Four Brilliant Films That Will Be Screening At Tribeca Film Festival

Asian Australian LGBTQI+ drama ‘This Perfect Day’

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/313297308

Chinese Australian Director Lydia Rui’s This Perfect Day was created by a predominately by a female key crew and stars Lee Mason (Underbelly, Crime and Punishment) and introduces non-binary lead Michelle Keating. In writing this topical film Rui drew inspiration from her own life. This Perfect Day will screen in Tribeca as one of only 63 shorts, selected from a record number of 5131 submissions!

Julia, a wayward youth, walks into a music store. This could be a day that changes their life.

Lydia Rui graduated with a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She traveled through North America and Europe as a videographer for Beyoncé Knowles’ Mrs. Carter World Tour ’13-‘14. Upon returning to Melbourne, she was a full-time Director’s Assistant for award-winning production company Exit Films from ’14-‘16. Her short documentary, ‘This is Yarra’ (2018), World Premiered at DOC NYC 2018 — America’s largest Academy® qualifying documentary festival. It had its National Premiere at the Academy® & BAFTA qualifying 28th Flickerfest International Short Film Festival in the ‘Best Documentaries — International and Australian’ competition. ‘This Perfect Day’ (2018) is Lydia’s second narrative short. Her transnational background allows her to bring a nuanced, empathic eye to every subject. Lydia seeks to empower, enrich, and enliven through cinematic storytelling. She is particularly interested in stories that center marginalized experiences, believing that moving image is the most powerful conduit for expanding empathy. 

River Gallo’s touching drama ‘Ponyboi’ about a sex worker seeking romance 

Executive produced by Stephen Fry and Emma Thompson, starring River Gallo, Keith Allan (Z Nation), Arron Schwartz (Gossip Girl) and introduces Sophie Labelle

Trailer: 

Ponyboi, is the first narrative film, by and starring an out intersex individual in cinema history. River Gallo and Sadé Clacken Joseph direct this live-action short capturing a charming young intersex man who turns tricks in the New Jersey laundromat where he works.  

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.

River Gallo is a Salvadorian-American intersex filmmaker, actor, writer, model and advocate with interACT. He is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts Experimental Theatre Wing and the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts MFA program. Ponyboi is his USC thesis. River was named one of the “Most Exciting Queer People to Follow in 2019” by Out Magazine and made PAPER Magazine’s list of “100 People Taking Over 2019”. He and Sadé Clacken Joseph co-founded Gaptoof Entertainment, a multi-media production house in Los Angeles, which focuses on intersectionality and creating inclusive spaces for POC, LGBTQIA+, and female narratives.

Madeleine Gottlieb’s music inspired drama ‘Snare’

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/321367870 

Madeleine Gottlieb’s Australian film Snare stars the popular actor Steve Rogers (Home and Away, The Code) and James Fraser (December Boys, The Water Diviner). This father-son drama premiered at the celebrated South by South West Film Festival and will now screen at the Oscar-qualifying Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

At a late-night Chinese joint in 1997, Steve – a 50-year-old dad with a hunched back and blistered hands – waits for his son Jobe to arrive after a gig with his punk band The Nosebleeds. They each need something life-changing from the other.

Amongst plates of steamed dumplings and sizzling Mongolian beef, Steve and Jobe wrestle with one another’s needs and ambitions as parental roles are reversed and expectations inverted.

Madeleine Gottlieb is a writer, director and producer from Sydney, Australia. Her directorial debut I F*cked a Mermaid and No One Believes Me received its international premiere at Interfilm Berlin / KUKI Berlin and its Australian premiere at the Oscar-qualifying Flickerfest, Sydney. In 2018, she wrote feature film Panyee for Revlover Films. Beginning her career as a Production and Development Executive at Goalpost Pictures, Madeleine worked on high-profile productions including Matthew Saville’s Felony and Neil Armfield’s Holding The Man. In 2016 she was Associate Producer on Season 2 of SundanceTV’s Cleverman. Now at Revlover Films (the sister company of Revolver) she works closely with producers Martha Coleman and Lauren Edwards whilst developing her own slate of projects independently, including a feature film adaptation of Snare. As a filmmaker she is particularly interested in exploring contemporary masculinity.

Justin O’Neal Miller’s Award Winning short film ‘Peggy’

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/269853912

Justin O’Neal Miller’s Peggy tells a tale about a housewife who appears to have it all until the cracks begin to show. Since starting its festival run, Peggy has won numerous awards including Best in Show at Rome International Film Festival, the Jury and Audience Awards for Best Short at Spokane International Film Festival, and the Audience Award for Best Short at Calgary International Film Festival. Peggy stars Sarah Blackman (The Derby Stallion) and Jason MacDonald (The Vampire Diaries).

Peggy’s social graces are put to the test when she throws a birthday party for her eight-year-old son.

Director and Producer Justin O’Neal Miller studied at the Georgia Tech School of Architecture, where he won the Grand Prix for his thesis film project, titled Hypertecture. His passion for design and storytelling led to a career in set design and art direction, working for feature films and television including Prisoners, 42: The Jackie Robinson Story, American Made, The Walking Dead, Baby Driver and First Man by Damien Chazelle.