Never Forget Your First: Teenagers & The Apocalypse
Author’s update (March 2022): It’s pretty cool to look back on filmmakers we’ve worked with in the “early” Other Worlds days. Case in point - since Roxy Shih brought her post-apocalyptic drama THE TRIBE to our fest in 2016, she’s been nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award, hosts a fantastic podcast, and continues to make unique genre films. THE TRIBE also helped catapult leading lady Jessica Rothe into ‘scream queen’ status (HAPPY DEATH DAY came out the next year and became an instant cult favorite!) Read on for our profile on the film when it played OW five years ago…
THE TRIBE Film Review - Other Worlds 2016
Not everyone is Sarah Connor or “Mad” Max Rockatansky who go into turbo-hero mode when the end of times comes knocking. In fact, most people aren’t. They’re young, old, rich, poor, sheltered, street-smart, and an endless combination thereof.
Take the protagonists of THE TRIBE; they’re not self-assured, sleek action heroes. Ironically, that’s what makes them so watchable. They’re familiar, but with a twist - they’re teenage girls, but products of a post-pandemic environment. What is this illness? They’re not exactly sure, but they’ve seen it kill their loved ones and that’s enough to convince them to stick very closely to a code impressed upon them by their deceased father – stick together, lock up the supplies, and never let anyone on the compound.
This “trust no one” credo has served them well because a) they’re still alive and b) the few people they’ve encountered have been rough, desperate shells of men who look like bad guys. Still, when a cute and charming young outsider shows up, the confusion that follows is understandable. Jenny, the eldest, and Danika, the youngest, show a merciful side to the seemingly helpless intruder, while middle sister Sarah remains distrustful and openly hostile to him. What happens when you can't tell who's a bad guy by looks alone? How much will you risk your family's safety in order to lend a helping hand?
The girls experience their first senses of jealousy and betrayal while hosting this "worldly" older boy. His tales from life outside their small compound make them question their own understanding of the world. When the stakes rise even higher and the compound comes under siege by more outsiders seeking to take advantage of the girls' naivete, the sisters ultimately have to rely on themselves and confront their differences in order to protect what is theirs.
Other Worlds Austin's mission from its very beginning has been a "story-first" mantra. We seek films that push the boundaries of storytelling or have a fresh take on familiar tropes. In THE TRIBE, director Roxy Shih (one of our 2016 Mary Shelley Award finalists) explores the "post-apocalyptic wasteland" setting with a new type of hero (antihero?): the teenage girl.
THE TRIBE can currently be found on multiple streaming platforms, including TUBI.