Nino Aldi’s role-reversal comedy Tribes, starring Internet celebrities Destorm Power (Punk’d), Adam Waheed (Pitch Please) and Daytime Emmy-winning producer/actor Jake Hunter (Class Act), from an award-winning screenplay by Andy Marlatt, will be presented online at the Oscar qualifying LA Shorts Fest.

Tribes depicts a timely story about three guys of different ethnicities: an African American, an Arab-American and a white man attempting to rob a subway train. A series of humorous situations are triggered when none of the three bandits want to rob the people of their own race. Self-identity is truly a bitch – a concealed premise perfectly fits under Nino Aldi’s camera, revealing our current social environment.

A subway car full of passengers. Three young men – Jamar, Kevin and Amed – get on. They spread out. The train pulls out of the station. Jamar pulls out a gun. ‘This is a robbery!’ Kevin and Amed begin taking valuables from the cowering passengers. Jamar, goes up to a young black male who’s about to give up his wallet. “You good,” Jamar says. He then stands over an older African American woman. “You good too,” he says Ten feet away, Amed stops collecting. He asks Jamar why those passengers are “good,” and Jamar replies that he doesn’t want to steal from ‘his people.’ Angered, Amed counters that he won’t rob his people, nodding to some Arab Americans on the train. Kevin, the lone white thug, then announces that they shouldn’t rob his people either. This sets off a series of arguments over self-identity, leading the would-be bandits to continually divide the passengers into various ethnic, cultural and economic subgroups in an effort to find a group of people that none of the thugs identify with – a group they can feel good about robbing.

“I was drawn to Tribes because it deals with a pertinent issue in our society today about separatism and how different we all feel we are from one another,” said the director Nino Aldi.

Tribes aims to present the audience with people from various ethnic, cultural and economic subgroups in a humorous concept, explaining how subway passengers can represent diversities in our real world.

While 2020 is a year that further addresses the hard notion of race and identity politics, like #BlackLivesMatter and LGBTQ+ rights, Nino Aldi aims at making the discussion even more accessible to everyone by using a satirical and lighthearted tone in his storytelling style.

The 11-min short film is produced by the three lead actors in collaboration with multidisciplinary filmmaker Jeion Green and award-winning Canadian producer Patricia Chica. The executive producers are Jordan Taylor Wright of Taylor Cut Films and Will Meldman of Double Down Pictures.

Director Nino Aldi is an American filmmaker based out of Los Angeles. Over the past 15 years he has worked on numerous film and television programs and is a proud member of the Director’s Guild of America. He recently directed, co-wrote and produced his first feature film, Stillwater, an independently financed mystery-thriller. Prior to Stillwater, Aldi directed several award winning short films and web-series while simultaneously working as a Field Producer for NBC’s The Voice for 17 seasons. Tribes marks Aldi’s 7th directorial short film.

The competitive screening at 2020 LA Shorts International Film Festival is scheduled on the following date:

LA Shorts International Film Festival
October 6th, 2020 (Los Angeles Premiere)
Comedy Program 3

Tribes has also been selected to screen in theses other prestigious programs:

NewFilmmakers Los Angeles
October 17th, powered by @Seed&Spark!
Program #3: Shorts Program – Dark Recesses
6:30 PM – 7:45 PM – Suggested Screening Time
8:00 PM – 9:00 PM – Audience Q&A

Short Of The Week Selection
Online release the week of November 16th, 2020 on the highly curated short film platform www.ShortOfTheWeek.com.

Cannes’ AmPav Emerging Filmmaker Showcase
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Finalist Films will be screened at the 74th Festival in Cannes in 2021. In the meantime, the AmPav will virtually showcase Tribes for a limited time. First, virtually on January 16th and 17th 2021, followed by a Q&A on Zoom on Sunday January 17 at 3pm PST. Then physically, as planned, in May 2021, in Cannes, France.