A standout discovery at this year’s Tribeca Festival, I’m Not Home announces Elena Parasco as an exciting new filmmaking voice with a debut that feels both hauntingly intimate and quietly unforgettable. Inspired by a tragic true story that once made headlines in New York City, the film transforms grief, memory and longing into something achingly human, unfolding with the kind of restrained emotional precision that lingers long after the credits roll.

Set over the course of a single afternoon in Queens, the story follows best friends Tilo and Rune as they reconnect through their long-running ritual of collecting answering machine tapes from vintage stores across New York City. What begins as nostalgic curiosity slowly evolves into something far more emotionally loaded, with fragments of strangers’ confessions mirroring the pair’s own unspoken truths. Parasco’s direction is deeply atmospheric, blending painterly melancholy with a gritty realism that makes the city itself feel alive with memory.

The film’s greatest strength lies in its remarkable performances. Julian De Niro delivers a beautifully understated turn, balancing vulnerability and emotional restraint with captivating subtlety, while Eli Brown is equally magnetic, bringing warmth, tension and quiet heartbreak to every frame. Together, the pair share an effortless chemistry that gives the film its emotional pulse, making every silence feel charged with meaning.

Parasco’s background in experimental filmmaking is evident in the film’s tactile visual language and immersive sound design, yet I’m Not Home never loses sight of its emotional core. It’s a meditation on friendship, masculinity and the spaces between what we say and what we feel, tender, unnerving and deeply moving in equal measure.

One of the most memorable films to emerge from Tribeca this year, I’m Not Home is a stunning debut that confirms Elena Parasco as a filmmaker to watch.

Lara Devine