere.
Corey’s day couldn’t be worse. Then he gets a free coffee.
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