Tribeca Film Festival Pt. V
Bonus Content Includes Tribeca Highlights & Film Reviews of "Stateless" and "Ice Cold"
Youthquake here, your one and only source into the nostalgia of the pop culture elite (past & present). Today’s pop culture highlight is on film/documentary.
Last week and this week’s Youthquake schedule pause is due to happily covering the Tribeca Film Festival. This bonus edition features Tribeca highlights and reviews for Stateless and Ice Cold. So if you’re new, happy to have you; get into it below.
💣 Day 7 was brimming with premieres; highlights include:
During the photocall for I Carry You With Me, director Heidi Ewing shared a touching moment when she FaceTimed with Norman Lear (legendary American television writer)— and he answered.
Ewing’s narrative debut is a cross-border romantic drama about a gay New York chef reflecting on his experiences coming of age in Mexico.Founding members Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, and Clem Burke of Blondie joined New York City artist and director Rob Roth for a wildly entertaining Storytellers conversation.
The band spoke on many topics, about Jean-Michel Basquiat they recall how “he was a good kisser!” and “smoked a lot of pot.” Clem and Chris reflect on their favorite Andy Warhol memories, saying they loved “shooting guns in Andy’s factory. No joke. We miss that factory.” The group also discusses the constant changes happening in New York City; Chris humorously makes a comment saying, “Today, there’s not enough of a distinct group of weirdos.”
Storytellers, Blondie at Spring Studios. Image courtesy of Tribeca Film Festival.
💣 Day 8 highlights include:
Blondie members Debbie Harry and Clem Burke, director Rob Roth, Tribeca Festival co-founder & CEO Jane Rosenthal, and special guests Fab 5 Freddy were in attendance for the premiere of Blondie: Vivir En La Habana.
The film documents the legendary rock band’s 2019 performance in Havana, Cuba. Closing the film was a special concert, as Blondie performed some of their biggest hits, including Rapture, Call Me, One Way or Another, and The Tide is High. But, the pain I feel from constantly missing out on Blondie, I digress.
All heads turned at Hudson Yards when Drag Race Royalty, Sasha Velour walked by in full-feathered glam to the series preview of Audible Original Hot White Heist. Writer, Creator, and Producer Adam Goldman introduced the film created by LGBTQ creatives Director Alan Cumming and Actor/Comedian Bowen Yang. They spoke to the podcast through pre-recorded videos. Standouts include Vander Von Odd, Neon Calypso, West Dakota, Sasha Colby, Miss Malice, and K.James, also in attendance.
💣 Day 9 highlights are as follow:
LFG had its red carpet premiere where director/producer Andrea Nix Fine, director/producer Sean Fine, executive producer Ben Silverman, and executive producer Howard Owens. In addition, the documentary subject and World Cup champion Megan Rapinoe, producer Abby Greensfelder, CNN Anchor Abby Philips, and Marcus Richardson attended.
The groundbreaking documentary follows the story of The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team three months before the 2019 World Cup, where they filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation. My review of this spectacular documentary comes out THIS WEDNESDAY.
Over at Brookfield Place was the world premiere of False Positive, a genre-bending thriller about the perils of parenthood. The cast includes writer/producer Ilana Glazer, Sophia Bush, Zainab Jah, Josh Hamilton, and Sabina Gadecki.
Glazer, expecting her first child with husband David Rooklin, thanked the film crew and “we hope [the film] moves you” during the introduction.
💣 Day 10 activities and highlights:
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Best Picture Oscar winner Fargo, film producer Joel Coen participated in a conversation with Frances McDormand, who won the Oscar for Best Actress with her performance in the film, and Steve Buscemi.
The in-person panel spoke to the history of the film, how the actors felt while re-watching themselves 25 years later, and teased Coen and McDormand’s next project, the upcoming Tragedy of Macbeth.
The Battery hosted the premiere of Tribeca’s 2021 Centerpiece Gala selection, director Steven Soderbergh’s new crime drama No Sudden Move (debuting on HBO Max July 1st).
“I’d like to thank the cast and crew for flying into Detroit and working within the bubble. It was a big ask on their part,” Soderbergh said as he introduced the film to the sold-out Tribeca Festival audience.Series creator Valerie Armstrong introduced AMC’s Kevin Can F*** Himself (starring Annie Murphy, Schitt’s Creek) and expressed her gratitude to the series cast and crew for their willingness to make a show during the pandemic at Hudson Yards Public Square.
Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan and moderator Alex Wolff (Old, Hereditary) as part of Tribeca’s Director Series, providing a glimpse into this visionary director’s artistic process across his career from The Six Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, The Village, The Visit, Split, Servant, and his upcoming film Old.
Chronicling how Haiti and the Dominican Republic share an island, the documentary offers further insight into colorism and discrimination. Director Michèle Stephenson’s Stateless looks at an ongoing immigration crisis and new laws, starring Rosa Iris Diendomi, a young Dominican attorney and immigration advocate for Haitians.
Diendomi is running for Congress despite hostility towards Haitians and that two countries share a border, Hispaniola. The documentary delves into the chaotic political history, such as The Parsley Massacre by Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo, who ordered the execution of 8,000 innocent Haitian lives. Mirroring unjust cruelty is the 2013 Dominican Supreme Court decision to strip away the birthright and citizenship of many Dominicans with undocumented Haitian parents— even those born and raised in the Dominican Republic as far back as 1929.
This political ruling left more than 200,000 people with Haitian ancestry without a nationality, not even a limbo status. Although in 2014, amid international pressure, children born in the Dominican Republic were allowed to apply for citizenship amid deportations and valid claims to Dominican citizenship.
Seeing citizens get turned away because they don’t appear a certain way is detestable; the effects of post-colonialism and its horrors still exist. Likewise, reducing communities to marginalized groups is counterproductive, yet it happens virtually every day and is passed on; Michèle Stephenson provides a wider lens into what’s happening.
Stateless advocates provide interactions that Dominican/Haitians face, the difficult obstacles for a valid ID without offering corrective enforcement of irregularities as stateless citizens struggle. Stateless, otherwise known as Spanish title Apátrida, will have its tv premiere over at PBS on July 19th.
Stacked jewelry and gold chains signify prestige and honor in various cultures. For rapper’s it’s a status symbol, an accumulative reached goal of success and investing in themselves; it’s a badge of the highest honor in one’s inner group aside from career accolades.
Whatever the chosen symbol, motto, or icon on a rapper’s chain seemingly represents a certain status of established wealth and camaraderie. If this were Goodfellas, it’d be like getting made, which is something radical in and of itself, especially for Black hip-hop artists.
“We all have our own ways of feeling and displaying success. This series explores that concept through the story of hip-hop jewelry. It’s a deeper look at the construct of ’The American Dream’ and how hip-hop has redefined it through jewelry and creative expression,” shares Ice Cold director Karam Gill.
The four-part docuseries spotlights the Avant Gard extremities of hip-hop jewelry from its evolution while being disregarded and culturally looked down on, especially in hip-hop. Ice Cold digs into the Black stereotypes that the Black community and entertainers face while affluent One Percenters have shamelessly flaunted their wealth relatively unscathed. The importance of dressing well is instilled in and conditioned us culturally; jewelry is beautiful, nostalgic, and prideful. The documentary perfectly points out the hypocrisy and discrimination in society; why is Liz Taylor seen as aspirational with her 321-carat sapphire pendant from Myanmar (formerly Burma), but Mr. T and his multi-stacked look seen through a specific lens?
I know how much my faux gold nameplate necklace means to me, culturally, so imagine how Yung Miami and JT of City Girls feel wearing theirs— I mean, LOOK at the material and craftsmanship below.
Ice Cold debuts July 8th via MIGOS’ YouTube Channel. Their newest track, ROAD RUNNER, is featured throughout Ice Cold, and the album’s artwork even features the group’s jewelry and custom pieces to commemorate the documentary.
The Tribeca Film Festival has concluded, and my coverage is nearly complete. I have a few more reviews to edit and schedule for posting as bonus editions, but Youthquake will be back to regular scheduling tomorrow. 💘