NEW YORK, NY — Set in 1981, the most difficult year in New York City’s history, the short film MONEY TALK$ is poised to make an impact at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, capturing the city’s desperation and danger.
Centered on a high-concept narrative, MONEY TALK$ follows a $100 bill as it moves through a network of strangers in 1981 New York City, connecting lives in unseen but unbreakable ways.
A $100 Bill as the Main Character
As the $100 bill travels through 1981 New York’s underbelly, it links people whose paths might never cross—each exchange revealing another link in an unseen chain, and a boy’s safety depends on a pimp.
Imagine a mother’s survival depends on a prostitute, with everyone, knowingly or unknowingly, is bound by the same $100 bill. All connected, all complicit, and all part of a system that runs on money, desperation, and moral compromise.
This structure gives MONEY TALK$ a kinetic anthology feel with a focused narrative: The $100 bill is not merely a prop—it’s the film’s backbone, threading together high-stakes, interconnected moments in a city on the brink.
A Cast That Bridges Prestige TV, Film, and Music
The film’s ensemble pulls from some of the most recognizable faces in television and emerging talent from film and music, creating a hybrid cast that reflects the project’s raw, street-level DNA.
The cast includes:
- David Mazouz (Gotham)
- Other cast highlights include Zolee Griggs (Wu-Tang: An American Saga), Ethan Cutkosky (Shameless), and Fredro Starr.
- The film also features talent from The Wire, Francesca Scorsese (We Are Who We Are), Bo Dietl (Goodfellas), 24kGoldn, Swoosh God, Sean Pertwee (Gotham), and Natalie Shinnick (The Brutalist).
It’s a lineup that neatly merges gritty TV drama sensibilities (The Wire, Shameless, Gotham) with New York film lineage (Goodfellas, Francesca Scorsese’s cinematic bloodline) and contemporary music culture through artists like 24kGoldn and Swoosh God. That blend mirrors the film’s world: criminal undercurrents, family stakes, and a soundtrack-ready energy lurking just under the surface.
1981 New York: Violence, Grit, and Authenticity
Set in 1981, widely cited as the most violent year in New York City’s history, MONEY TALK$ leans hard into the period — not as an aesthetic gimmick, but as context and pressure. The era itself becomes another character: pre-gentrification streets, economic anxiety, and the sense that every decision is a matter of survival.
The film trades on that nostalgia in a grounded, unvarnished way. The authenticity — from tone to texture — is central to its impact. The compelling storyline and the performances are designed to keep viewers locked in for the entire runtime, pulling them into a time when every crumpled bill felt like a chance at escape or a deeper slide into danger.
Tribeca Premiere and Awards Ambitions
Already in the Oscar conversation, MONEY TALK$ enters the spotlight of one of New York’s signature film events. The team is targeting a strong festival run and positioning the film for Academy Award consideration in the Live Action Short Film category, aiming to leverage its Tribeca screening as a qualifying step toward further recognition.
The project’s clear awards ambitions—pursuing major festival recognition and positioning for Academy Awards in categories such as Live Action Short Film—align with its thematic resonance: money as both lifeline and weapon, community as both salvation and trap. MONEY TALK$ is poised to resonate as both a stylish period piece and a relevant commentary.
Tony Mucci: From Music Videos and Gaming to Tribeca
At the helm is Tony Mucci — director, writer, producer, and actor — an emerging filmmaker from New York City who has already made a significant digital footprint.
Mucci has amassed over 2 billion views across his body of work, directing music videos for global heavyweights such as Justin Bieber, Juice WRLD, and Drake. That experience shows in his visual instincts: pacing, composition, and a feel for how to tell a story quickly and viscerally.
His background also extends into gaming. Mucci has worked at Activision on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in the visual effects and motion capture department — a detail that hints at a filmmaker comfortable with both performance and technical storytelling, able to integrate immersive visuals with grounded characters.
With MONEY TALK$, Mucci channels that hybrid skill set into narrative film, applying music-video sharpness and AAA‑game polish to a human-scale story about power, exploitation, and the price everyone pays when money becomes the only language that matters.
Why MONEY TALK$ Matters Now
Though set in 1981, the film’s premise is painfully current. The $100 bill crossing hands — connecting a pimp, a boy, a mother, a sex worker, and others — underscores how systems of exploitation are held together by transactions that seem routine on the surface. The idea that “all are connected, all complicit through the currency they share” lands differently in an era still reckoning with inequality, economic precarity, and who gets left behind.
By couching that message in a taut, character-driven short with a standout ensemble and a clear visual identity, MONEY TALK$ positions itself as both a love letter and an indictment — a film that remembers the city’s past while quietly asking what’s really changed.
Don’t miss the chance to experience MONEY TALK$ at its world premiere on June 14 at the Tribeca Film Festival.
