YALE
Jay Silverman‘s Dances With Film LA feature, YALE, opens this festival edition. Mackenzie’s unresolved childhood trauma manifests as alcoholism and a successful but unfulfilling writing career. After an altercation with a fan leads her to another arrest, her already strained relationship with her ailing son becomes way more complicated. Ryan needs a kidney transplant, forcing Mack to track down her estranged father. What begins as a transactional relationship develops into a meeting of the minds, a hashing out of past wounds, family secrets, and a connection neither expects.
Based on the wild true story of writer Van Billet‘s maternal grandfather, the screenplay explores cyclical trauma with authentic heart and laughs. Mack quickly realizes how disconnected she is from Ryan. Yale’s jokes are simultaneously funny and eyeroll-inducing. But the depth lies within the sadness and unfathomable reality of Yale Parker.
The similarities between Mac and Yale are narrative heaven. In their cynical back-and-forth, they both treat truth like an inconvenience and deeply care about Ryan. Together, they navigate the crappy hand they’ve been dealt by chasing down a kidney.
Rachel Harris plays Mac’s literary agent and only friend, Susan. Any time we see her, it immediately elevates the project. Benjamin Mackey gives Ryan a wonderful spunk, easily holding his own alongside the adults.
Kevin Dunn makes Yale a fully fleshed-out and terribly charming guy. He manages to be lovable through a laundry list of bad behaviors. Caitlin McGee is undeniably grounded, bouncing off Dunn like an absolute pro. She has a Kate Walsh look and energy. She genuinely owns every beat. Dunn and McGee have fabulous chemistry. They are incredible scene partners.
Billet’s script delivers a nuanced take on generational trauma, desperation, and eventually a father-daughter road movie. There is so much meat on the bone, Yale could easily translate into an entire series. DWF LA 2026 audiences are in for quite a ride.
WRITER: Van Billet
DIR: Jay Silverman
PRODS: Jay Silverman, Bethany Cerrona, Ian Christian Blanche, Kevin Dunn, Joe Gamache
CAST: Caitlin McGee, Kevin Dunn, Rachael Harris, Benjamin Mackey, Dominic Leeder
Based on a true story about a troubled woman who must confront her deadbeat father who abandoned her as a child as the last ditch effort to find a donor kidney for her dying son.
Rob Burnett brings a wicked take on mortality and legacy in Tribeca 2026’s dark comedy In Memoriam. When a known TV actor, Langston Stanfield, gets a terminal cancer diagnosis out of the blue, his entire goal for his remaining six months to live is to make it into the Oscars Death Montage.
Director Allison Sloan Berg‘s Tribeca 2026 doc Time Warp, and I see you shiver with Antici… pation. September 2022 in Rock Springs, Wyoming, a small theatre dares to put on a Shadow Cast production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Theatre director, producer, choreographer, house manager, and star of the show, Kenny Starling, brings us into the industrious, loving, and hardworking theatre company that delivers excitement and love to an otherwise quiet, conservative, and seemingly forgotten town. 
Theatre has always been a safe space, long before that became a political buzzword. Time Warp appears relatively straightforward in its initial presentation. Berg features cast members’ backgrounds, rehearsals, and most surprisingly, a city council meeting that does not go the way we think it will. 
Huge ups to music supervisor Doug Bernheim for the soundtrack, which features the OG Frank-N-Furter, Tim Curry, Siouxsie, Betty Davis, and Jobriath. Frank Keraudren’s editing, particularly the five-day-out rehearsal montage, opening night, and the credits, is delicious. Loved seeing huge Broadway stars line up as Executive Producers! Berg boasts Josh Gad, Billy Porter, and John Cameron Mitchell.
Filmmaker Rob Rice‘s incredibly uncomfortable Tribeca 2026 film Ponderosa follows Zeke, a young man targeted by a wealthy patron as his mother’s restaurant chain falters. George thinks he’s mentoring Zeke, but the reality is a collection of bizarre, forced encounters.
In this rhythmic psychological thriller, a lonely aspiring teen actress finds herself drawn to an acting teacher who pulls her into a web of desire and control, blurring the lines of seduction and obsession.
After backing out of a suicide pact that leaves her husband dead, a sheltered farmer’s wife flees the shame and hidden debts that destroyed their life together and disappears into the port city of Eilat, where an unexpected bond with migrants, refugees, and a compassionate hotel manager forces her to rebuild herself from nothing and discover a life beyond the one she was told to live.
After a breakup, rudderless millennial Jane hires a team of Gen-Z consultants to reinvent her life. But what begins as a makeover soon spirals into a sharp social media satire about image, app culture, and the cost of becoming someone else.
Seven years after her Grammy Award-winning Amidst the Chaos, Sara Bareilles reunites with her closest collaborators to record a new album. What emerges is an intimate, cinematic process that lays bare the musician’s deep connections and inspirations in Tribeca alum Josh Alexander’s moving music documentary.
Mabel
Nicholas Ma‘s darling coming-of-age film Mabel follows Callie, a 6th-grade botany-obsessed girl who struggles to adjust to her family’s move. 
Judy Greer is a gem. Having worked with and for scientists, Greer nails the bluntness and often curt tone in Ms. G’s delivery. It’s a performance that wins in its specificity. Newcomer Lexi Perkel‘s raw turn will undoubtedly hit the core of anyone raising a headstrong leader. Perkel settles easily into Callie’s hyper focus. You can see the light in her eyes as the two become one. Perkel is so effortless, you’d think she were the subject of a documentary. 
Mabel struggles slightly with pacing, even at a satisfying 84-minute runtime, but its relatable storytelling keeps it a breezy watch. Anyone who has ever felt different, misunderstood, or any parent of a child on the spectrum (even though Callie is specifically not) will relate to the desire to find connection and genuine friendship. Mabel is a solid family film. 
SXSW 2026 true-crime doc I Got Bombed at Harvey’s tells the off-the-wall tale of a casino, a ransom note, a homemade bomb with 1000 pounds of dynamite, and 24 hrs. Your jaw will drop as one absolute narcissistic lunatic’s spiral brings his kids down with him.
SXSW 2026 Watchlist
In Cold Light
Hellbent on backsliding into her old ways, Ava’s tough exterior hides a chasm of wounds. As her brother softens to her requests for drug connections, all hell breaks loose when she becomes a target and scapegoat for murder. Now, with the innocent lives of her family members in harm’s way, Ava must decide who she can trust and how far she will go to bargain for their safety.
Oscar winner
While the “why” takes longer to get to than I would have liked, and feels somewhat disjointed, In Cold Light is a definitive, gritty crime thriller. Helen Hunt briefly appears, and introducing her sooner would change everything. Both the editing and handheld camerawork are hypnotic. But it’s the visceral father-daughter dynamic that gets under your skin and stays there. Screenwriter Patrick Whistler delivers unresolved trauma on an astonishing level. Monroe and Kotsur make an undeniably compelling duo. I would love to see them back together, doing anything literally.
While grading papers, Susan’s quiet night gets weird when her husband shows up in a panic. He explains that through his secretive research at Double Star Accounting, he can now predict the future. Edgar shares that his co-workers are after his knowledge and that Susan and their daughter, Taylor, are in danger. This sounds preposterous to her until two aggressive individuals knock on her front door demanding to know where Edgar is. As they threaten her family, Susan must decide who to believe.
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Performance was my safe place from a young age. I got to disappear into someone else. I got to escape the anxiety of being myself. Hell, even speaking other people’s words made me feel more confident. I was better at being someone else. And yeah, I know now that was my way of studying to mask. I became extremely confident because I was good at everything, but what people didn’t see was the endless fear that I felt. It was all to cover my 
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The film is a collection of personalities all jockeying to outdo each other. Greg looks like Santa and is happy to dress as such for the local kids. His son, Little Greg, is poised to take over the family business as his father battles cancer. Brooklynite George (who used to work for Greg) hopes to find love this season and brings bravado to the group. Heather is nine years sober. You will find her supporting those struggling on a similar path. Ciree takes the reins from her parents after 30 years. All of them find themselves under the thumb of the mysterious Kevin Hammer. Think of him as the Christmas Tree Mafia Boss.
The film is a countdown to Christmas, tracking the complicated and expensive logistics of purchasing trees, trucking them sometimes across the country, bidding on street corner permits, setting up shop, all while navigating weather, workforce, and the economy. It’s a risky business that can be rewarding in the end. The job is physically taxing and emotionally exhausting, but its impact on building family traditions is worth its weight in gold. 
Aniskovich intersperses sit-down interviews with action on the ground. The pièce de résistance are the scenes mimicking the stop-motion animation in Christmas classics like 
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