Everyone should be on the lookout for up-and-coming filmmaker Nick Borenstein. The New York-based writer, director, actor, and dancer, showed his many, many skills in two films premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival this week. Yes, I said two films in the New York festival. His first short, 99, features a recovering alcoholic mother traversing the all-too-familiar 99 Cent Store. The second, Sweater, focuses on one man’s terrible day turned around by a free cup of coffee. In 99, his character talks with his mother about his sexuality, but in Sweater, we get to see the gay interactions on a blind date and in a coffee shop (which everyone knows are queer spaces anyway, just like bookstores).
After he makes a questionable new sweater purchase, his date brutally stands him up, and all hope seems lost on this day. That is, until Corey (Borenstein) walks into a coffee shop with a rainbow-studded menu, and the cute coffee man lifts his spirits with a kind offering.
In celebration of one good thing finally happening to him, Corey and an ensemble of strangers break into a hilarious and highly skilled dance performance, inspired by Beyoncé, without missing a step.
Borenstein hopes his audiences walk away from his films smiling and filled with joy. He shared, "I’ve often found the majority of queer films to focus on the hardships and the struggle, and while those are crucial pieces to our collective puzzle, I also wanted to offer a fresh, funny, and lighter queer perspective. At their core, these films are meant to represent how we all move through life (physically and emotionally) and how we listen to ourselves and the ones we love. Sometimes we need to laugh, sometimes we need to cry, and sometimes we just need to dance to make it all better."
Check out a clip from Sweater below!
Sweater and 99 premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival this week!
