"Our City - My Story" presents student films at Tribeca Festival

NEW YORK (WABC) -- There's no shortage of famous people at the Tribeca Film Festival each year.

But many of tomorrow's stars get to premiere films there as well thanks to a special program.

Naeem David and Chevon Nelson made a short film that won a prize from the 'Tribeca Film Institute.'

Chevon says, "Now we have something from us to go to the world. I got to share my vision. He got to share his story."

Naeem adds, "It opens up a dream. It makes you realize that what we was reaching for wasn't too far away."

Students from all five boroughs and all nationalities are encouraged to enter the competition called "Our City - My Story."

The short movies are windows into the lives of young people on the verge of becoming adults.

A 'win' for Astoria's Tyler Blake offered him crucial personal validation.

"I wanted to make my parents proud," Tyler says, "But it was also an accomplishment for myself."

Tillie Simon, a classmate of Tyler's at The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, made a horror film.

Tillie says, "I felt fantastic that people could be scared by the stuff I came up with. That's a very powerful feeling."

The man who came up with the program, Vee Bravo, calls this year's presentation the most diverse in many years.

"Our City - My Story" presented a hundred films made by students as young as nine and as old as twenty one.