The 2021 Tribeca Film Festival featured podcasts this year, and we’re hooking you up with the best ones

Did you know that the Tribeca Film Festival also has a podcast category? Tribeca Enterprises is known for showcasing diverse storytelling since its creation in 1989. In 2002, founders Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff created the Tribeca Film Festival (along with other festivals) to spur an economical and social revitalization of lower Manhattan after the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. Since then, Tribeca Enterprises has been bringing independent films, TV, podcasts, and other artistic mediums to the widest audiences possible.

There were 14 official podcast selections at the 2021 Tribeca Festival; all exceptional works of fiction and non-fiction from independent creators. Listen to stories from the island of Lesbos, the guardians of the Okavango water system, and the FBI’s reinvestigations of over 100 civil rights era murders. Or perhaps you are interested in the story of a utopian society on the brink of collapse, or a Christmas miracle in Brooklyn. Listen to the Tribeca Film Festival’s Official 2021 Podcast Selections:

Brooklyn Santa

A short work of fiction, Slide is willing to risk it all for a Christmas miracle for 16-year-old Gianna, the girl he loves. Slide and his friends are on the hunt for the “Santa” of the Brooklyn Projects. In order to find him, though, the friends must travel through Jack’s Projects after receiving a pardon from The Snowman. “Brooklyn Santa” is a modern take on a classic Christmas tale.

Blind Guy Travels

Join Matthew Shifrin as he takes you through life without sight. “Blind Guy Travels” follows Shifrin through experiences in a world he has never seen. Follow him as he crafts a TedTalk, creates the perfect dating profile, collaborates with LEGO to create instructions for their blind customers, and prepares for his college graduation. Listen to his journey as he creates a more accessible world for himself and has fun with it along the way. From Radiotopia Presents is “Blind Guy Travels”.

I’ll Never Be Alone Anymore

Lesbos, Greece is a small island situated in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It is most famously known as the birthplace of the Ancient Greek poet, Sappho, and, subsequently, the birthplace of lesbians. The island, true to its name, became home to an enormous lesbian community starting in the 1970s. They welcomed thousands and thousands of women before its decline in the 21st century. Now, it is a small community of older lesbians. And while they may be 60 years old, you would never guess it. They drink. They party. They have sex, and they aren’t afraid to speak their minds. Who they are and what they represent is a true testament to the vanishing community that was once a safe haven to so many.

Vermont Ave

“Vermont Ave” is a 15-minute immersive walk down the Los Angeles street Vermont Ave. You will be placed in John’s shoes, who is trying to clear his head before making a potentially life-altering decision. This fiction piece was recorded in one take, using 3D sound microphones, putting you quite literally in John’s place. “Vermont Ave” is an intimate portrait of a Los Angeles 30-year-old at the end of a tumultuous 2020.

Something Strange is Happening

When immigrants trekked to America, they brought their culture, their language, their ideals. But what they also brought, unbeknownst to them, were their monsters. A superstitious Filipina teenager finds out a dark family secret on her 18th birthday. Set in Los Angeles’ Historic Filipino Town, this “Something Strange is Happening” podcast tells the tale of the evil spirits and legends of Filipino folklore, back for vengeance. This is unlike any American horror story you’ve heard before.

Monster

“Monster” is Tommy Bertelsen’s diary of the making of his horror movie in Latvia. Along the way, he finds a real monster in the Eastern European landscape. A narrative work of nonfiction, “Monster” is three acts of an intensely authentic, genuinely frightening sonic memoir.

The Imperfection

Charlie and Amber’s psychiatrist has suddenly gone missing – or been erased from existence entirely. The problem is, both of these patients suffer from the same condition that causes wild hallucinations. So it’s a bit difficult to know exactly what’s happened. What they do know is that Charlie and Amber must rally their doctor’s other patients to search for him. Along the way, they encounter secret societies and hidden boroughs underneath the groundwork of New York City. Listen to “The Imperfection” to hear the full story.

Un(re)solved

Since 2008, the induction of the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act was signed, there has only been one successful prosecution. “Un(re)solved” follows Reporter James Edwards as he digs into the FBI’s reopening of these murder cases. He looks into specific cases from the time – so-called “cold” cases of the killings of Black people during America’s deadly Civil Rights Era. Edwards investigates how these murders were handled decades ago, and how the FBI and DOJ’s re-opening of these cases have affected the families after nearly half a century of injustice. But just what does justice look like decades after the crimes?

Earth Eclipsed

When information on a top secret project led by Dr. Alexine Prometh leaks, she finds herself battling a company searching for a scapegoat. The neuroscientist was on the brink of breakthrough, one that would save millions of lives across the galaxy, when she is suddenly kidnapped by a renegade miner. Set in the distant future, “Earth Eclipsed” follows the fate of the Abacus Project, explores the workings of a utopian society, and asks what lengths someone would go to to preserve humanity. “Earth Eclipsed” is an immersive audio series whose first season will be out in late Summer 2021. Listen to Episode 1 now.

Anomaly

When civil war erupts along the East Coast, 17-year-old Kory Hernandez is sent from Queens to the safety of the midwest. Taken in by a host family in Keenboro, Illinois, a small town battling the effects of climate change, Kory struggles to find her place in her new home. “Anomaly” is a science fiction podcast that follows our young protagonist Kory in her new life with the Millers. She quickly discovers that the safety of her new home is not a guarantee, and she cannot hope to trust anyone around her.

Guardians of the River

The winner of the Best Narrative Nonfiction category in 2021, “Guardians of the River” is the true story of the guardians of the Okavango water system. Their task: protect the remote and untouched environment from every threat. “Guardians of the River” follows a team of scientists and tribe members on a four-month expedition to follow a pristine trickle of water across Southern Africa. They hear tales of ghost elephants, form an alliance with the legendary demon Mukisi, and learn of Angolan tradition in their quest to protect just one swatch of Earth.

Wind of Change

It’s the end of the Cold War, tides are shifting and winds are changing. The Scorpions’ metal ballad, Wind of Change, becomes the soundtrack to the end of an era and the start of a brighter one. But decades after the song dominated the charts, New Yorker investigative journalist Ratick Radden Keefe hears a rumor: the Scorpions didn’t write that song. In fact, the song is maybe even more than a song. Because the CIA wrote it, and used it to infiltrate the Iron Curtain.

Constellation Prize

“Constellation Prize” is taking the spiritual dilemmas of everyday people and piecing them together one existential problem at a time. Bianca Giaver interviews a school crossing guard, a documentary filmmaker, and an artist on their existence in the timeline we have been given. They discuss art, God, loneliness, music, and how it all fits into their lives. A podcast from The Believer Magazine, “Constellation Prize” is trying to uplift the human condition.