2026 Tribeca Exit Survey

For the third year we are back with our annual Tribeca Exit Survey! You can check out our previous additions here and here. We take pride in watching every single short at the fest and the four of us are here to share what stood out to us in several categories. Thank you to Tribeca and the programmers for another incredible festival. We can't wait to see what jouney these shorts set off on.

1) As always we will start things off with Live Action. What was your favourite live action short of the fest?

Robin: The short 32B (مشاكل داخلية) really struck a chord with me. It depicts the story of a single dad in Egypt trying to be a supportive and loving father to his teenage daughter, specifically by getting her first bra. It is well crafted and strikes a really nice balance between drama and comedy, it is also the first Egyptian film to screen at Tribeca. I love seeing these small scale, big heart productions get some recognition on the international stage and for this it is well deserved.

Brandon: Sometimes the best short is the one you knew all along. There were some really solid options here but I am going to stick with DISC, which I saw premiere last year at TIFF and is still one of the best shorts I have seen over the past year. Blake Rice and Victoria Ratermanis craft a screenplay that brings both the laughs and the charm. The acting from Jim Cummings and Victoria Ratermanis is sensational and the sound design is one of the coolest aspects of the short as the voice creating the tempo switches depending whose perspective you are in.

Josh: Kiloran Bay, written and directed by Michael Bruce is the best short film of Tribeca. The musical drama stars a resplendent Alan Cumming as Torquil, a gay man who, after decades away, returns home to Scotland to attend a traditional wedding and faces a past he spent a lifetime avoiding. After years of flamboyant fakery hosting The Traitors, Cumming brings emotional sincerity and his beautiful singing voice to Kiloran Bay’s original songs. Kiloran Bay gives us the joy of a cèilidh, the pain of self-acceptance, and the beauty of the Scottish Hebrides all in a radiant 13 minutes.

Pedro: My favorite live-action was Vultures by Dian Weys. It is a nail-biter short about the profit over the safety of people when it comes to a tow trucking business in South Africa. Weys is a master in controlling and escalating the tension throughout the film's length.

2) Moving on to best documentary short. As always a wide variety of topics were covered from light and fun to powerful and important. What was your favourite documentary short of the fest?

Pedro: I was impressed by Inês Pedrosa e Melo's The Dark Knot at the Center. Beautifully shot by Marta Simões, whose work previously floored me in As Estações by Maureen Fazendeiro. The film is a delicate portrayal of the period when abortion was illegal in the United States. Narrating through letters the heartbreaking stories of the women who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, it is an impressive exercise of memory while filming the highways that hold so much history and pain.

Robin: Inês Pedrosa e Melo pairs voice overs of letters from women, written in the 1960s, describing their travels to access illegal abortion care with slow melancholic roadtrip footage to get the heavy documentary that is The Dark Knot at the Center. The stories are told in a calm and collected manner, but the fact that we are in the same position or worse in many parts of the world all these decades later screams horrific silent cries as you watch and sit with this documentary.

Brandon: I think the jury really nailed the awards in this category. As seen in my review earlier this week, Listen was a documentary that was deeply felt and will stick with me for a while. But in the interest of shouting out something else, the special mention for the fest deservingly went to The Baddest Speechwriter of All. Ben Proudfoot continues his knack for finding interesting subjects you can't believe you haven't heard about before. In this short he pairs up with NBA superstar Stephen Curry to deliver a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr's lawyer and speechwriter, Dr. Clarence B Jones. The short seamlessly blends in animation to reflect and give a behind-the-scenes look at the civil rights movement. Given the current political environment, shorts like these that inform on black history and celebrate the movements that bring diversity are so needed.

Josh: Born To Kill, Sally Tran’s thrillingly alive documentary on the Vietnamese-American BTK gang rips through the screen with more energy and verve than any feature documentary so far this year. The story of a group of refugee youths finding community in 1980s New York City through extortion and violence uses animation, interviews, miniatures and video recreations to communicate its dense visual ideas and history of a group of boys who were Born To Kill.

3) As always Whoopi Goldberg Goldbery chose a slate of wonderful animated shorts. What was your favourite animated short of the fest?

Josh: Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe!, conceived by the delirious mind of director Andrea Szelesová, is jammed full of whimsical ideas and bright colours and constant reinvention. The story of Yios, a lonely mythical boy with a head that shines like the sun, who leaves his home in the clouds to travel Earth, plays like a super-sized episode of Adventure Time. Colourful non-sequiturs and wildly imagined characters lead to an unexpectedly emotional lesson about seeing yourself.

Pedro: Alice Guimarães' Porque Hoje é Sábado (Because Today is Saturday) shows that the Portuguese animation is the one to look forward to nowadays. It has a beautiful drawing trace, but the director thrives the most in the emotional development of this story, which illustrates the exhausting routine of a busy mother. Guimarães constructs a delicate and creative portrayal of daily life.

Robin: Saba takes place in a world where gravity is reversed, where things fall up instead of down and you can cast your fishing line in the sky. In this world a young child lives with his grandfather Saba on a boat. They have their own cute routines to cope with the absurdity of this abstract world, weathering thunderstorms and tying down everything they hold dear so it doesn’t fly away. It is a story with an impressive amount of emotional heft, neatly packaged in a single digit runtime.

Brandon: I completely agree with Robin, Saba was my favourite animated short of the festival. I adored how it playfully reversed gravity and creates a story about life and closure that really tugs at the heart. It is one of those shorts that I could watch on repeat and marvel at the design, that at times seems like a dream, unmoored from logic. I will say, I also immensely enjoyed the animated winner Violet and Marlowe Rob a Bank. It's the anti-capitalist story I never knew I needed with hints of Robin Hood and Fantastic Mr. Fox to boot. My only complaint is I wish it was even longer.

4) Tribeca shorts are always full of talented actors. What was a performance that stood out to you?

Brandon: Rain Spencer is having a fantastic start to 2026 in film. Earlier this year at Sundance she starred in coming-of -age hit Big Girls Don't Cry. This year at Tribeca she is the co-lead in One Night. One Night is a very wholesome short... until it isn't, and Rain Spencer as Margaret displays the full range of emotions from intrigue to joy to disappointment. The blank stare that encompasses the final scenes is a feeling many have felt, reliving the previous night events, unable to shake the heavy feeling of what almost was. Rain absolutely nails the sentiment at every moment and delivers the best performance at the festival.

Josh: In General Admission, Nina Dobrev is a woman determined to move on from her cheating ex; for most of the film she is delivering a monologue to a support group seeking a fresh start. Quickly going from sincere to surreal (grieving the end of a relationship to, well, masturbating to Wilson the volleyball from Castaway), her mortifyingly major overshare about her deepest fears takes one ridiculous turn after another. Mostly known as a TV actress, Dobrev more than proves she can lead a cringe comedy film with aplomb.

Pedro: In DISC, Victoria Ratermanis delivers a performance that left me in awe since I first watched it at last year's TIFF. It is one of the most impressive performances that I remember from a short film in recent years. It is the dramatic pillar that holds the effectiveness of the conflict in Blake Rice's work.

Robin: I covered much of my thoughts on Sand i Tissen in my review of it earlier, but I can’t help but reiterate the performance given by 19 year old Jenny Evensen as the daughter in this drama. Her subtle distress as she internally tries to grapple with shocking news while simultaneously being a loving and supporting daughter externally elevates the story in a way few experienced actors could.

5) We are talking chemistry now! Which ensemble or pair brought the best group performance together?

Robin: Admittedly this one is a bit of a layup because One Night is a story about dating in your twenties. We see Will (Jackson Kelly) and Margaret (Rain Spencer) for lack of a better term “hang out” during one evening turned night. The air is positively electric with their "will they, won't they" dynamic as we all collectively, viewer included, try to figure out if they are on a date or not.

Brandon: The pair of Jess McLeod as Max and Alexander Steele Zonjic as Jake absolutely kill it in She's Nonbinary. The acting is electric as Jake and Max go back in forth in an interaction that feels like Jake is playing checkers while Max is playing chess. Through these characters She's Non-Binary offers up an important and insightful perspective on allyship, sexuality and the importance of gender-affirming care.

Josh: The funniest comedy of the festival is about…a woman getting ready to go to jail? So, Boom finds Sweet Tea giving her younger sister a crash course in how to jail: who to trust, how to make bootleg makeup, how to ramen in a potato chip bag. The incredibly delightful trio of Tiffany “Tiny” Cruz, Marisa Razo, and Eliza Ramos are alternatively hilarious and heartwarming, their lived-in relationships keeping So, Boom charmingly compelling from its amiable chatty opening to its unexpected twist ending.

Pedro: Asante Blackk and Malia Pyles are outstanding on screen as a young couple falling in love in Ty Molbak's You Tryna Say You Love Me?. There is a fascinating juxtaposition in their acting. Asante is chill, while Malia features more energy in the character. The result is a vibrant chemistry onscreen; meanwhile, the film is a delicate and intricate love story that features confrontation and relationship development in sharp dialogues.

6) Even though short in runtime, short films can pack a serious emotional punch. Name a short that hit you with the emotions. Could be laughter or sadness, or anger. What made you feel the most this year?

Pedro: I laughed hard with Buckets by Drew Van Steenbergen, which is an accurate depiction of modern dating on the apps. It has a sharp humor that tackles the anxiety of waiting for your match to respond to something stupid you texted. It is a short that encapsulates well a sentiment of modernity and the shallowness of relationships nowadays.

Robin: In His House, Home Luke is about a young man caring for his father with MS. Shifting between his own time and daily visits from healthcare assistants, he has put off much of his own life to be his fathers caretaker. One day a new, queer assistant shows up and the closeted Luke starts to realise just how much of himself he has lost along the way. This is a delicate and beautifully portrayed drama with a stunning performance from Oskar Smith in the lead.

Brandon: This one is an easy choice for me. I completely agree with Robin. His House, Home gives a hell of an emotional gut punch in the final moments with a touching moment between father and son that had me on the verge of tears.

Josh: ShortStick already named Whale 52: Suite for Man, Boy and Whale one of our favourite short films of 2025 following it’s premiere at the Berlinale last year. Now, playing Tribeca in 2026, Daniel Neiden’s animated film remains an emotional wallop. A lonely whale, a boy with selective mutism, and an aging widower are an unexpected trio, finding their own voices and each other in a way that can’t help but leave you in tears.

7) There were some gorgous-looking shorts in this years festival. Which shorts cinematography stood out to you most?

Josh: Vultures, directed by Dian Weys, has brilliant night-time photography by South African cinematographer Pierre de Villiers, who also shot 2019’s radiant This is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection, Lesotho’s first-ever Oscar submission. Villiers roving camera captures the the aftermath of a car crash with a close-up intensity that gives the film a spiraling feeling of desperation as its characters wade through their moral dilemma.

Pedro: I really admire the look that Sachi Bahra and Leo Maco achieved in Aurora Bachman's The Black Panther Cubs: When the revolution doesn't come. The black-and-white cinematography is a glimpse of the children of a foregone past, the dream of a revolution that feels too distant. Hence, the shot of Fred Hampton Jr. walking in the streets, while the camera follows him in the black-and-white color format, addresses a melancholy to the orphans of a political movement. In this sense, Bahra and Maco speak a lot throughout the color (or the absence of it), and the angles of the interviews. It is truly a masterful work by the duo.

Robin: We have already covered A Crime Across Four Landscapes in our first roundup of the festival so I won’t go into too much detail, I do recommend checking out Joshua’s great review for that. But I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it when it comes to cinematography. The fixed camera shots would be reason enough for that, but the slideshow style filmstrip slowly sliding across the screen to take us between time and place is as simple as it is ingenious.

Brandon: As great as the cinematography in many of the live actions shorts is, the cinematography in documentary short The Black Panther Cubs: When the revolution doesn't come takes the cake in this category for me. The camera is always highlighting the best in it's interview subjects in a short where I was captivated by the stories they had to tell. Paired with concise editing, this was a real standout for me at the fest.

8) Alright, time to get creative. Name some technical component that really stood out to you in a short film at the fest.

Brandon: I can't say enough about the production design and colouring in Rare Birds. These technical components really tied together a brilliant cast and script to give us one of the best shorts at the fest. It was fascinating to learn even more about Theo Webb and Lily Weisberg's process of selecting an antique store and creating a vintage look with the warm glow of lamps and the aid of colouring.

Given the addition of a stunts category at the Oscars I also wanted to mention the amazing stunts and choreography in both Kaya and La Lucha de Lucía. Kaya brought some intense Filipino martial arts combat scenes while La Lucha de Lucía had gripping and strategically thought out wrestling matches.

Josh: A Crime Across Four Landscapes is a technical marvel. Deceptively simple—it’s four unmoving shots of American landscapes—but incredibly complex in execution. Detailed production design, evocative lighting and cinematography, innovative editing choices and exacting directing are inextricable from each other in this secretly complicated crime story, where nothing is as it seems and viewers are left to search for their own clues.

Pedro: I want to shout out the Winter Psalm's production design by Bohan Cheng. The house is a crucial element to the emotional structure of the film by Hao Yan, and Cheng's work achieves the harsh task of hinting at the home as an empty venue, but filling it with props and elements that make it a character and fully alive. It is an essential aspect of the film's core.

Robin: Insufficient Fare is a documentary about the retired NYC MetroCard, in part told through the eyes of the card itself. It is unique in style, with a hefty mix of pop culture references, nostalgic and dramatised shots of New York, and various forms of archival footage. It is a difficult feat to pull off in a way that feels engaging and cohesive, but does so with flying colors.