Tribeca Shorts: ‘Fraud’ is a Jagged Little Thrill

“When the world fucks you, you fuck it right back,” is one of the lines that jumps out immediately in Zen Pace’s guarded and thought short film, Fraud. This is a film about those who must take their destiny into their own hands not because they want to, but because they have to. Dana Aliya Levinson wrote the screenplay, but she is a magnetic presence.

Levinson’s Shira Rose is a rocker turned petty thief who has a slick operation online. She buys expensive jewelry and then resells them for cash through eBay. ‘Capitalism only care about you if you fit its mold. If you don’t, you disappear,’ she says, and she’s not wrong. Being a trans woman, Shira Rose has to make her own path and not apologize for it. By duping people online or stealing their credit cards, she can swoop in and take from whoever she chooses to.

Things take an unexpected turn whenever Shira Rose spends the night with the dashing Andre, and she makes a discovery that will change her entire operation. It would be a disservice to Pace’s film to reveal what goes down, but Andre could be more than just a love interest.

While Pace’s film is, on one level, a sleek caper short film, it is infused with such longing and romanticism unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. A lot of stories revolving trans characters don’t have the guts to go into the anxiety that individuals face when a romantic plot is introduced, but Shira Rose is allowed to feel sexy in her own skin. That right there is no fraud. That is so honest and beautifully handled.

Fraud is two more in-person showings at the Tribeca Film Festival. There is also an at-home pass for the short films available for purchase.