Introduction: Cityscapes
By the 2007 Tribeca Film Fellows program of the Tribeca Film Institute
Edited by: Tony Gannon
Original Music by: Dujeous*
This spring, the Tribeca Film Fellows—20 dynamic young filmmakers who are invited to the Tribeca Film Festival for a backstage look at the Festival and the film industry at large—descended on all five boroughs to capture the essence of the city they live in. Presented as an introduction to Our City, My Story, Cityscapes introduces the nine short films that have been selected and pay homage to the city that all of the Our City, My Story filmmakers live in and love.
Pedestrian Gallery
By Raven Jensen, Elliot Lobell, Shane Ferrer-Sheehy and Kenneth Crutchfield
Summer Arts Institute
Blending interviews with graffiti art pioneers, new school artists and representatives from the legal system with images of art in the urban environment, Pedestrian Gallery explores the history and legacy of graffiti and tries to predict what is next for street art.
Still Standing
By Luis B. Arcentales, Vanessa Bateau, Jeongwoon Eun, Ines Morales, Adrianne D. Morraz, Sergio A. Sanchez
Educational Video Center
Created by young New Yorkers who traveled to New Orleans following the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Still Standing is an intimate portrayal of the challenges faced by Ms. Gertrude, a Katrina survivor, as she tries to rebuild her life and her home.
Sonata
By Agnes Juliet Garfield
Ghetto Film School
Using evocative images of the city and music, Sonata takes a hard look at the memories and regrets of a young man on his first day out of prison.
Out of the Picture
By Dameon Mills
Reelworks Teen Filmmaking
After migrating to the U.S without his father, Dameon is eager to find out what it really feels like to grow up without a father figure. By interviewing teenage boys who have grown up without their fathers around, Dameon begins to understand how it has affected their lives and his own.
Jewmaican
By Melinda Tenenzapf
Reelworks Teen Filmmaking
After Melinda’s mother committed suicide when she was 4 months old, Melinda’s story finally brightens when her nanny Beverly enters her life. Beverly, a Jamaican woman hired to be Melinda’s nanny, ultimately becomes a mother to her and Melinda must choose between the family connections she has built and those she was born into.
Have a Heart
By Elvir Lekperic, Korii Noreiga, Isaac Shrem
Summer Arts Institute
In 1996 Donald Arthur was given six weeks to live. That same year, Margaret Grady lost a son. Depicting the miraculous convergence of two strangers’ lives through the gift of organ donation, Have a Heart tells the story of how one man was literally given a new life as a result of a heart transplant and how a woman found true comfort following a tragedy.
Mi Nueva York, My New York
By Students from Gregorio Luperon High School
Working Playground
Students from Manhattan’s Washington Heights neighborhood explore the immigrant experience in NYC through the eyes of recent arrivals and first generation New Yorkers.
The Dance
By Jennifer Lim
A teenage girl excitedly prepares for a dance, only to be disappointed by a dreary reality.
Dependent
By Richard Memminger
Downtown Community Television/Pro-TV
A jarring look at a young man’s struggle to cope with the drug addiction and eventual demise of his mother. Raised by his grandmother, then his cousin and occasionally his living with his mom, we see Richard examine ideas of family, love and dependence—and coming to accept that he must count on himself most of all.
