As previously mentioned, “The Chronicles of Piercing Ken” was in attendance at the Tribeca Film Festival and it was actually our very first time at this event. We were also doing it as a member of the press and sporting what was defined as the “Chambers Pass”. The quantifications are still rather new to me but certain badges allow for certain things and others do not. One of the events we were able to participate in was the Cinema 360 series of immersive films. There were four sessions in this series and each consisted of three films that had a connected theme. For these sessions the audience would sit in a spacious room in a spinable chair wearing a set of headphones and goggles. I’ve broken up my thoughts on each of the sessions in their own narrative for your consumption and I am picking up with the first session after seeing the second one “Go Team” yesterday.

Theme 1: Change is Gonna Come
12 Seconds of Gunfire: The True Story of a School Shooting: After a gunman shoots her best friend on the playground, a first-grade girl confronts a journey of trauma and loss after the Townville, South Carolina, school shooting.

Ashe ’68: Arthur Ashe emerged as an elite athlete who parlayed his fame as the first black man to win the US Open tennis championship into a lifetime devoted to fighting injustice.

Accused No. 2: Walter Sisulu:
A trove of 256 hours of sound archives of the Rivonia trial bring back to life the political battle waged by Nelson Mandela and his seven co-defendants against apartheid. This film looks at one of them in particular: Accused No. 2, Walter Sisulu.

Piercing Ken Thoughts: This first group of short films were no joke and especially since they start with the one about a school shooting. This is a topic that no one wants to discuss and something that really should never be happening but alas this is the world in which we live. Too many angry people with too easy an access to lethal firearms but I digress. I didn’t see this entire clip due to a malfunction in my assigned headset so I picked up somewhere in the middle. With the entire audience seeing these at the same time there was no means of starting over. This is not a subject I like at all but it is topical to today’s environment. “Ashe ‘68” was interesting because he was one of the most dynamic sports figures of his time and to find him being subject to the amount of racism that he was is mind-boggling. Sure it was a different time but has all of this actually changed for the better? Part of me says nope. “Accused No. 2: Walter Sisulu” was a fascinating viewing experience and was animated with drawings that reminded me of the way the Pink Floyd “The Wall” animations were done. Much like any hearings it seemed that it was never going to end and despite Walter’s continued commentary, the people “in charge” of it all were simply not listening. I think folks that are focused on the more social justice side of the fence would have enjoyed this series. Stay tuned for the remaining two that I participated in over the coming days,

Official Website: http://www.tribecafilmfestival.com