Grad Film at 2024 Tribeca Film Festival

Congratulations to the Grad Film alumni, faculty, and MFA candidates whose films were selected to screen at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival!

US NARRATIVE COMPETITION

"Griffin in Summer" is a feature film by Grad Film alum Nicholas Colia. Summer vacation is usually the time for kids to let loose, but for fourteen-year-old Griffin Nafly it's time to get down to the serious business of putting on his dramatic new play: an ambitious cross between Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and American Beauty. However, when his tween collaborators get distracted by more trivial pursuits like boys and camp, Griffin’s attention drifts toward Brad, the zoned-out handyman working at his house. Increasingly smitten and seeking a kindred spirit in Brad due to his failed career as a New York-based performance artist, Griffin finds himself embarking on an unforgettable summer.

TRIBECA X OFFICIAL PREMIERE 

"Black Girls" is directed by alum B. Monet. 

SHORTS

"Lice", by Grad Film MFA candidate Vindhya Gupta, follows 12-year-old Roshni as she forges a bond with the class outcast, Chakor, to keep her lice infestation a secret. The malicious lie looms large over Roshni as a friendship blossoms between them.

"Ebb and Flow" is a short film directed by Grad Film alum and adjunct faculty Nay Tabbara. Determined to have her first kiss, a young teenage girl defies her tumultuous world in search of normalcy.

"A Family Guide to Hunting" is a short film by alum Zao Wang. When Eva, a doomsday prepper, takes her uptight Korean-American parents and all-American boyfriend on a bonding hunting trip, things go from bad to grisly.

"Clodagh", directed by alum Portia A. Buckley, follows a priest's housekeeper who discovers a young Irish girl of exceptional promise.

RISING VOICES (SHORTS)

"Tender Thoughts" is a short film directed by Grad Film alum Anndi Jinelle Liggett.

MOVING THE SPOTLIGHT (SHORTS)

"Cuando Todo Arde" (When Everything Burns) is a short film directed by Grad Film MFA candidate Maria Belen Poncio. 

"Bloomed in the Water", is written and directed by alum Joanne Mony Park. When school picture day gets lost in translation between Korean-American single mom Min and her kindergartener son Noah, Min tries to course-correct with the ragtag help of her assimilated sisters, a sharp new outfit for Noah, and an ocean’s worth of determination to give him better.

SPOTLIGHT+

"Following Harry", directed by alum Susanne Rostock, is an intimate portrait of Harry Belafonte whose work dedicated to social justice continued until his death in 2023 at age 96. The film allows audiences a window into the lived experiences of both his public and private life, dating from the killing of Trayvon Martin more than a decade ago and taking us on a journey to Florida, to Ferguson, to Ghana, and, finally, to Harry’s home in New York City. 

INDIE EPISODIC (NOW)

"Le Parrot", by Grad Film MFA candidate Rachael Sonnenberg, follows three siblings as they return home for their mother's funeral. Chaos ensues when they realize their mother has left behind her pet parrot.

SORA SHORTS

Sora Shorts is a new program at Tribeca Fest featuring five original short films all made using OpenAI’s text-to-video AI model Sora. OpenAI gave the cohort of five directors early access to the program — so long as they each agreed to the filmmaking terms surrounding AI as negotiated last year with the DGA, WGA, and SAG-AFTRA guilds. Alum Nikyatu Jusu was one of the five filmmakers featured in this program.

AT&T PRESENTS: UNTOLD STORIES

AT&T*, together with Tribeca Festival, connects emerging and historically underrepresented filmmakers to greater possibilities with the seventh installment of AT&T Presents: Untold Stories – an annual pitch competition and year-round mentorship program. This year’s winner will receive $1M to take their pitch from idea to full-length feature film that will premiere at next year’s 2025 Tribeca Festival. 

"In an Orderly Fashion" is a feature film directed by Grad Film alum Adrian Cardenas and produced by Grad Film alum Maria Altamirano. In the peaceful suburbs of Miami, a Cuban family’s lives are upended when Rafa, after forty years of hard work, is rewarded with a terminal illness on the first day of his retirement. Chaos ensues when Rafa asks the unthinkable from his wife: to help him end it all, so long as he doesn’t know when it’s coming.

"Honeyjoon", directed by Grad Film alum Lilian T. Mehrel, follows Kurdish-Persian mother Lela and her diaspora daughter June as they take a trip to the romantic Azores off the Portuguese coast, after a recent loss. Out of place amidst honeymooners in paradise, they attempt to reclaim their lust for living. But life – and each other – keeps getting in their way.