Spike Lee and APART Bring a South African Story of Friendship to Tribeca

spike lee is bringing a new animated short to the Tribeca Festival, and the project arrives with a story shaped by fear, loyalty, and small acts of courage. APART will have its world premiere in a festival block devoted to animated shorts, placing the film before an audience ready for work that blends craft with urgency.

What is APART about?

APART follows Themba and Joel, two young boys growing up under apartheid in South Africa. The story centers on a friendship that forms in dangerous conditions, with hate and fear pressing in around them. The film uses their bond to explore innocence, empathy, understanding, and hope in a setting defined by division.

That premise gives the short its human center. Instead of treating apartheid as background, the film places children inside its pressure, showing how friendship can become both fragile and life-saving. The narrative gives spike lee another way to work through history without losing the emotional immediacy that makes a short film land quickly and forcefully.

Who is making the film?

APART is co-written by Spike Lee, Tim Jones, Jeff Leisawitz, and Lubabalo Mtati. The film is directed by Pola Maneli, an internationally acclaimed visual artist whose work ties the project closely to South African history and culture. The creative team also includes Black Coffee as music supervisor and Laduma Ngxokolo as wardrobe designer.

Those names matter because they point to a production built around authenticity. Maneli’s direction, Black Coffee’s music supervision, and Ngxokolo’s isiXhosa-inspired wardrobe design suggest a film shaped by South African creative voices rather than simply borrowing from the setting. In a project about memory and identity, those choices help the world of the film feel grounded in lived culture.

Why does this Tribeca premiere matter?

The world premiere is set for Saturday, June 6, at 2: 30 pm ET, in the Animated Shorts Curated by Whoopi Goldberg. Goldberg is marking a decade of curating animated short films for the festival this year, giving the screening a wider context within Tribeca’s programming.

For spike lee, the premiere signals a move into animation that still holds onto social themes. The story’s scale is intimate, but its backdrop is not: apartheid remains one of the most charged historical settings a filmmaker can approach. By focusing on two boys, the short turns that history into something personal, immediate, and emotionally legible.

How does the film connect history and human reality?

At its core, APART is built around a simple but difficult idea: friendship can survive in places designed to break it. The story of Themba and Joel brings the politics of apartheid down to the level of daily choice, where a gesture of care can carry real risk. That is where the film appears to place its emotional weight.

The project also shows how animation can handle serious subject matter without softening it. In this case, the format appears to support a story about fear and connection, not escape from reality. By pairing a child’s perspective with a historically specific setting, the film invites viewers to see how prejudice shapes ordinary lives.

What to watch for when APART premieres

When APART screens at Tribeca, attention will likely fall on how the film balances its visual style with its emotional stakes. The involvement of South African artists across music, fashion, and direction suggests a production that is carefully attuned to place. That matters in a film about apartheid, where even details of dress and sound can carry meaning.

For audiences, the premiere offers a chance to see spike lee working inside a different form while still returning to questions that often sit at the heart of his storytelling: how people live under pressure, how young people absorb the world around them, and how a relationship can cut through a system built on separation. In a film called APART, that tension is built into the title itself.

Image caption: spike lee’s animated short APART premieres at Tribeca with a story of friendship set against apartheid-era South Africa.