The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey is partnering with Rooftop Films to present four free screenings at their Liberty Park plaza as part of its continuing efforts to transform the World Trade Center site into a dynamic space in Lower Manhattan.

“Rooftop Films events are more than just outdoor film screenings,” said Dan Nuxoll, Artistic Director of Rooftop Films. “When we curate each of our programs, we consider the neighborhood, community, architecture, live performances, and the themes of the films, striving to create experiences that change the way that our audiences think about the movies and change how they think about their city, about the locations in which the films are shown. For this reason, we’re excited to be presenting screenings in such an iconic and historic New York location, and we look forward to working with Liberty Park and the Port Authority to create memorable and entertaining cultural events in lower Manhattan.”

On Thursday, June 20th, Rooftop Films will present a selection of new, independent short films made by New York filmmakers at Liberty Park. The program will feature a mix of fiction and documentary films, including one short about the 9/11 Memorial Pools.

Continuing to celebrate Pride Month, Rooftop Films will present a screening of You Don’t Nomi at Liberty Park on Thursday, June 27th. Listed as one of the best queer films from this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, Jeffrey McHale’s new documentary analyzes Paul Verhoeven’s campy, classic Showgirls.

On Friday, July 26, Rooftop Films and Sundance Institute will present a program of some of the best new shorts from the 2019 Sundance Film Festival at Liberty Park. The screenings will include a mix of fiction, animation and documentaries.

On Tuesday, August 20, Rooftop Films will present Brett Story’s The Hottest August, a new documentary feature film about New York City facing the inevitable consequences of global warming and sea level rising.

“We are delighted to host such a wide variety of activities planned for this summer at the World Trade Center campus as we continue our efforts in making this site a welcoming space for those who live, work or visit lower Manhattan,” said Port Authority Executive Director Rick Cotton. “We hope that everyone enjoys this cultural mash-up planned this summer.”

ROOFTOP FILMS 2019 SUMMER SERIES SCREENINGS AT LIBERTY PARK

New York Short Films
Thursday, June 20th at Liberty Park. 140 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10006
Free screening
Co-presented by The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
Ah, New York. Since the advent of filmmaking, many have sought to replicate our city’s uniquely gritty atmosphere on screen. The filmmakers in this program continue that cinematic endeavor, scouring the the five boroughs to bring us stories that might otherwise be overlooked: the internal lives of food delivery workers, the tangled, Erasure-scored romances of gay firefighters, the even more complex entanglements of Brooklyn’s black vampires, and the pathological narcissism of Ridgewood hipsters. Of course, the urge to scream “enough with this city!” is chronicled here too, but New York can hold multitudes. These love letters to our shared civic experiment will remind you why you love it.
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You Don’t Nomi (Jeffrey McHale)
Thursday, June 27th at Liberty Park. 140 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10006
Free screening
Co-presented by The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
When Showgirls was released in 1995, Paul Verhoeven’s salacious NC-17 look at Vegas dancers was met by critics and audiences with near universal derision. But in the intervening decades, the film has inspired an ever-growing fan community and impassioned debate over its quality, artistic intent and messages about sex and gender. Guided by a chorus of film critics, scholars, and fervent devotees, Jeffrey McHale’s documentary explores the legacy and broader implications of Showgirls, while diving into its cultural inspirations as well as its place in Verhoeven’s filmography. In tracing Showgirls‘ journey from notorious flop to cult classic and unlikely artistic resurrection, You Don’t Nomi takes a thought-provoking and entertaining look at an unforgettable piece of American popular culture and the surprising ways we connect with film and each other.
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Sundance Shorts
Friday, July 26th at Liberty Park. 140 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10006
Free screening
Co-presented by The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
For the eighth consecutive year, Rooftop Films is teaming up with Sundance Film Festival to present some of our favorite shorts from their most recent festival. Featuring innovative work by the latest generation of independent filmmakers, this riveting collection of films captures the ecstasy of athletic achievement and the obsessiveness of miniature model-makers; musical odes to afro-futurism and quiet documentation of a deep south homestead ritual; found-footage investigations of pop-culture interconnectivity and deceptively simple political satire masquerading as children’s info-tainment. This diverse program represents some of the most daring short form filmmakers working today, and captures the wildly varied storytelling modes being explored worldwide.
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The Hottest August (Brett Story)
Tuesday August 20th at Liberty Park. 140 Liberty Street, New York, NY 10006
Free screening
Co-presented by The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey
A complex portrait of a city and its inhabitants, The Hottest August gives us a window into the collective consciousness of the present. The film’s point of departure is one city over one month: New York City, including its outer boroughs, during August 2017. It’s a month heavy with the tension of a new President, growing anxiety over everything from rising rents to marching white nationalists, and unrelenting news of either wildfires or hurricanes on every coast. The film pivots on the question of futurity: what does the future look like from where we are standing? And what if we are not all standing in the same place? The Hottest August offers a mirror onto a society on the verge of catastrophe, registering the anxieties, distractions, and survival strategies that preoccupy ordinary lives.
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