By Liza Bear
Sam Fleischner’s low-keyed but poignant drama Stand Clear of the Closing Doors won a Special Mention for its premiere at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival. Shot entirely in the Rockaways over a three-week period with a cast and crew of only fifteen, the story is about Ricky (Jesus Sanchez-Velez), a 13-year-old-boy on the autism spectrum who elopes when his older sister Carla (Azul Zorrilla) doesn’t pick him up from school one day and rides the subway for an agonizing couple of days–until [the real] Super Storm Sandy intervenes. Capturing Ricky’s intense mode of perception through expert point-of view cinematography and editing, the narrative contrasts Ricky’s quiet concentration and growing resourcefulness as he learns to fend for himself with the emotional turmoil of his hard-working mother Mariana (Andrea Suarez Paz); it also explores the effects of his elopement on the family dynamic. (They are undocumented Mexican immigrants.) An unusually muted color palette, as well as subtle changes of camera focus, greatly enhance Fleischner’s portrayal of the special nature of autistic perception. Story: Rose Lichter-Marck; screenplay, Lichter-Marck and Micah Bloomberg.