After the rain caused the opening night to move to Sunday May 20, Rooftop Films opened up its Summer Series last night with the first ever outdoor film screening in Green-Wood Cemetery. Rooftop Films always kicks off the Summer Series with a program of short films, and this program included wild and adventurous works from all over the world, including three recipients of Rooftop Films Filmmakers Fund grants: Mauricio Arango’s To The Dead, Marc Johnson’s Ultraviolet, and Niki Lindroth Von Bahr’s award winning animated masterpiece, The Burden. Despite being pushed back a day due to weather, the event was a huge success, with more than 650 guests in attendance.
The screening took place along Sylvan Water, located in the scenic and historic Green-Wood Cemetery. The evening also included live music from L’Rain, gorgeous projection mapping on Green-Wood Chapel designed by Brendan Bercik, and an after-party featuring a DJ set from DJ Tara, courtesy of Lay’s Poppables, as well as drinks from Corona Extra, Ketel One Family Made Vodka, and Fever-Tree.
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Photos (Courtesy of Emily Hawkes) | Rooftop FilmsRooftop Films Summer Series
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Rooftop Films Kicked off 2018 Summer Series with an Evening of Short Films at Green-Wood Cemetery [Photos]
After the rain caused the opening night to move to Sunday May 20, Rooftop Films opened up its Summer Series last night with the first ever outdoor film screening in Green-Wood Cemetery. Rooftop Films always kicks off the Summer Series with a program of short films, and this program included wild and adventurous works from all over the world, including three recipients of Rooftop Films Filmmakers Fund grants: Mauricio Arango’s To The Dead, Marc Johnson’s Ultraviolet, and Niki Lindroth Von Bahr’s award winning animated masterpiece, The Burden. Despite being pushed back a day due to weather, the event was a huge success, with more than 650 guests in attendance.
The screening took place along Sylvan Water, located in the scenic and historic Green-Wood Cemetery. The evening also included live music from L’Rain, gorgeous projection mapping on Green-Wood Chapel designed by Brendan Bercik, and an after-party featuring a DJ set from DJ Tara, courtesy of Lay’s Poppables, as well as drinks from Corona Extra, Ketel One Family Made Vodka, and Fever-Tree.
[gallery ids="29327,29328,29329,29330,29331,29332,29333,29334"]
Photos (Courtesy of Emily Hawkes) | Rooftop Films
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Rooftop Films Unveils Feature Films, Short Films and Programs for the 22nd Summer Series – May and June
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2017 Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund Grantee Ultraviolet will screen as part of “This is What We Mean by Short Films” .
Courtesy of filmmaker Marc Johnson.[/caption] This summer, Rooftop Films will present over 100 short films in 13 programs, with each program curated thematically. On Saturday, May 19th, Rooftop Films will kick off the 2018 Summer Series in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery with This Is What We Mean By Short Films, a selection of dynamic shorts from around the world, including Rooftop Filmmakers Fund grantee The Burden. Rooftop Films will present a dozen more carefully curated programs throughout the summer, each with a specific focus or theme. Highlights of the 22nd Summer Series include two nights of documentaries (including Rooftop’s signature New York Nonfiction program); Net Positive, a program of internet-related short films co-presented with The Mozilla Foundation; two evenings of short films about unlikely romances; selected shorts from the Sundance Film Festival; two programs of animated short films; and Come and Take It, a program short films by and about bold and uncategorizable women. “Rooftop Films has championed the short film from the start,” said Dan Nuxoll, Artistic Director of Rooftop Films, “and many of the filmmakers whose shorts we have screened have gone on to create some of the most exciting independent feature films of the last twenty years. But though we are thrilled by the potential on display in the short films we will show this summer, we are equally excited by the magnificent things these filmmakers have already accomplished with these daring, perfectly constructed gems.” Every Summer Series event will include live musical performances and all ticketed screenings will have after-parties featuring Freixenet and signature drinks by Ketel One Family Made Vodka. Venues this year include Green-Wood Cemetery in Greenwood Heights, The William Vale in Williamsburg, The Old American Can Factory in Gowanus, Industry City and Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park, MetroTech Commons in Downtown Brooklyn, New Design High School in the Lower East Side, and Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City.SHORT FILM PROGRAMS
THIS IS WHAT WE MEAN BY SHORT FILMS: OPENING NIGHT Opening Night 2018! It’s a graveyard smash! The Burden (Min börda) (Niki Lindroth von Bahr – The Cutest Dog in the World (Julian Glander) – Irony (Amy Nicholson) – Julius Caesar Was Buried in a Pet Cemetery (Sam Green) – Milk and Cookies (Patrick Mulvey, Andrew Scott Ramsay) – Rebirth is Necessary (Jenn Nkiru) – So You Like the Neighborhood (Jean Pesce) – The Town I Live In (Matt Wolf, Guadalupe Rosales) – To the Dead (Mauricio Arango) – Ultraviolet (Marc Johnson) NO ESCAPE: UNCANNY MINDBENDERS The eternal return of our short film collection of eerie existential thrillers. Allen Anders – Live at the Comedy Castle (circa 1987) (Laura Moss, Tony Grayson) – Awasarn Sound Man (Death of the Soundman) (Sorayos Prapapan) – Find Fix Finish (Sylvain Cruiziat, Mila Zhluktenko) – Lance Lizardi (Xander Robin) – LaZercism (Shaka King) – Mwah (Nina Buxton) – Paco (Catalina Jordan Alvarez) – Rabbit’s Blood (Sarina Nihei) – The Tesla World Light (Tesla: lumière mondiale) (Matthew Rankin) DARK TOONS Twisted animated short films that walk you to the brink of the abyss… then push you over the edge. A Brief Spark Bookended by Darkness (Brent Green) – Born in a Void (Alex Grigg) – Call of Cuteness (Brenda Lien) – Glucose (Jeron Braxton) – JEOM (Kangmin Kim) – Negative Space (Ru Kuwahata, Max Porter) – Nachtstück (Nocturne) (Anne Breymann) – Paradise (Ton Meijdam, Thom Snels, Béla Zsigmond)- SOG (Jonathan Schwenk) – Solar Walk (Réka Bucsi) – Wednesday with Goddard (Nicolas Ménard, Manshen Lo) LOVE IS WEIRD: ROMANTIC SHORT FILMS A sweaty night of sweet loving in short film form. Dressed for Pleasure (Je fais où tu me dis) (Marie de Maricourt) – Ghosting the Party (Carlos Alberto Fernandez Lopez) – Gros Chagrin (Céline Devaux) – High Summer (Plein Été) (Josselin Facon) – Knockstrike (Rigol Genis, Anglada Pau, Torices Marc) – The Mangina Exit (Byron Brown) – My Cucumber Inside the Fridge (Austin Hamilton) – Oh Hey (Sean Pecknold) – Welcome to Bushwick (Henry Jinings) – Who’s the Daddy 你要熱烈地親親爹哋 (Wong Ping) LOVE IS SHORT (FILMS) Short films about hasty, lusty, slightly awkward encounters. The Climb (Michael Covino) – Dolls Don’t Cry (Toutes les poupées ne pleurent pas) (Frédérick Tremblay)- Garfield (Georgi Banks-Davies) – Ocean Swells (Sverre Matias Glenne) – Onion (Kandis Fay) – Perfectly Normal (Joris Debeij) – Wyrm (Christopher Winterbauer) DANGEROUS DOCUMENTARIES Short documentaries about people doing some crazy-ass shit. Graven Image (Sierra Pettengill) – Hypnodrom (Richard Wilhelmer) – The Last Honey Hunter (Ben Knight) – LOVE GOES THROUGH THE STOMACH (Neozoon) – Marfa (Greg McLeod, Myles McLeod) – My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes (Charlie Tyrell) – The Water Slide (Nathan Truesdell) NEW YORK NONFICTION Brooklyn It’s your city. Take a look. 3,000 Miles (三千哩) (Sean Wang, Breton Vivian – A Garbage Story (Olivier Bernier) – Brother K & The Uncut Truth (Billy Linker, Ben Carey)- Crosswalker (Paul Gale, Dustin Molina) Flatbush Misdemeanors (Kevin Iso, Dan Perlman) – I LIVED: Brooklyn – Deborah (Jonathan Nelson, Danielle Andersen) – Jonas Mekas: Always Beginning (Michael Sugarman) – Kayla in 1A (Travis Wood) – Libre (Anna Barsan, Iva Radivojevic) – Oh, What A Beautiful City (A City Symphony) (Lucy Walker) – The Road to Magnasanti (John Wilson) – Slice Thing (David Wanger)ADDITIONAL SHORT FILM PROGRAMS
SUNDANCE SHORTS Highlights from Sundance 2018 include these wild, weird and wonderful short films. [O] (Mario Radev, Chiara Sgatti) – Emergency (Carey Williams) – The Fisherman (El pescador) (Ana A. Alpizar) Great Choice (Robin Comisar) – Volte (Monika Kotecka, Karolina Poryzal) – War Paint (Katrelle N. Kindred) -– More titles to be announced soon! COME AND TAKE IT Unbecoming short films by and about bold women. Call of the Wild (Neozoon) – Le Clitoris (Lori Malépart-Traversy) – Come & Take It (Ellen Spiro, PJ Raval) – Hair Wolf (Mariama Diallo) – Hercules (Lisa Duva) – Into My Life (Ivana Hucíková, Sarah Keeling, Grace Remington) – Normal Appearances (Penny Lane) – Slap Happy (Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli) ROOFTOP SHOTS: CLOSING NIGHT All good things must end before they begin again. Closing Night! A Night At The Garden (Marshall Curry) – The Fall of Lenin (Svitlana Shymko) – Fauve (Jérémy Comte) – How to Live with Regret (John Wilson) – I Was In Your Blood (Joseph Sackett) – Managed Retreat (Nathan Kensinger) – Mother’s Day (Elizabeth Lo, R.J. Lozada) – Ugly (Nikita Diakur)ADDITIONAL SHORT FILMS AND SHORT FILMS BEFORE FEATURES:
160 Characters (Victoria Mapplebeck) – Centauro (Nicolás Suárez) – Fire Mouth (Boca de Fogo) (Luciano Pérez Fernández) – Gokurōsama (ご苦労様) (Aurore Gal, Clémentine Frère, Yukiko Meignien, Anna Mertz, Robin Migliorelli, Romain Salvini) – Maude (Anna Margaret Hollyman) – Polonaise (Polonez) (Agnieszka Elbanowska) – Skybaby (Julian Glander) – Weekends (Trevor Jimenez) – Symphony of a Sad Sea (Carlos Morales Mancilla) – Wave (TJ O’Grady Peyton, Benjamin Clear)FEATURE FILM PROGRAMS FOR MAY AND JUNE
AMERICAN ANIMALS (Bart Layton) NANCY (Christina Choe) *NY Premiere *Filmmaker Christina Choe in attendance *Free Event *Recipient of the 2014 Rooftop Films and Eastern Effects Equipment Grant DAMSEL (David Zellner, Nathan Zellner) HEARTS BEAT LOUD (Brett Haley) WRESTLE (Suzannah Herbert, co-directed by Lauren Belfer) EXIT MUSIC (Cameron Mullenneaux) THE GOSPEL OF EUREKA (Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher) EN EL SÉPTIMO DÍA (Jim McKay) FAMILY (Laura Steinel) WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY (Madeleine Olnek)
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Rooftop Films Announces 2018 Summer Series Feature Film Lineup, Blindspotting, Dead Pigs and More..
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Blindspotting[/caption]
This year’s 22nd Rooftop Films Summer Series, taking place May 19th to August 25th, today announced the majority of the feature film slate. The open-air festivities will kick off on Saturday, May 19th, with “This is What We Mean by Short Films,” a collection of some of the most innovative short films of the past year.
The 2018 Summer Series will continue through August with screenings of exceptional new films. Highlights include Desiree Akhavan’s Sundance-winning The Miseducation of Cameron Post; Bart Layton’s true-crime, heist movie American Animals; Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s scintillating Muay Thai prison drama, A Prayer Before Dawn; the New York Premiere of Suzi Yoonessi’s Unlovable, starring Charlene deGuzman and John Hawkes; Brett Haley’s Hearts Beat Loud, starring Nick Offerman in his debut leading role; Augustine Frizzel’s slacker comedy Never Goin’ Back; the U.S. premiere of Exit Music, a documentary celebration of the life of 28-year-old Ethan Rice as he faces terminal illness; and a special Rooftop Films members-only sneak preview screening of Carlos López Estrada’s Blindspotting, starring Daveed Diggs.
“Rooftop Films is famous for creating fun, custom-curated, large-scale events that augment the experience of watching our favorite new films,” said Dan Nuxoll, Artistic Director of Rooftop Films. “This year we have put extra effort into adding exciting components to every event, including a performance from the vivacious Arkansas drag queens from Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher’s The Gospel of Eureka. This year we will showcase a wider variety of fascinating locations than ever before, as we are adding historic new venues like Green-Wood Cemetery and Brooklyn Army Terminal to our impressive mainstay locations like the roofs of The William Vale Hotel, New Design High School, and The Old American Can Factory. It’s going to be a memorable summer.”
Rooftop always tries to pair each film with a venue specifically chosen to augment the experience of that movie and this year we will take advantage of the unique atmosphere of one of our newest venues: the historic Green-Wood Cemetery. Two films set in the 19th Century will screen in the fitting setting of the Green-Wood grounds: David and Nathan Zellner’s hilariously twisted western Damsel, and Madeleine Olnek’s Wild Nights with Emily, a comic re-telling of the life of Emily Dickinson. Green-Wood will also host a night of Gotham-based documentaries: our annual “New York Non-Fiction” short film. Green-Wood Cemetery will provide a poignant backdrop for our screening of Cameron Mullenneaux’s Exit Music, a moving film that intimately captures the final days of a young man with cystic fibrosis. Additionally, Rooftop will present a special community screening of Jim McKay’s En el Séptimo Día at Brooklyn Army Terminal, right in the center of the Sunset Park community where it was shot.
As always, the Summer Series brings the triumphant return of several Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund Grantees. In addition to Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher, returning grantees include Rooftop Films TCS Grant recipient Khalik Allah, who will screen his intimate and immersive documentary Black Mother, Robert Greene with a special screening of Rooftop Films Garbo grantee Bisbee ’17; and Rooftop Films Eastern Effects grantee Christina Choe, who brings her enigmatic and cerebral character study Nancy to the Summer Series.
Venues this year include Green-Wood Cemetery in Greenwood Heights, The William Vale in Williamsburg, The Old American Can Factory in Gowanus, Industry City and Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park, MetroTech Commons in Downtown Brooklyn, New Design High School in the Lower East Side, and Socrates Sculpture Park in Long Island City.
ROOFTOP FILMS 2018 SUMMER SERIES
EARLY SUMMER EVENTS
Saturday, May 19, 2018 Opening Night: This is What We Mean by Short Films At Green-Wood Cemetery. 500 25th Street. Brooklyn. For 22 years, Rooftop Films has kicked off our Summer Series with an explosive program of amazing new short films from all over the world–films that express the power of new beginnings, highly entertaining films that tear apart tired old structures and display the creative potential of the cinematic form. This year’s opening program will include Rooftop Filmmakers Fund grantee Niki Lindroth Von Bahr’s award-winning short film, The Burden, a darkly comical musical that reminds us that every apocalypse can also be a tempting liberator. After the screening, we’ll keep the celebration going at the after-party in Green-Wood Cemetery! More titles to be announced soon. *Featuring live music from L’Rain Wednesday, May 30, 2018 American Animals (Bart Layton) On the roof of The William Vale. 111 N 12th Street. Brooklyn. The unbelievable but true story of four young men who brazenly attempt to execute one of the most audacious art heists in US history. Determined to live lives that are out of the ordinary, they formulate a daring plan for the perfect robbery, only to discover that the plan has taken on a life of its own. An Orchard release. *Filmmaker Bart Layton in attendance Thursday, May 31, 2018 Nancy (Christina Choe) At MetroTech Commons. 5 MetroTech Center. Brooklyn. Nancy is a provocative psychological thriller about love, intimacy, and trust – and what happens when lies become truth. Craving connection with others, Nancy creates elaborate identities and hoaxes under pseudonyms on the internet. When she meets a couple whose daughter went missing thirty years ago, fact and fiction begin to blur in Nancy’s mind, and she becomes increasingly convinced these strangers are her real parents. As their bond deepens, reasonable doubts give way to willful belief – and the power of emotion threatens to overcome all rationality. A Samuel Goldwyn Films release. *NY Premiere *Filmmaker Christina Choe in attendance *Free Event. No Tickets Needed *Recipient of the 2014 Rooftop Films and Eastern Effects Equipment Grant Saturday, June 2, 2018 Damsel (David Zellner, Nathan Zellner) In Green-Wood Cemetery. 500 25th Street. Brooklyn. An affectionate reinvention of the western genre that showcases the Zellners’ trademark unpredictability, off-kilter sense of humor and unique brand of humanism, Damsel follows an affluent pioneer Samuel Alabaster (Pattinson) as he ventures across the American Frontier to find and marry the love of his life, Penelope (Wasikowska). As Samuel traverses the Wild West with a drunkard named Parson Henry (David Zellner) and a miniature horse called Butterscotch, their once-simple journey grows treacherous, increasingly blurring the lines between hero, villain and damsel. A Magnolia Pictures release. *NY Premiere Saturday, June 30, 2018 New York Non-Fiction At Green-Wood Cemetery. 500 25th Street. Brooklyn. One of Rooftop’s oldest traditions is our New York Non Fiction program, an annual collection of fantastic new short documentaries made by and about New Yorkers. These films aren’t about celebrities and tabloid scandals—these are the fascinating tales of the people you see every day on the train, at the bodega, in the gym, and at school. There are 8 million amazing stories in NYC, and on June 30th we will share a few of them with you. Titles to be announced soon.FEATURE FILMS
A Prayer Before Dawn (Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire) The remarkable true story of Billy Moore, a young English boxer incarcerated in two of Thailand’s most notorious prisons. He is quickly thrown into a terrifying world of drugs and gang violence, but when the prison authorities allow him to take part in the Muay Thai boxing tournaments, he realizes that this might be his chance to get out. Billy embarks on a relentless, action-packed journey from one savage fight to the next, stopping at nothing to do whatever he must to preserve his life and regain his freedom. Shot in an actual Thai prison with a cast of primarily real inmates, A Prayer Before Dawn is a visceral, thrilling journey through an unforgettable hell on earth. An A24 release. An Evening with Beverly Luff Linn (Jim Hosking) Lulu Danger’s unsatisfying marriage takes a fortunate turn for the worse when a mysterious man from her past comes to town to perform an event called “An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn for One Magical Night Only.” A Universal Content Group release. Bisbee ’17 (Robert Greene) Bisbee ’17 will follow characters in Bisbee, Arizona as they struggle to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the controversial Bisbee Deportation, where 1200 striking miners were violently exiled from town. The film will combine observational documentary with uncanny reenactments, leading up to a centennial dramatization of Bisbee’s “darkest day.” *Co-presented with BAMcinemaFest *Recipient of the 2016 Rooftop Films and Garbo NYC Feature Films Grant Black Mother (Khalik Allah) Part film, part baptism, in Black Mother director Khalik Allah brings us on a spiritual odyssey through Jamaica. Soaking up its bustling metropolises and tranquil countryside, Allah introduces us to a succession of vividly rendered souls who call this island home. Their candid testimonies create a polyphonic symphony, set against a visual prayer of indelible portraiture. *Recipient of the 2015 Rooftop Films and Technological Cinevideo Services Camera Grant. Blindspotting (Carlos López Estrada) Collin (Daveed Diggs) must make it through his final three days of probation for a chance at a new beginning. He and his troublemaking childhood best friend, Miles (Rafael Casal), work as movers, and when Collin witnesses a police shooting, the two men’s friendship is tested as they grapple with identity and their changed realities in the rapidly-gentrifying neighborhood they grew up in. Longtime friends and collaborators, Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal co-wrote and star in this timely and wildly entertaining story about friendship and the intersection of race and class set against the backdrop of Oakland. Bursting with energy, style, and humor, and infused with the spirit of rap, hip hop, and spoken word, Blindspotting, boldly directed by Carlos López Estrada in his feature film debut, is a provocative hometown love letter that glistens with humanity. A Summit Entertainment presentation, in association with Codeblack Films and Snoot Entertainment. The Breaker Upperers (Jackie van Beek, Madeleine Sami) Fifteen years ago, Mel (Madeleine Sami) and Jen (Jackie van Beek) discovered they were being two-timed by the same man. Bitter and cynical they became fast friends and formed The Breaker Upperers, a small-time business breaking up couples for cash. Now they’re in their late-thirties and business is booming. They’re a platonic, codependent couple who keep their cynicism alive by not getting emotionally involved with anybody else. But when they run into an old victim, Mel develops a conscience and their friendship is truly put to the test. Executive Produced by Taika Waititi (director of Hunt For the Wilder People and Thor: Ragnarok). *NY Premiere Dead Pigs (Cathy Yan) The lives of a bumbling pig farmer, a feisty salon owner, a sensitive busboy, an ambitious expat-architect and a disenchanted rich girl converge and collide as thousands of dead pigs float down the river toward a rapidly modernizing Shanghai, China. Based on true events. *NY Premiere En el Séptimo Día (Jim McKay) En el Séptimo Día (On the Seventh Day) is a fiction feature from director Jim McKay (Girls Town, Our Song, Everyday People) which follows a group of undocumented immigrants living in Sunset Park, Brooklyn over the course of seven days. Bicycle delivery guys, construction workers, dishwashers, deli workers, and cotton candy vendors, they work long hours six days a week and then savor their day of rest on Sundays on the soccer fields of Sunset Park. José, a bicycle delivery worker, is the team’s captain – young, talented, hardworking and responsible. When José’s team makes it to the finals, he and his teammates are thrilled. But his boss throws a wrench into the celebration when he tells José he has to work on Sunday, the day of the finals. José tries to reason with his boss or replace himself, but his efforts fail. If he doesn’t work on Sunday, his job and his future will be on the line. But if he doesn’t stand up for himself and his teammates, his dignity will be crushed. Shot in the neighborhoods of Sunset Park, Park Slope, and Gowanus, En el Séptimo Día is a humane, sensitive, and humorous window into a world rarely seen. The film’s impact is made quietly, with restraint and respect for the individual experiences, everyday challenges, and small triumphs of its characters. A Cinema Guild release. Exit Music (Cameron Mullenneaux) Born with cystic fibrosis, 28-year-old Ethan Rice has been preparing to die his entire life. His father Ed, a Vietnam veteran with PTSD, immersed him in a world of imagination and documented it on camera, a hobby that provided relief from the fear of his son’s prognosis and his own painful past. Equal parts comedy and darkness, Exit Music is the last year, last breath, and final creative act of Ethan as he awaits the inevitable. Interweaving home movies with Ethan’s original music and animation, his story is an unflinching meditation on mortality and invites the viewer to experience Ethan’s transition from reality to memory. In a culture that often looks away from death, this film demystifies the dying process, a universal cornerstone of the human experience. *US Premiere Family (Laura Steinel) Kate Stone’s a workaholic. She hates kids. She hates most social situations, because she doesn’t know what to do with her arms. So when her estranged brother Joe tracks her down to watch her awkward and bullied 12 year old niece Maddie, Kate thinks babysitting for the week can’t get any worse — until Maddie runs away to become a juggalo. *NY Premiere The Gospel of Eureka (Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher) Love, faith and civil rights collide in a southern town as evangelical Christians and drag queens step into the spotlight to dismantle stereotypes. Taking a personal, and often comical look at negotiating differences between religion and belief through performance, political action, and partnership, gospel drag shows and passion plays set the stage for one hell of a show. Narrated by Mx Justin Vivian Bond. *NY Premiere *Co-presented with BAMcinemaFest *Recipient of the 2017 Rooftop Films and Brigade Festival Publicity Grant Hearts Beat Loud (Brett Haley) In the hip Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook, single dad and record store owner Frank (Nick Offerman) is preparing to send his hard-working daughter Sam (Kiersey Clemons) off to college, while being forced to close his vintage shop. Hoping to stay connected through their shared musical passions, Frank urges Sam to turn their weekly “jam sesh” into a father-daughter live act. After their first song becomes an Internet breakout, the two embark on a journey of love, growing up and musical discovery. A GUNPOWDER & SKY release. *NY Premiere The Miseducation of Cameron Post (Desiree Akhavan) Cameron Post (Chloë Grace Moretz) looks the part of a perfect high school girl. But after she’s caught with another girl in the back seat of a car on prom night, Cameron is quickly shipped off to a conversion therapy center that treats teens “struggling with same-sex attraction.” At the facility, Cameron is subjected to outlandish discipline, dubious “de-gaying” methods, and earnest Christian rock songs—but this unusual setting also provides her with an unlikely gay community. For the first time, Cameron connects with peers, and she’s able to find her place among fellow outcasts. A FilmRise release. Never Goin’ Back (Augustine Frizzell) A fresh and funny look at female friendship, following lifelong best friends Angela and Jessie, who dream of escaping their waitressing jobs at a low-rent Texas diner. Taking place over the course of just a few days, the film follows their hilarious and unpredictable misadventures on the streets of suburban Dallas, as they attempt increasingly madcap and wild schemes to try and raise some cash. An A24 release. *NY Premiere Our New President (Maxim Pozdorovkin) The story of Donald Trump’s election told entirely through Russian propaganda. By turns horrifying and hilarious, the film is a satirical portrait of Russian meddling in the 2016 election that reveals an empire of fake news and the tactics of modern day information warfare. , In the small, central Polish town of Aleksandrów Kujawski, the director of the local culture centre announces a competition. The theme… a creative presentation of your personal patriotic attitude. Entrants are free to demonstrate their creativity in whatever form they like; in song, recitation or gesture, by giving a speech or staging their piece. Anything goes. There’s just one requirement; entrants may only present their own, original work. The eleventh day of the eleventh month arrives… Poland’s Independence Day. And on this very day, the jury, consisting of the director, the mayor, a priest and a local poetess, will select the region’s number one patriot. Pick of the Litter (Dana Nachman, Don Hardy Jr.) Pick of the Litter follows a litter of puppies from the moment they’re born and begin their quest to become guide dogs for the blind. Cameras follow these pups through an intense two-year odyssey as they train to become dogs whose ultimate responsibility is to protect their blind partners from harm. Along the way, these remarkable animals rely on a community of dedicated individuals who train them to do amazing, life-changing things in the service of their human. The stakes are high and not every dog can make the cut. Only the best of the best. The pick of the litter. Courtesy of Sundance Selects. Shirkers (Sandi Tan) In 1992, teenage VHS-bootlegger Sandi Tan and her fellow film-geek pals Jasmine Ng and Sophie Siddique shot Singapore’s first road movie with their enigmatic American mentor, Georges. It was called “Shirkers.” Sandi wrote the script and played the lead, S, a 16-year-old assassin collecting and then eliminating her own tribe. After shooting wrapped, Georges absconded with all of the footage…The 16mm Kodak cans are recovered 20 years later, sending Sandi, now a novelist in Los Angeles, on a personal, singular odyssey across two continents in search of Georges’ vanishing footprints—and her own. Skate Kitchen (Crystal Moselle) In the first narrative feature from The Wolfpack director Crystal Moselle, Camille, an introverted teenage skateboarder (newcomer Rachelle Vinberg) from Long Island, meets and befriends an all-girl, New York City-based skateboarding crew called Skate Kitchen. She falls in with the in-crowd, has a falling-out with her mother, and falls for a mysterious skateboarder guy (Jaden Smith), but a relationship with him proves to be trickier to navigate than a kickflip. Writer/director Crystal Moselle immersed herself in the lives of the skater girls and worked closely with them, resulting in the film’s authenticity, which combines poetic, atmospheric filmmaking and hypnotic skating sequences. Skate Kitchen precisely captures the experience of women in male-dominated spaces and tells a story of a girl who learns the importance of camaraderie and self-discovery. A Magnolia Pictures release. This One’s for the Ladies (Gene Graham) On Thursday evenings, a children’s karate school transforms into a male strip joint. Hundreds of women convene for a potluck fundraiser and the opportunity to throw singles at the hot New Jersey Nasty Boyz. This One’s for the Ladies isn’t just about the tips or the dancing. It’s a heartwarming story about friendship, community, these incredible women, and the resilience they show toward whatever comes their way. A NEON release. *NY Premiere Unlovable (Suzi Yoonessi) Joy (Charlene deGuzman,) a 20-something lost soul, realizes she has a problem and seeks help at a 12-step meeting for sex and love addiction. There she meets Maddie (Melissa Leo), who becomes her sponsor. Maddie allows Joy to stay at her grandmother’s guesthouse if she agrees to go 30 days off boys, sex, and romance. Joy struggles to get sober and Maddie suggests she find a hobby. Joy finds a drum kit in the garage and meets Jim (John Hawkes), Maddie’s clinically awkward brother. Joy and Jim create music together, and a secret friendship develops. Joy teaches Jim to take risks with his music and his heart, and Jim shows Joy that she can have a healthy relationship with a man as a friend. *NY Premiere We The Animals (Jeremiah Zagar) Us three. Us brothers. Us kings, inseparable. Three boys tear through their rural New York home town, in the midst of their young parents’ volatile love that makes and unmakes the family many times over. While Manny and Joel grow into versions of their loving and unpredictable father, Ma seeks to keep her youngest, Jonah, in the cocoon of home. More sensitive and conscious than his older siblings, Jonah increasingly embraces an imagined world all his own. With a screenplay by Dan Kitrosser and Jeremiah Zagar based on the celebrated Justin Torres novel, We the Animals is a visceral coming-of-age story propelled by layered performances from its astounding cast – including three talented, young first-time actors – and stunning animated sequences which bring Jonah’s torn inner world to life. Drawing from his documentary background, director Jeremiah Zagar creates an immersive portrait of working class family life and brotherhood. An Orchard release. Wild Nights with Emily (Madeleine Olnek) Fresh off its SXSW premiere, the dramatic comedy Wild Nights with Emily stars Molly Shannon as the poet Emily Dickinson. The film was inspired by an article in the New York Times that documented how infrared technologies restored erasures that hid romantic content in Dickinson’s letters. The poet’s persona, popularized since her death, was that of a reclusive spinster – a delicate wallflower, too sensitive for this world. This film explores her passionate, vivacious side that was covered up for years — most notably Emily’s lifelong romantic relationship with another woman (Susan Ziegler). After Emily died, a rivalry emerged when her brother’s mistress (Amy Seimetz) along with editor T.W. Higginson (Brett Gelman) published a book of Emily’s poems. Irreverent and surreal, Wild Nights was one of “The 50 Most Anticipated American Independent Films of 2018″(Filmmaker Magazine); you will never look at Dickinson the same way again. Wrestle (Suzannah Herbert, co-directed by Lauren Belfer) Wrestle is an intimate and nuanced documentary that follows the wrestling team at JO Johnson High School in Huntsville, which has been on Alabama’s failing schools list for many years. As they fight their way towards the State Championship and the doors they hope it will open, wrestlers Jailen, Jamario, Teague, and Jaquan each face injustices and challenges on and off the mat. Together they grapple with obstacles that jeopardize their success, and their coach – coming to terms with his own past conflicts – pushes them forward while unwittingly wading into the complexities of class and race in the South. Through it all, the young heroes of Wrestle – with humor and grit – strive towards their goals, making Wrestle an inspiring coming of age journey and an impassioned depiction of growing up disadvantaged in America today.
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Rooftop Films Announces 2018 Dates for Opening Night and New York Non Fiction Screenings
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Niki Lindroth Von Bahr’s “The Burden”[/caption]
Rooftop Films today announced the dates for Opening Night of the 2018 Summer Series, and their annual New York Non-Fiction program. Both events will feature live music, a short film program, and a complimentary after-party, and will take place outdoors at the newest Rooftop Films venue, The Green-Wood Cemetery.
Founded in 1838, the Cemetery has had a long affiliation with film that goes back to the industry’s earliest days; it is the final resting place for several stars of silent films including William S. Hart and Florence La Badie. Green-Wood is a National Historic Landmark, which spread out across 478 acres of idyllic landscape, and hosts over 200 public programs a year.
Both screenings are part of the Rooftop Films Summer Series, presented by Sundance TV. Now embarking on its 22nd season, the Summer Series is an annual summer-long outdoor film festival that features more than 45 screenings of ground-breaking, new, independent feature-length and short films.
SHOW DETAILS:
Opening Night: This is What We Mean by Short Films
Saturday, May 19, 2018
At Green-Wood Cemetery
For 22 years, Rooftop Films has kicked off the Summer Series with an explosive program of amazing new short films from all over the world–films that express the power of new beginnings, highly entertaining films that tear apart tired old structures and display the creative potential of the cinematic form. This year’s opening program will include Rooftop Filmmakers Fund grantee Niki Lindroth Von Bahr’s award-winning short film, “The Burden,” a darkly comical musical that reminds us that every apocalypse can also be a tempting liberator.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7zhJR1VVD8
New York Non-Fiction
Saturday, June 30, 2018
At Green-Wood Cemetery
500 25th Street. Greenwood, Brooklyn
One of Rooftop’s oldest traditions is our New York Non Fiction program, an annual collection of fantastic new short documentaries made by and about New Yorkers. These films aren’t about celebrities and tabloid scandals—these are the fascinating tales of the people you see every day on the train, at the bodega, in the gym, and at school.
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Rooftop Films Announces 2017 Summer Series Lineup, BAND AID, THE BAD BATCH and More
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Adam Pally, Fred Armisen and Zoe Lister-Jones appear in Band Aid by Zoe Lister-Jones[/caption]
The Rooftop Films 2017 Summer Series will take place May 19th to August 19th, featuring more than 45 outdoor screenings in more than 10 venues. The series will kick off on Friday, May 19th, with “This is What We Mean by Short Films,” a collection of some of the most innovative, new short films of the past year. The screening will take place on the roof of The Old American Can Factory, in Gowanus, Brooklyn.
The following night, Saturday, May 20th Rooftop will present a sneak preview screening of Zoe Lister-Jones’ 2017 Sundance indie hit, Band Aid, free and outdoors at House of Vans in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Starring Lister-Jones, Adam Pally (“The Mindy Project”), and Fred Armisen (“Portlandia”), Band Aid tells the story of a couple attempting to piece their marriage back together by turning their fights into indie rock lyrics. Band Aid opens in theaters June 2nd, courtesy of IFC Films.
Lister-Jones’ film is but one of many of this year’s best independent comedies playing at Rooftop this summer. In addition Rooftop films will present a sneak preview screening of Michael Showalter’s acclaimed new comedy, The Big Sick, starring and co-written by Kumail Nanjiani, prior to its June 23rd theatrical release by Lionsgate and Amazon Studios. Additional high-profile comedies include Rough Night, Lucia Aniello’s bachelorette-party-gone-wrong comedy starring Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, and Zoë Kravitz; Writer, director, and star Noël Wells’ Austin-based feature film debut Mr. Roosevelt; Jessica Williams’ big screen breakout role in Jim Strouse’s The Incredible Jessica James; and Dave McCary’s magical feature film, Brigsby Bear.
The 2017 Summer Series also brings with it the triumphant return of Rooftop Films Alumni and Filmmakers’ Fund Grantees. The festival, in partnership with NEON, welcomes back Rooftop Films Piper-Heidsieck Feature Film Grant winner, Ana Lily Amirpour, for a night of complete dystopian debauchery with an exclusive screening of her new film, The Bad Batch, at the House of Vans in Greenpoint. Also returning is Joshua Z Weinstein with his Brooklyn-based, Rooftop/Brigade Festival Publicity Grant winning Menashe and Lauren Wolkstein and Christopher Radcliffe with The Strange Ones, an enigmatic and lush story, adapted into a feature film with the help of the Rooftop Films Eastern Effects Equipment Grant.
Rooftop will also present special screenings of some of the most exciting documentaries of the year, including the US premiere of Vanessa Stockley’s fascinating Grey Gardens-in-Manhattan tale, The Genius and the Opera Singer; the NY premiere of Jeff Unay’s much-lauded MMA doc, The Cage Fighter; The US premiere of Maple J. Razsa and Milton Guillén’s The Maribor Uprising: A Live Participatory Film; Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous’ powerful SXSW-winning The Work; the gorgeous and sensitive Sundance-winning Dina; and the most entertaining found footage film of the year, Dmitry Kalashnikov’s Russian dash-cam doc, The Road Movie.
It wouldn’t be Rooftop Films without cutting-edge evenings of short films. 2017 programming features the return of Summer Series staples, including the romantic short films of “Love is Short,” the innovative animation of “Dark Toons,” the uncanny short films of “Trapped,” the best of this year’s “New York Nonfiction,” and “The New American Paradise,” an evening of WTF short stories from outside the liberal bubble.
ROOFTOP FILMS 2017 SUMMER SERIES OPENING WEEKEND
Friday, May 19, 2017 This is What We Mean by Short Films On the roof of The Old American Can Factory. 232 Third St. Brooklyn Rooftop turns 21 this year. We’re legal, but not playing it safe. On opening night, we’re celebrating with our favorite stories from moral grey zones and uncharted territories: a mushroom of colorful balloons kills two before escaping to Canada, an unnatural presence enters tickle fight, a subversive dance number takes down the patriarchy, and a Russian circus meltdown is played in reverse. Saturday, May 20, 2017 Band Aid (Zoe Lister-Jones) Outdoors at House of Vans. 25 Franklin St. Brooklyn Band Aid, the refreshingly raw, real, and hilarious feature debut from Zoe Lister-Jones, is the story of a couple, Anna (Zoe Lister-Jones) and Ben (Adam Pally), who can’t stop fighting. Advised by their therapist to try and work through their grief unconventionally, they are reminded of their shared love of music. In a last-ditch effort to save their marriage, they decide to turn all their fights into song, and with the help of their neighbor Dave (Fred Armisen), they start a band. A story of love, loss, and rock and roll, Band Aid is a witty and perceptive view of modern love, with some seriously catchy pop hooks to boot. An IFC Films release.FEATURE FILMS
The Bad Batch (Ana Lily Amirpour) The Bad Batch follows Arlen (Suki Waterhouse) after she’s left in a Texas wasteland fenced off from civilization. While trying to navigate the unforgiving landscape, Arlen is captured by a savage band of cannibals led by the mysterious Miami Man (Jason Momoa). With her life on the line, she makes her way to The Dream (Keanu Reeves). As she adjusts to life in ‘the bad batch’ Arlen discovers that being good or bad mostly depends on who’s standing next to you. Winner of the Rooftop Films Piper-Heidsieck Feature Film Grant. A NEON release. Beach Rats (Eliza Hittman) Frankie, an aimless teenager on the outer edges of Brooklyn, is having a miserable summer. With his father dying and his mother wanting him to find a girlfriend, Frankie escapes the bleakness of his home life by causing trouble with his delinquent friends and flirting with older men online. When his chatting and webcamming intensify, he finally starts hooking up with guys at a nearby cruising beach while simultaneously entering into a cautious relationship with a young woman. As Frankie struggles to reconcile his competing desires, his decisions leave him hurtling toward irreparable consequences. A NEON release. The Big Sick (Michael Showalter) Based on the real-life courtship between Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon, The Big Sick tells the story of Pakistan-born aspiring comedian Kumail (Nanjiani), who connects with grad student Emily (Kazan) after one of his standup sets. However, what they thought would be just a one-night stand blossoms into the real thing, which complicates the life that is expected of Kumail by his traditional Muslim parents. When Emily is beset with a mystery illness, it forces Kumail to navigate the medical crisis with her parents, Beth and Terry (Holly Hunter and Ray Romano) who he’s never met, while dealing with the emotional tug-of war between his family and his heart. The Big Sick is directed by Michael Showalter (Hello My Name Is Doris) and produced by Judd Apatow (Trainwreck, This Is 40) and Barry Mendel (Trainwreck, The Royal Tenenbaums). A Lionsgate and Amazon Studios release. Friday, June 30, 2017 Brigsby Bear (Dave McCary) On the roof of New Design High School. 350 Grand St. Manhattan After 25 years of secluded existence with his protective parents in their isolated, off-the-grid home, James (Kyle Mooney) is tossed out into a new life in relatively daunting Cedar Hills, Utah. As his world upends, the most shocking revelation to James is that he’s the only person who has ever watched his favorite television program, Brigsby Bear Adventures. Struggling to adjust to the show’s abrupt end, he begins to see Brigsby’s lessons as his only way to make sense of a big, scary new world, and James decides to make a movie to end Brigsby’s story—and re-begin his own. A Sony Pictures Classics release. Friday, June 23, 2017 The Cage Fighter (Jeff Unay) On the roof of The Old American Can Factory. 232 Third St. Brooklyn A blue-collar family man breaks the promise he’d made years ago to never fight again. Now 40 years old, with a wife and four children who need him, Joe Carman risks everything—his marriage, his family, his financial security— to go back into the fighting cage and come to terms with his past. After party presented by Visit Seattle. California Dreams (Mike Ott) From acclaimed director Mike Ott (Lake Los Angeles, Actor Martinez) comes the new comedy documentary feature California Dreams, presenting five unique individuals in pursuit of a big life change. Through auditions set up in small towns across Southern California, the film shows genuine characters with big Hollywood aspirations who, for various reasons, have never had the opportunity to pursue their dreams. With subjects including celebrity impersonators, aspiring writers, and a former nurse, this bitingly funny film reveals the strange and entrancing hypnotic grip that Hollywood has, in some way or form, on everyone. Wednesday, August 2, 2017 The Challenge (Yuri Ancarani) Outdoors at Socrates Sculpture Park. 32-01 Vernon Blvd. Queens. If you have it, spend it: Italian artist Yuri Ancarani’s visually striking documentary enters the surreal world of wealthy Qatari sheikhs who moonlight as amateur falconers, with no expenses spared along the way. The Challenge follows these men through the rituals that define their lives: perilously racing blacked-out SUVs up and down sand dunes; sharing communal meals; taking their Ferraris out for a spin with their pet cheetahs riding shotgun; and much more. Ancarani’s film is a sly meditation on the collective pursuit of idiosyncratic desires. A Kino Lorber Release. Dayveon (Amman Abbasi) In the wake of his older brother’s death, 13-year-old Dayveon spends the sweltering summer days roaming his rural Arkansas town. When he falls in with a local gang, he becomes drawn to the camaraderie and violence of their world. A FilmRise release. Dina (Dan Sickles, Antonio Santini) Dina, an outspoken and eccentric 49-year-old in suburban Philadelphia, invites her fiancé Scott, a Walmart door greeter, to move in with her. Having grown up neurologically diverse in a world blind to the value of their experience, the two are head-over-heels for one another, but shacking up poses a new challenge. Scott freezes when it comes to physical intimacy, and Dina, a Kardashians fanatic, wants nothing more than to share with Scott all she’s learned about sensual desire from books, TV shows, and her previous marriage. Her increasingly creative forays to draw Scott close keep hitting roadblocks—exposing anxieties, insecurities, and communication snafus while they strive to reconcile their conflicting approaches to romance and intimacy. An Orchard release. Saturday, May 27, 2017 The Genius and the Opera Singer (Vanessa Stockley) On the roof of New Design High School. 350 Grand St. Manhattan A 92-year-old former opera singer and her volatile daughter have inhabited a rent-controlled Manhattan penthouse for the last fifty-five years – along with their obese chihuahua, Angelina Jolie. An unsettling portrait of a mother-daughter relationship, The Genius and the Opera Singer explores their intense emotional states and the knotted riddle of their past. US Premiere. Tuesday, July 25, 2017 The Incredible Jessica James (Jim Strouse) On the roof of The William Vale. 111 N 12th St. Brooklyn Jessica Williams (“The Daily Show”) stars as a young, aspiring playwright in New York City who is struggling to get over a recent breakup. She is forced to go on a date with the recently divorced Boone, played by Chris O’Dowd (Bridesmaids) and the unlikely duo discover how to make it through the tough times in a social media obsessed post-relationship universe. Lakeith Stanfield (FX’s “Atlanta”, Straight Outta Compton) and Noël Wells (Netflix’s “Master of None”) co-star. The film was written and directed by Jim Strouse and produced by Michael B. Clark and Alex Turtletaub of Beachside. Jessica Williams and Kerri Hundley serve as executive producers. A Netflix release. L.A. Times (Michelle Morgan) Annette (Michelle Morgan) and Elliot (Jorma Taccone) are a mostly-happy, moderately-neurotic LA couple. Maybe Annette doesn’t enjoy game nights or taco stands as much as Elliot does, but no relationship is perfect, right? Rather than embracing their differences, Annette can only compare their relationship to their happy couple friends. This cannot be endorsed by Annette’s beautiful but romantically troubled best friend, Baker (Dree Hemingway), who is very well-versed on the bleakness of the LA dating scene. Taking its cues from classic mid-20th Century comedies with a stylish and contemporary spin, L.A. Times is an irreverent tale of life and the search for elusive love in the 21st Century. Friday, June 16, 2017 The Maribor Uprisings: A Live Participatory Documentary (Maple J. Rasza, Milton Guillén) Outdoors at Metrotech Commons. 5 Metrotech Center. Brooklyn In the once prosperous industrial city of Maribor, Slovenia, anger over political corruption became unruly revolt. In The Maribor Uprisings–part film, part conversation and part interactive experiment–you are invited to participate in the protests. Drawing on the dramatic frontline footage from a video activist collective embedded within the uprisings, you begin in Maribor as crowds surround and ransack City Hall under a hailstorm of tear gas canisters. As a group, you must choose which cameras you will follow and therefore how the events will unfold. Like those who joined the actual uprisings, you will decide between joining non-violent protests or following rowdy crowds towards City Hall and greater conflict. These events stand as an example for any number of ideological stand-offs today. What sparks outrage? How are participants swept up in—and changed by—confrontations with police? Could something like this happen in your city? What would you do? US Premiere. Menashe (Joshua Z Weinstein) Set within the New York Hasidic community in Borough Park, Brooklyn, Menashe follows a kind but hapless grocery store clerk trying to maintain custody of his son Rieven after his wife, Lea, passes away. Since they live in a tradition-bound culture that requires a mother present in every home, Rieven is supposed to be adopted by the boy’s strict, married uncle, but Menashe’s Rabbi decides to grant him one week to spend with Rieven prior to Lea’s memorial. Their time together creates an emotional moment of father/son bonding as well as offers Menashe a final chance to prove to his skeptical community that he can be a capable parent. Winner of the Rooftop Films Brigade Festival Publicity Grant. An A24 release. Tuesday, August 8, 2017 Monkey Business: The Adventures of Curious George’s Creators (Ema Ryan Yamazaki) On the roof of the JCC in Manhattan. 334 Amsterdam Ave. Manhattan Featuring a narrow escape from the Nazis on makeshift bicycles, Monkey Business explores the extraordinary lives of Hans and Margret Rey, the authors of the beloved Curious George children’s books. New York Premiere. An Orchard release. Saturday, June 17, 2017 Mr. Roosevelt (Noël Wells) On the roof of New Design High School. 350 Grand St. Manhattan Emily Martin (Noël Wells) is a struggling 20-something who moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in comedy after graduating college in Austin, Texas. When a loved one falls sick, she returns to Austin and runs into her ex-boyfriend, as well as his amazing and intimidating new girlfriend. Low on funds and stuck in Texas for the weekend, Emily stays with the two of them in her old, but miraculously remodeled house. She quickly finds her way into the circle of a local female badass who shows Emily a good time and tries to keep her from spinning out as she goes toe-to-toe with the new girlfriend, all the ways her ex has changed, and ultimately, her own choices and guilt about leaving the past behind. Quest (Jonathan Olshefski) Filmed with vérité intimacy for close to a decade, Quest is a portrait of a family in North Philadelphia. Christopher “Quest” Rainey, along with his wife Christine’a (aka “Ma Quest”), open the door to their home music studio, which serves as a creative sanctuary from the strife that grips their neighborhood. Over the years, the family evolves as everyday life brings a mix of joy and unexpected crisis. Set against the backdrop of a country now in turmoil, the film is a tender depiction of an American family whose journey is a profound testament to love, healing and hope. Friday, June 2, 2017 Rat Film (Theo Anthony) On the roof of The Old American Can Factory. 232 Third St. Brooklyn Across walls, fences, and alleys, rats not only expose our boundaries of separation but make homes in them. Rat Film is a feature-length documentary that uses the rat—as well as the humans that love them, live with them, and kill them–to explore the history of Baltimore. “There’s never been a rat problem in Baltimore, it’s always been a people problem.” A Cinema Guild release. The Road Movie (Dmitrii Kalashnikov) A fascinating mosaic of asphalt adventures, landscape photography, and some of the craziest shit you’ve ever seen, Kalashnikov’s THE ROAD MOVIE is a stunning compilation of video footage shot exclusively via dashboard cameras in Russian automobiles. The dash-cam phenomenon permeates Russian roads thoroughly, capturing a vivid range of spectacles through the windshield, including a comet crashing down to Earth, an epic forest fire, and no shortage of angry motorists taking road rage to wholly new and unexpected levels. All the while, accompanied by bemused commentary from unseen and often stoic drivers and passengers. An Oscilloscope Laboratories release. Wednesday, June 14, 2017 Rough Night (Lucia Aniello) On the roof of The William Vale. 111 N 12th St. Brooklyn In Rough Night, an edgy R-rated comedy, five best friends from college (played by Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Jillian Bell, Ilana Glazer, and Zoë Kravitz) reunite 10 years later for a wild bachelorette weekend in Miami. Their hard partying takes a hilariously dark turn when they accidentally kill a male stripper. Amidst the craziness of trying to cover it up, they’re ultimately brought closer together when it matters most. A Columbia Pictures release. The Strange Ones (Lauren Wolkstein, Christopher Radcliff) Mysterious events surround two travelers, seemingly brothers, as they make their way across a remote American landscape. On the surface all seems normal, but what appears to be a simple vacation soon gives way to a dark and complex web of secrets. Winner of the Rooftop Films Eastern Effects Equipment Grant. Friday, July 7, 2017 Whose Streets? (Sabaah Folayan, Damon Davis) On the roof of New Design High School. 350 Grand St. Manhattan Told by the activists and leaders who live and breathe this movement for justice, Whose Streets? is an unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising. When unarmed teenager Michael Brown is killed by police and left lying in the street for hours, it marks a breaking point for the residents of St. Louis, Missouri. Grief, long-standing racial tensions and renewed anger bring residents together to hold vigil and protest this latest tragedy. Empowered parents, artists, and teachers from around the country come together as freedom fighters. As the National Guard descends on Ferguson with military grade weaponry, these young community members become the torchbearers of a new resistance. A Magnolia Pictures release. The Work (Jairus McLeary, Gethin Aldous) Set inside a single room in Folsom Prison, The Work follows three men from outside as they participate in a four-day group therapy retreat with level-four convicts. Over the four days, each man in the room takes his turn at delving deep into his past. The raw and revealing process that the incarcerated men undertake exceeds the expectations of the free men, ripping them out of their comfort zones and forcing them to see themselves and the prisoners in unexpected ways. An Orchard release.SHORT FILM PROGRAMS
Thursday, July 27, 2017 Animation Block Party In the courtyard of Industry City. 274 36 St. Brooklyn Experience the year’s best animated short films at the incomparable Animation Block Party! Saturday, June 3, 2017 Dark Toons: Animated Short Films On the roof of New Design High School. 350 Grand St. Manhattan These toons are chocked full of furry animals and imaginative creatures but they are not for Sunday morning. The twisted and perverse landscapes of our annual Dark Toons program provide a unique backdrop for stories of life askew. From a true story of forced labor at communist-era prison that kept megastores in the West fully-stocked to a beautifully-animated and probably-alcoholic badger which has a run-in with the law and a woman who can’t stop growing fingers, these tales remind us that animation is the ideal medium to glimpse the darker side of life. Tuesday, May 30, 2017 Love is Short: Romantic Short Films On the roofs of The William Vale. 111 N 12th St. Brooklyn “Love is so short, forgetting is so long.” Neruda wrote it, but these protagonists live it. In this program of short films, animated birds, sultry nights-in, and dismembered zombie heads are all members of love’s seductive cult. Come relish in these stories of the beautifully imagined and harshly-real consequences of love’s choices. Thursday, May 25, 2017 The New American Paradise: Short Films Outdoors at Metrotech Commons. 5 Metrotech Center. Brooklyn Pop your New York bubble on a journey to the more peculiar corners of the modern U.S of A. In the land of drive-in churches, carnival boardwalks, border walls, and get-rich-quick schemes, any one of us could end up on the downside of the American dream: another desperado with a mask melted onto our face, searching for a nugget at the bottom of a dirty tin can. Friday, June 9, 2017 New York Nonfiction On the roof of New Design High School. 350 Grand St. Manhattan You see them every day. They’re on the train with you. They’re in your bodega. They’re your neighbors. But after this program of short films, we guarantee you’ll see them in a new light. Ours is a city full of record-holding record holders, spousal adoptions, trash havens, civil rights pioneers, lapsed goth kids, sexting teens, rambles full of leathermen, and unending change; and we like it that way… for the most part. Saturday, August 20, 2017 Rooftop Shots In the courtyard of Industry City. 274 36 St. Brooklyn CLOSING NIGHT! It’s hard to say goodbye. These short films will ease the pain. After-party presented by Visit Seattle. Seattle Shorts Presented by Visit Seattle Sundance Short Films Highlights from Sundance 2017 include these wild, weird and wonderful short films. Saturday, July 10, 2017 Trapped: Uncanny Short Films In the courtyard of Industry City. 274 36 St. Brooklyn Join us for a program of stories most unusual: the meeting of a spaceman and a cave man; an encounter with an alien phenomenon via public access television; and the imagined experiences of the forgotten subject of a famous photograph. These amusing and disquieting short films offer mix-tape portraits, analytic tragicomedies of infinite human desire and potentially-killer workplace procedurals. Experience startling cinematic spectacles you won’t soon forget.
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2016 Rooftop Films FREE Lineup Incl. GIRL ASLEEP, THE FITS, SONITA
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Girl Asleep[/caption]
Rooftop Films will show over 30 FREE outdoor screenings, many of which are new, independent films that will screen as part of the 20th Annual Summer Series.
Highlights include a sneak preview of Anna Rose Holmer’s Sundance Film Festival hit and Rooftop Films/Brigade Marketing Grantee THE FITS, a danceathon screening of Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat’s Living Stars, a special silent screening of Patrick Shen’s In Pursuit of Silence, during which the audience will listen to the film on headphones, and a Cinema Ramble at Storm King Art Center with multiple screens set up across the park.
2016 ROOFTOP FILMS FREE SUMMER PROGRAM:
Rooftop Films and lululemon athletica
Various Locations
May 31
Elevated Acre, Financial District, Manhattan
THE FITS (Anna Rose Holmer)
A tomboy’s desire for a dance team’s acceptance warps when its members fall prey to mysterious spasms.
Presented in Partnership with: Oscilloscope Laboratories. In theaters June 3rd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNZc3Vr1Oy4
June 25
Solar One, Kips Bay, Manhattan
LIVING STARS (Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat)
Free screening. Free Dance Party! No script, no plot, just music and gyrating bodies. Living Stars is a sixty-minute dance party and everyone’s invited!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhEP_bVDD0k
July 30
Waterfront Plaza at Brookfield Place, Financial District, Manhattan
IN PURSUIT OF SILENCE (Patrick Shen)
A meditative exploration of our relationship with silence, sound, and the impact of noise on our lives.
August 13
Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, NY
CINEMA RAMBLE AT STORM KING ART CENTER
A special night of short films sited among the sculptures and meadows of the Storm King Art Center.
Rooftop Films and The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership
All Screenings take place at Metrotech Commons, Downtown Brooklyn
June 10
SUNDANCE SHORT FILMS
Highlights from Sundance 2016 include these wild, weird and wonderful short films.
June 15
TIES THAT BIND: SHORT FILMS ABOUT FAMILIES
Family, for better and for worse: the protagonists of these films are the people we wish our family would be and sometimes are.
June 24
DANGEROUS DOCS: SHORT DOCUMENTARIES
Thrilling and unsettling and frighteningly true.
Rooftop Films and Roosevelt Island
All Screenings take place at Firefighters’ Field, Roosevelt Island, Manhattan
June 11
TERRITORY: SHORT FILMS ABOUT TURF WARS
Stories of the (sometimes) shared (sometimes) human space.
Rooftop Films and the River to River Festival
All Screenings take place at Liberty Plaza, Manhattan
June 22
RIVER TO RIVER PRESENTS: OLGA BELL’S KRAI
Olga Bell’s Krai is an audio‐visual performance concerned with the rest of the map: the wilderness, the towns, the inhabitants and their stories.
Presented by: The River to River Festival
Rooftop Films and Arts Brookfield
All Screenings take place at Waterfront Plaza at Brookfield Place, Financial District, Manhattan
July 28
ANIMATION BLOCK PARTY
Experience some of the year’s best animated short films at the incomparable Animation Block Party!
July 30
IN PURSUIT OF SILENCE (Patrick Shen)
A meditative exploration of our relationship with silence, sound, and the impact of noise on our lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64c_1MtQUlM
Rooftop Films and Outdoor Cinema at Socrates Sculpture Park
All Screenings take place at Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, Queens
July 20
SONITA (Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami)
18-year-old rapper Sonita looks for a better life outside Iran in this complex and layered doc. Presented in partnership with Women Make Movies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B47MbpPuz7A
August 3
GIRL ASLEEP (Rosemary Meyers)
Greta’s bubble of obscure loserdom is burst when her parents throw a surprise 15th birthday party with her whole school!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meN61FD9Wak
Presented in partnership with Oscilloscope Laboratories
Rooftop Films and Coney Island Flicks on the Beach
All Screenings take place Mondays on the beach at West 10th Street. Dates TBA
JURASSIC WORLD (Colin Trevorrow)
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (J.J. Abrams)
INSIDE OUT (Pete Docter, Ronnie del Carmen)
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (Joss Whedon)
LABYRINTH (Jim Henson)
CREED (Ryan Coogler)
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NY Premiere of Holy Hell Added to Rooftop Films Summer Series
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Holy Hell[/caption]
The New York premiere of 2016 Sundance sensation Holy Hell has been added to the opening weekend lineup of the 20th Annual Rooftop Films Summer Series.
This fascinating and controversial film, which features stunning home movie footage shot within a California cult over the course of 20 years, will be screened on the roof of The Old American Can Factory in Gowanus, Brooklyn on Saturday, May 21st.
HOLY HELL (Will Allen | USA | 103’)
In 1985, recent film school graduate Will Allen became a member of The Buddhafield, a Los Angeles area spiritual group. Also acting as the group’s official videographer, he began to document their activities, which centered on the mysterious leader they called Michel, or The Teacher. Over time, the group’s dark side began to surface as total devotion turned to paranoia, until finally, unexpected truths about their enlightened leader were revealed – all in front of Allen’s camera. This incredible, 22-year archive of video footage became the basis for Holy Hell. Now, for the first time since he left the group, Allen turns the camera on himself and asks fellow ex-cult members to come to terms with their past and the unbelievable deceit they experienced.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSM9KqAzp4g
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Rooftop Films Reveals First Batch of Films, Opens with WEINER Doc
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WEINER[/caption]
Rooftop Films announced the Opening Weekend lineup and the first batch of feature film programming for the 20th Annual Summer Series.
The 2016 Rooftop Films Summer Series opens on Wednesday, May 18th with a special sneak preview screening of 2016 Sundance U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize Winner Weiner on the rooftops of Industry City.
The official opening night will follow on Friday, May 20th, with “This is What We Mean By Short Films,” a collection of some of the most innovative, new shorts from around the world.
The 2016 Rooftop Films Summer Series continues through August, with screenings of some of the best independent films of the past year in a variety of exciting and engaging outdoor locations across all five boroughs.
This year’s slate includes phenomenal works of non-fiction such as Jerzy Sladokowski’s thoughtful and intimate IDFA winner Don Juan, Roger Ross Williams’ critically acclaimed Life, Animated; Kirsten Johnson’s form-challenging and deeply poetic Cameraperson; Jesse Moss’ Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham doc, The Bandit, David Farrier’s stranger than fiction film, Tickled, Joe Berlinger’s Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru, and many more.
The 20th Summer Series also includes exceptional fiction films, such as Elizabeth Wood’s self-reflective and provocative White Girl; Bernardo Britto’s timely surveillance culture satire, Jacqueline, Argentine; Taika Waititi’s off-kilter comedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople; Matthew Brown’s understated and intimate teen drama In the Treetops; among others.
In addition to feature and short film programming, this year’s series will include a number of unique events and partnerships, including: the return of the Rooftop Films Storm King Art Center Cinema Ramble featuring multiple film installations, and specialty programming with International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), The Sundance Film Institute, and SXSW Film.
Rooftop Films 20th Annual Summer Series Opening Weekend
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Industry City, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Weiner
(Elyse Steinberg & Josh Kriegman | USA | 100’)
Sexts, lies, and Carlos Danger: watch the wildest political meltdown in recent history.
Presented in Partnership with: Sundance Selects
Friday, May 20, 2016
The Bushwick Generator, Bushwick, Brooklyn
This is What We Mean by Short Films
Celebrate our 20th anniversary with short films chock-full of the stuff of summer: dancing, swimming, and hanging with old friends.
THE FILMS: Stations (Roddy Hyduk); The Position (Black Eye Symphony pt. 1) (Steve Collins); METUBE 2 — August Sings Carmina Burana (Daniel Moshel); Avant Garde (Black Eye Symphony pt. 3) (Steve Collins); Temporary Color (John Wilson); Thunder P. (Black Eye Symphony pt. 4) (Steve Collins); The Hanging (Geoffrey Feinberg); Mining Poems or Odes (Callum Rice); AN ECSTATIC EXPERIENCE (Ja’Tovia Gary); Bad at Dancing (Joanna Arnow); Dr. Meertz (Black Eye Symphony pt. 4) (Steve Collins).
Feature Documentaries (more films, dates and venues to be announced soon)
The Bandit
(Jesse Moss | USA | 82′)
Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham recount the strange, wild making of Smokey and the Bandit.
Presented in Partnership with: CMT
Cameraperson
(Kirsten Johnson | USA | 102′)
Cinematographer Kirsten Johnson’s deeply poetic memoir, culled from footage shot for other films.
Presented in Partnership with: The Film Collaborative
Danny Brown Concert Documentary (Title TBA)
(Andrew Cohn | USA)
An intimate, behind-the-scenes adventure with Detroit-rapper Danny Brown during a hometown show.
Presented in partnership with: House of Vans
Don Juan
(Jerzy Sladkowski | Sweden/Finland | 92′)
A 4-sided love triangle, complete with autism & neuroses in the Russian city Nizhny Novgorod
Presented in Partnership with: IDFA and Swedish Film Institute
Goodnight Brooklyn – The Story of Death by Audio
(Matthew Conboy | USA | 82′)
The origins, influence and ultimate closure of one of Brooklyn’s best DIY music venues.
In Pursuit of Silence
(Patrick Shen | USA | 81’)
A contemplative meditation that explores our relationship with silence, sound, and the impact of noise on our lives. The film will be presented as a special silent screening, with the audience listening to the film on headphones.
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Life, Animated[/caption]
Life, Animated
(Roger Ross Williams | USA | 91′)
A young man with autism discovers a way to make sense of world via classic Disney animated films.
Presented in Partnership with: The Orchard, in theaters July 8
Los Punks: We Are All We Have
(Angela Boatwright | USA | 79′)
All thrash, noise, and pits; meet the fans and bands of the thriving backyard punk scene in LA.
Presented in partnership with: House of Vans
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The Music of Strangers: Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble[/caption]
The Music of Strangers: Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble
(Morgan Neville | USA | 96′)
The extraordinary story of the renowned international musical collective which was created by famed cellist, Yo-Yo Ma.
Presented in Partnership with The Orchard, in theaters June 10
Tickled
(David Farrier & Dylan Reeve | New Zealand | 92′)
The shadowy world of competitive tickling is exposed in this stranger than fiction tale.
Presented in Partnership with: Magnolia Pictures
Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru
(Joe Berlinger | USA | 115′)
Go behind the scenes of renowned life and business strategist Tony Robbins in a revelatory cinema verite by renowned director Joe Berlinger.
Presented in Partnership with: Netflix
Fiction Feature Films
Donald Cried
(Kris Avedisian | USA | 85′)
Stranded in his hometown, a favor from Peter’s old friend becomes a long van ride into the past.
The Fits
(Anna Rose Holmer | USA | 72′)
A tomboy’s desire for a dance team’s acceptance warps when its members fall prey to mysterious spasms.
Presented in Partnership with: Oscilloscope Laboratories, in theaters June 3rd
Hunt For the Wilder People
(Taika Waititi | New Zealand | 101′)
Raised on hip-hop and foster care, a defiant city kid starts new in the New Zealand countryside.
Presented in Partnership with: The Orchard, in theaters June 24
Hunter Gatherer
(Josh Locy | USA | 85′)
A darkly comic tale of unlikely friendship with an indelible central performance by Andre Royo.
In the Treetops
(Matthew Brown | USA | 78′)
Driving all night, packed in a car, 5 high school friends avoid their final destination: home.
Jacqueline, Argentine
(Bernardo Britto | USA | 87′)
A playfully mysterious whistle-blower comedy from Film Fund Grantee Bernardo Britto.
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White Girl[/caption]
White Girl
(Elizabeth Wood | USA | 88′)
A NYC college girl goes to wild extremes to get back her drug dealer boyfriend.
Presented in Partnership with: FilmRise and Netflix, in theaters this September
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Opening Weekend and Features Revealed for 2015 Rooftop Films Summer Series
Rooftop Films revealed the Opening Weekend, Feature and select highlights of the 19th annual Rooftop Films Summer Series. This year’s edition kicks off on Friday, May 29th, at their principal venue, Industry City, in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, with some of the greatest new short films from around the world. The event will include the New York premiere of David Sandberg’s highly anticipated and hilarious short film,Kung Fury, which raised $630,000 on Kickstarter and the trailer for which has racked up more than 10,000,000 views online.
The following night, Saturday, May 30th, Rooftop Films will head to the roof of The Old American Can Factory, in Gowanus, Brooklyn, to present Bob Byington’s charming off-beat comedy, 7 Chinese Brothers (pictured above), starring Jason Schwartzman as an irrepressible man-child attempting to pull his life together and win over his boss at the Quick-Lube. David Sandberg will be in attendance opening night, Bob Byington and Jason Schwartzman will be in attendance on May 30th, and both evenings will feature live music before each screening and a post-screening after party, featuring Signature Sponsor New Amsterdam Spirits.
The 2015 Rooftop Films Summer Series full feature film slate includes fiction films, such as Sean Baker’s warm-hearted yet riotously entertaining Tangerine; Trey Shults’ powerful SXSW-winning Krisha; Frank V. Ross’ delicately personal Bloomin’ Mud Shuffle; Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz’s bone-chilling psychological thriller Goodnight Mommy; and many more fantastic films, including Zachary Treitz’ Rooftop Films Edgeworx grantee Men Go To Battle, Joe Swanberg’s Digging for Fire, and more.
Rooftop documentary slate includes non-fiction discoveries from all across the world: Crystal Moselle’s critically acclaimed The Wolfpack; Khalik Allah’s ground-breaking Field Niggas; Bryan Carberry’s wildly entertainingFinders Keepers; Jason Zeldes’ Romeo is Bleeding; Hao Zhou’s The Chinese Mayor; Ulrike Franke and Michael Loeken’s Divine Location; and many more great docs, including Welcome to Leith, Kings of the Wind and Electric Queens, Spartacus and Cassandra, and Sam Klemke’s Time Machine, just to name a few.
This summerRooftop Films will be returning with new editions of their signature themed short film programs, including two Romantic Shorts screenings, a New York Non-Fiction program, two showcases of groundbreaking animation, and many big thrillers, comedies, docs and dramas in small packages.
This year’s series also includes a number of special events and partnerships including their annual SXSW weekend, a Sundance short film program, a Swedish Focus in partnership with the Swedish Film Institute, a presentation of The Skin Deep’s {The And} interactive event, and more special screenings to be announced soon.
Rooftop Films 19th Annual Summer Series Opening Weekend
Friday, May 29, 2015
This is What We Mean by Short Films
Opening Night of Rooftop Films 19th Annual Summer Series will feature eaght short films about epic adventures, including the NY premiere of David Sandberg’s Kung Fury.
The Films: Kung Fury (David Sandberg), La nuit américaine d’Angélique (Pierre-Emmanuel Lyet), All Your Favorite Shows! (Danny Madden), Actor Seeks Role (Michael Tyburski),Butter Ya’Self (Julian Petschek), The Land (Erin Davis), Lesley the Pony Has an A+ Day!(Christian Larrave), Thank Ewe (Keith Wilson).
Saturday, May 30, 2015
7 Chinese Brothers (Bob Byington)
Bob Byington’s latest hangdog comedy, starring Jason Schwartzman and his trusty sidekick, Arrow.
Feature Films (more films, dates and venues to be announced soon):
Bloomin’ Mud Shuffle (Frank V. Ross)
A charming drama about a housepainter in love from one of the Midwest’s finest indie auteurs.
The Chinese Mayor (Hao Zhou)
The fascinating life of a bureaucrat restoring ancient ruins at the expense of his own career.
Digging for Fire (Joe Swanberg)
Jake Johnson digs for answers in Joe Swanberg’s latest indie-star-studded drama. Courtesy of The Orchard.
Divine Location (Michael Loeken, Ulrike Franke)
A subtly delightful comic portrait of a small German town undergoing huge changes.
Field Niggas (Khalik Allah)
A visceral documentary captures the inhabitants and sultry streets of Harlem in mid-summer.
Finders Keepers (Bryan Carberry)
A man finds a dismembered foot in an auctioned meat smoker. Then things get strange. Courtesy of The Orchard.
Goodnight Mommy (Severin Fiala and Veronika Franz)
A bone-chilling Austrian thriller about two young boys and their mysteriously altered mother. Courtesy of RADiUS-TWC.
Kings of the Wind & Electric Queens (Cédric Dupire and Gaspard Kuentz)
A compelling and hypnotic glimpse into one of India’s wildest carnivals.
Krisha (Trey Shults)
Rooftop grantee Trey Shults’ daring, SXSW-winning drama about a family on the brink.
Men Go To Battle (Zachary Treitz)
A Civil War epic of intimate proportions, written & directed by Rooftop Film Fund Grantees.
Romeo is Bleeding (Jason Zeldes)
In downtrodden region of southern California, the youth of a city mount an urban adaptation of Romeo and Juliet.
Sam Klemke’s Time Machine (Matthew Bate)
A free-wheeling and non-fiction portrait of an extra-ordinary nobody, 35 years in the making.
Spartacus & Cassandra (Ioanis Nuguet)
An intimate cinematic portrait of two Roma children forced to become their parents’ parents.
Tangerine (Sean Baker)
Sean Baker’s riotous Christmas tale of a transgender prostitute searching for the pimp that broke her heart. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Welcome to Leith (Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker)
Aryan militants invade a small North Dakota town. The town fights back.
The Wolfpack (Crystal Moselle)
The six Angulo brothers have spent their entire lives locked away from society in an apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. All they know of the outside world is gleaned from the films they watch obsessively and recreate meticulously. But after one of the brothers escapes the apartment, the power dynamics in the house are transformed, and all the boys begin to dream of venturing out. Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Special Events:
{The And}
An interactive social experiment that explores the labyrinths of human intimacy.
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Florian Habicht’s Concert Documentary “PULP: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets” to get a Preview Screening at NY’s Rooftop Film Summer Fest
Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & SupermarketsFlorian Habicht’s concert documentary film Pulp: A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets which will be released by Oscilloscope Laboratories this November, will get a special preview screening at Rooftop Films Summer Series on Thursday, August 7th. Florian Habicht and PULP’s charismatic frontman Jarvis Cocker will be on hand for a Q&A session.
PULP: A FILM ABOUT LIFE, DEATH & SUPERMARKETS (Florian Habicht | Berlin | 90 min.)
Florian Habicht (Love Story) returns to the roof with a lovingly crafted portrait of Pulp, the sexy/nerdy Sheffield rock group that struggled through the 80’s, soared to superstardom in the mid 90’s and then reunited in 2012 for a celebratory final tour. Habicht follows lead singer Jarvis Cocker, an eccentric and cheeky Everyman, as he and his band prepare for their ultimate performance in front of tens of thousands of adoring fans in their native city. The resulting film, like Jarvis’ lyrics, overflows with bittersweet memories, unexpected moments, and the understanding that life and death can be made immensely more bearable with the indulgence of tiny fantasies.
Pulp is most famous for their mega hit “Common People,” an exuberant anthem sung in the voice of a working class kid recounting a night of erotic accomplishment with a slumming heiress. The song is ingeniously constructed and exuberantly performed, and it immediately grabs your ear and makes you want to sing along and dance and fuck. But “Common People” is sung in the past tense, and the implication is that the morning after none of this worked out for the best and that the narrator—like most of the rest of us—will return to a world of work and struggle and disappointment. Most of the city of Sheffield lives their lives within that disappointing morning after, but as they talk to Habicht about Cocker, one gets the sense that they relish having had the chance to live vicariously through their native son, almost as if each of the decadent gestures of his wildest years were in some way performed on their behalf.
Habicht builds upon his previous work by continuing to mine the comic and emotional possibilities of the candid on-the-street interview. The true stars of this film are not the band mates, but rather the people of Sheffield, and Cocker wisely allows Habicht to shift the spotlight away from the stage and onto the faces of the struggling dreamers in the crowd. It is their observations that carry the film, and the most powerful performance in the film does not occur on stage, but rather in a small local cafe where a room-full of aging residents sing a devastatingly poignant cover of Help The Aged. Pulp: A Film About Life, Death And Supermarkets is at once a raucous concert film, a celebratory portrait of a place and time, and a bittersweet farewell to a town that shaped—and was shaped by—a band of dreamers with dirty minds and open, fragile hearts.
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David McMahon’s Slamdance Hit SKANKS to NY Premiere at Rooftop Films
Rooftop Films will present the New York premiere of David McMahon’s 2014 Slamdance hit Skanks on Saturday, June 28. Set in the football-obsessed Bible belt town of Birmingham, Alabama, Skanks follows a motley troupe of amateur drag performers as they stage an original musical, ‘Skanks In A One Horse Town’, all the while coming closer together.
When men playfully model baby bottle nipples taped to their chest (in order to give the appearance of “tiny little titties dried up from drug use”) and dance to a song that goes, “get into the groove…stick it up your duke” you know this isn’t your average behind the scenes film. Skanks, a one-of-a-kind documentary, follows a wildly talented and highly inappropriate band of misfits as they rehearse for a drag musical entitled, “Skanks in a One Horse Town.”
Their venue is “Theatre Downtown,” a small community theater and a haven from football, Christianity, and the town’s conservative beliefs, stuffed inside an old antique store in bible-belt Birmingham, Alabama. Though their city is often unwelcoming, the cast bonds to form a family of sorts and never lose their raucous sense of humor.
The musical itself is about three women, played by men, who accidentally travel from 1978 Studio 54 to 1878 Deep Hole Texas via a disco ball time machine. Along with fellow time travelers Anita Bryant, Conway Twitty, and Meatloaf, the skanks must stop a local baron from demolishing the town to make room for the new railroad before they return to 1978 and New York City.
As uproarious and ribald as the musical is, the onstage histrionics in Skanks might be overshadowed by the real lives of the amateur performers, especially the writer, producer and director of the play Billy Ray Brewton’s seriously concerning addiction to soda. Director David McMahon takes us on an intimate and wildly hilarious journey into the world of Theatre Downtown, inviting us behind the scenes of the show and also into the unique cast and crew’s homes. Ultimately, Skanks is about the redemptive power of theatre. As one of the actors says, “When I’m on stage, and the audience is right there… it’s bliss.”
The Skanks premiere will feature performances by the cast of “Skanks in a One Horse Town”, as well as appearances by some of NYC’s favorite drag artists, Maddelynn Hatter and Pusse Couture! Add in an after party sponsored by New Amsterdam Vodka & Gin, and we could be looking at the wildest, most glitterific film event of the summer!
http://youtu.be/eEiz63GcgmM
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Short Films Lineup Revealed for Rooftop Films 18th Annual Summer Series
Rat Pack RatRooftop Films returns for Opening Night with This Is What We Mean By Short Films, a selection of dynamic short films that encapsulates the adventurous spirit of our organization. Throughout the summer, Rooftop Films will screen dozens of movies from dozens of first time filmmakers, up and coming directors, and some tried and true indie favorites: Rose McGowan’s directorial debut “Dawn“, Rooftop Alum & Film Fund Grantee Todd Rohal’s Sundance Award Winning “Rat Pack Rat“, and the NY Premiere of Film Fund Grantee Lucy Walker’s “The Lion’s Mouth Opens“.
Here are the short films of the 2014 Rooftop Films Summer Series. The full schedule including locations and dates will be announced in the coming weeks.
45 7 Broadway (Tomonari Nishikawa | 5’)
This is an experimental film about Times Square, the noises and movements at this most well-known intersection.70 Hester Street (Casimir Nozkowski | 11’)
A documentary about a synagogue, a whiskey still, a raincoat factory and other past lives of my childhood home.Afronauts (Frances Bodomo | 13’)
It’s July 16, 1969: America is preparing to launch Apollo 11. Thousands of miles away, the Zambia Space Academy hopes to beat America to the moon in this film inspired by true events.Alagoas – Brighton (Jeremiah Zagar | 5’)
“Brighton” is the love story of a young urban couple who abandon their burgeoning careers in order to build a life in community-supported farming. But just as they begin to hit their stride, the grim onset of cancer threatens to topple their dream.An Extraordinary Person (Quelqu’un d’extraordinaire) (Monia Chokri | 28’)
A 30-year-old scholar, intelligent and beautiful yet socially crippled, is forced to attend a bachelorette party where her quest for authenticity leads to an unavoidable confrontation with old acquaintances.The Apartment (Josh Freed | 4’)
A short documentary that captures the essence of New York City living – the chaos, the glory, the hilarity and the obscenity. We share close quarters with strangers, cohabitate with girlfriends impulsively, and some of us share the gruesome details with anyone who will listen.Arena (Piotr Bernas | 16’)
What are the reasons underlying the human drive toward self-destruction? What is the wellhead of motivation for a person who chooses a life involving perpetual struggle, self-harm and risking their health? Is the road of physical pain an escape route from other kinds of pain? And finally, what lies at the roots of the contemporary fascination with risk and aggression? Arena is a film project about contemporary games, arenas and gladiators.Astigmatismo (Nicolai Troshinsky | 4’)
A boy, having lost his glasses, can only see one thing in focus at a time. His sight gets attracted by the sounds that surround him. He will have to explore a blurry world of unknown places and strange characters.Baby Mary (Kris Swanberg | 8’)
Shot with non-actors on the west side of Chicago, Baby Mary, is the story of eight-year-old Kiara, who while walking home from school finds a neglected toddler and decides to take her home.Balance (Mark Ram | 11’)
Two mountain climbers are scaling the extreme peaks when disaster strikes. They are dangling three thousand feet above the ground. What seems certain death becomes a balance between the two, connected by a single rope.Baths (Tomek Ducki | 4’)
Two elderly swimmers meet at the baths for their ritual swimming. This time they are diving deeper than usual.Beauty (Rino Stefano Tagliafierro | 10’)
A short story of the most important emotions of life, from birth to death, love and sexuality through pain and fear. It is a tribute to art and his disarming beauty. …Boyhood (Ayiokisho) (Jonah Rosenthal | 4’)
Life as a young Kenyan boy living in the Great Rift Valley.Bradford-Halifax-London (Francis Lee | 10’)
On the 10:22 train from Bradford to London Dad looses his rag, pregnant Mam concocts a surprise whilst their teenage daughter aches from embarrassment on just another ‘typical’ family outing…Brooklyn Farmer (Michael Tyburski | 26’)
“Brooklyn Farmer” explores the unique challenges facing Brooklyn Grange, a group of urban farmers who endeavor to run a commercially viable farm within the landscape of New York City. As their growing operation expands to a second roof, the team confronts the realities inherent in operating the world’s largest rooftop farm in one of the world’s biggest cities.Bunda Pandeiro (Carlo Sampietro | 3’)
In Brazilian slang, the phrase Bunda Pandeiro is used to describe attractive buttocks by referring to them as a tambourine. While the ass is a universally recognized symbol of sexual allure, the film blurs lines between gender and race, reducing each participant to the utilitarian role of a musical instrument.Butter Lamp (Hu Wei | 15’)
A photographer weaves unique links among nomadic families.C-Rock (Jordan Roth | 29’)
Together, kids on C-Rock face perilous jumps of up to 110 feet. It’s a summertime rite of passage in the Bronx. But growing up means they’ll have to leave this tradition behind.The Caketrope of Burton’s Team (Alexandre Dubosc | 2’)
A pastry zoetrope tribute to the films of Tim Burton.Cargo Cult (Bastien Dubois | 11’)
During the Pacific war on the coast of Papua New Guinea, the Papuans want to claim the god Cargo’s gifts by developing a new rite in this beautifully animated film.Catherine: A Story In 12 Parts (Dean Fleischer-Camp | 14’)
Catherine returns to work after a hiatus. Starring Jenny Slate as the titular character.Coda (Alan Holly | 9’)
A lost soul stumbles drunken through the city. In a park, Death finds him and shows him many things.Crime: The Animated Series – Nelson George (Alix Lambert, Sam Chou | 4’)
Writer and culture critic, Nelson George, talks about his childhood, the nature of crime, and the state of Hip Hop in the year 2008.Crime: The Animated Series – Marcus McGhee (Alix Lambert, Sam Chou | 5’)
When Hartford, CT teacher Marcus McGhee has his car stolen, the police refuse to assist him. Directors Alix Lambert and Sam Chou mix humor with stark reality in this animated documentary short.Cruising Electric (Brumby Boylston | 1’)
The marketing department green-lights a red-light tie-in: 60 lost seconds of modern movie merchandising.The Cut (Geneviève Dulude-De Celles | 14’)
The Cut tells the story of a father and a daughter, whose relationship fluctuates between proximity and detachment, at the moment of a haircut.Darling (Izabela Plucinsica | 6’)
What is it like when you have lost your memory, when you wake up and you cannot even recognize your husband? A woman wakes up from a dream facing a stranger who claims to be her husband. DARLING deals with loss, intimacy as well as alienation, helplessness and despair, but also hope.Dawn (Rose McGowan | 17’)
Dawn is a quiet young teenager who longs for something or someone to free her from her sheltered life.Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared II: Time (Becky Sloan & Joe Pelling | 4’)
Eventually everyone runs out of time – but before that happens to you, make some time to go on a journey, a journey through directorial duo Becky & Joe’s existentialist universe of temporal confusion, TV guides and bathtime. Time is the sequel to their original mind-bending viral hit Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared.Dusty Stacks of Mom (Jodie Mack | 40′)
Interweaving the forms of personal filmmaking, abstract animation, and the rock opera, this animated musical documentary examines the rise and fall of a nearly-defunct poster and postcard wholesale business; the changing role of physical objects and virtual data in commerce; and the division (or lack of) between abstraction in fine art and psychedelic kitsch. Using alternate lyrics as voice over narration, the piece adopts the form of a popular rock album reinterpreted as a cine-performance.Eager (Allison Schulnik | 9’)
“Eager” is a traditional, stop-motion and clay-mation film ballet by painter/animator Allison Schulnik. It is a celebration of the moving painting. Although there is a beginning, middle and end, what it retains in traditional material and methods, it avoids in narrative structure. It is an uncertain account of what exists somewhere between tragedy and farce.Eleanor Ambos Interiors (Andrew Ellis | 15’)
A close-up look at the whimsical life of 86-year-old interior designer Eleanor Ambos. Since her arrival to the U.S. at age 20, Eleanor’s strong will and keen eye have transformed her design business into a multi-million dollar empire. Yet at home, this eccentric tycoon’s lifestyle is astonishingly simple.Fear of Flying (Conor Finnegan | 9’)
A small bird is afraid to fly, but with winter approaching and everyone flying south, he must face his fears… for the most part.Flesh (Carne) (Carlos Gomez Salamanca | 8’)
Flesh reveals the sacrifice of an animal during a countryside celebration in Colombia. This animated short film proposes various readings around the body and the memory thru moving paintings.Flirting or Coquetry (Julian Petschek | 4’)
A brief summary of flirting behavior provided by the contributors of Wikipedia.Funnel (Andre Hyland | 7’)
When a man’s car breaks down, it sends him on a quest across town that slowly turns into the most fantastically mundane adventure.Goodbye Rabbit, Hop Hop (Caleb Wood | 4’)
A mind in the city looks inwards, and escapes to the rabbits domain.Graceland (Christian Hödl | 11’)
In her small flat in Munich Angelica lives an Elvis Presley-centered life, far away from the world which she perceives as loud and bad sometimes. She spends from 600 to 700 Euros a month for Elvis fan stuff, but she only needs 20 Euros a week for food. The film is a portrait of a middle-aged woman, who wants to live as she wants to: with Elvis Presley.Hacked Circuit (Deborah Stratman | 15’)
This circular study of the Foley process portrays sound artists at work constructing complex layers of fabrication and imposition.Hi, My Love (Oi, Meu Amor) (Robert G. Putka | 3’)
Men are from Mars, women are from Brazil. A conversation unfolds, and two lovers find themselves on separate wavelengths.How To Keep Smoking (John Wilson | 10’)
How to video about smoking.I Am Alone and My Head is On Fire (David O’Reilly | 1’)
A man is alone and his head is on fire.I Think This is the Closest to How the Footage Looked (Youvai Hameri | 10’)
A man recreates with poor means a lost memory. A memory of the last day with his Mom. Objects comes to life, in a desperate struggle, to produce one moment that was gone.I’m A Mitzvah (Ben Berman | 18’)
A young American man spends one last night with his deceased friend while stranded in rural Mexico.In The Air Is Christopher Gray (Felix Massie | 10’)
Christopher Gray has been in love with Stacey for quite some time, and no amount of lemonade can cool his desire. Meanwhile, Barry Flint has just bought his son a five-foot python from the pet store.Introduction to a Care Home (Niklas Holmgren | 27’)
Linda is a middle-aged woman working at a care home for people with chronic psychological disabilities. One day a young, attractive guy comes to live there. Linda is overwhelmed by sexual desire for him.Jonathan’s Chest (Christopher Radcliff | 13’)
Everything changes one night for Alex, a troubled teenager, when is visited by a boy claiming to be his brother — who disappeared years earlier.Keep the Change (Rachel Israel | 16’)
A young man is forced to attend a support group that leads to an unexpected connection.Kids and Explosions – Swear Words (Thomas Vernay,
Yann Wallaert
| 3’)
Inspired by GIF, this video clip is about the clichés of american antagonisms :
Christian thought, homeland love and excesses of the USA.Krisha (Trey Edwards Shults | 14’)
Krisha has not seen her family for many years. When Krisha decides to join her family for a holiday dinner, tensions escalate and Krisha struggles to keep her own demons at bay.La Viande + L’Amour (Johanna Rubin | 1’)
A very short romantic comedy: the essence, the very crescendo, the embrace and the kiss. All of it represented in raw meat. It can’t get more physical than this.Late For Meeting (David Lewandowski | 2’)
Late for Meeting is the first companion piece to the 2011 short film entitled Going to the Store. A rubbery man makes his way through Los Angeles by any means necessary.Le Labyrinthe (Mathieu Labaye | 9’)
6m² for the rest of his life…Levitate (Leah Ross | 13’)
Levitate is a portrait of the Rockaways NY and its residents 3-7 months after Hurricane Sandy devastated the peninsula. Shot on s16mm, the film is a montage of voices and landscapes left in limbo from the storm.The Lion’s Mouth Opens (Lucy Walker | 15’)
A stunningly courageous young woman takes the boldest step imaginable, supported by her mother and loving friends in this stunning documentary from acclaimed filmmaker Lucy Walker.Love Doesn’t Care (Farzad Zarzaneh | 14’)
Rakel and Dag are in love and are seemingly the perfect couple until an old friend of Dag’s shows up and things take a subtle yet dramatic turn.Love in the Time of March Madness (Melissa Johnson, Robertino Zambrano | 9’)
A story about the hilarious and awkward misadventures of a 6’4’’ tall woman who is a star on the basketball court but struggles to find true love.M4W (Annelise Ogaard | 20’)
A candid glimpse into the life of Eleanor, a young woman who stays above the poverty line by hiring herself out as a dominatrix to men she meets online.Manicure (Stephanie Ahn | 11’)
A young man is paid an unexpected visit on the morning of his mother’s funeral.Marilyn Myller (Mikey Please | 6’)
Marilyn maketh. Marilyn taketh awayeth. Marilyn is trying really hard to create something good. For once, her expectation and reality are going to align. It will be epic. It will be tear-jerkingly profound. It will be perfect. Nothing can go wrong.Master Muscles (Efren Hernandez | 13’)
Veronika and Efren take a trip.Me + Her (Joseph Oxford | 12’)
When Jack and Jill of Cardboard City are separated by Jill’s untimely death, Jack goes on a journey to mend his (literally) broken heart.MeTube: August sings Carmen Habanera (Daniel Moshel | 4’)
George Bizet`s “Habanera” from Carmen has been reinterpreted and enhanced with electronic sounds for MeTube, a homage to thousands of ambitious YouTube users and video bloggers, and gifted and less gifted self-promoters on the Internet.The Missing Scarf (Eoin Duffy | 7’)
A black comedy exploring some of life’s common fears: fear of the unknown, of failure, rejection and finally the fear of death. Narrated by George Takei.Mooon (James Kwan | 6’)
Everything in the Universe is a little bit sticky.More Than Two Hours (Ali Asgari | 10’)
It’s 3 AM, a boy and a girl are wandering in the city. They are looking for a hospital to cure the girl, but it’s much harder than they thought.Mountain in Shadow (Lois Patino | 14’)
A poetic view into the relationship of immensity between man and landscape. We contemplate, from a distance, the activity of skiers on the snowy mountain. The pictorial image and the dark and dreamlike atmosphere transforms the space into something unreal, imprecise, converting it also in a tactile experience.Mr. Lamb (Jean Pesce | 15’)
Mr. Lamb is a dark comedy about a lonely waitress who is in love with her pen pal — the convicted murderer, Charles Lamb.Noah (Walter Woodman, Patrick Cederberg | 17’)
In a story that plays out completely on a teens computer screen. Noah soon learns the difference between a like and a love.The North Sea Riveria (Joshua Wedlake | 12’)
A tale of love, life and lunacy told via an estranged odyssey through the digital uncanny. Set along the East Coast of Britain in the latter half of the 20th Century, two deeply introspective and nostalgic men wander through a melancholic seaside resort as it languishes in its dying throes.Notes on Blindness Rainfall (Peter Middleton, James Spinney | 4’)
For three years after losing his sight, John Hull created audio diaries to reflect on his adaptation to blindness. Using excerpts from John’s tapes, this film recreates the visceral experience of hearing rainfall for the first time without sight. The rain’s sound creates a perception of dimensionality and reconnects John in a tangible way to his environment. A poetic sensory experience.Numbers & Friends (Alexander Carson | 7’)
In his search for happiness in North America, a European man discovers the pleasures of Fantasy Baseball. Using his new appreciation for sports as a metaphor to re-imagine his life choices, he begins to find new meaning in the world around him. Numbers & Friends is a playful and amorphous cine-essay about sports fandom and cultural identity.The Obvious Child (Stephen Irwin | 12’)
Somebody broke the girl’s parents. The rabbit was there when it happened. It was an awful mess.Of God and Dogs (Abounaddara Collective | 12’)
A young, free Syrian soldier confesses to killing a man he knew was innocent. He promises to take vengeance on the God who led him to commit the murder. Winner of 2014 Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best Short Documentary.Once Upon a Tree (Marleen van der Werf | 15’)
Sitting in her favorite Oak tree, 11-year-old Filine encounters little wonders in the natural world around her.One Year Lease (Brian Bolster | 11’)
Told almost entirely through voice mail messages, “One year Lease” documents the travails of Brian, Thomas and Casper as they endure a year-long sentence with Rita the cat-loving landlady.Open City: The Dreamer (A.V. Rockwell | 5’)
Larry “Antenna Man” Connor makes a name for himself the best way he knows how. (Sorry, No Refunds!)Orlando’s Book (Wendy Morris | 4’)
A book of English landscapes was awarded to a young man who grew up on mission stations in Southern Africa in the 19thc. This book, belonging to an ancestor of the artist, is the starting point to a reflection on literary memories of places read about but never visited, and on places experienced but never seen illustrated in books.Pandas (Pandy) (Matus Vizar | 12’)
After millions of generations they have a good chance of becoming another extinct species. But one day, an all too active primate called the human being found them and they became a pawn in man’s game.Person to Person (Dustin Guy Defa | 18’)
Waking up the morning after hosting a party, a man discovers a stranger passed out on his floor. He spends the rest of the day trying to convince her to leave.Perth+6hrs (Wendy Morris | 3’)
Perth+6hrs is a personal reflection on the transience of family, on the fleetingness of childhood, and on the inevitable separations as children grow up and move away. The objects in the film are made by the son of the filmmaker. The film is created out of a single drawing.
Phantom Limb (Alex Grigg | 4’)
James and Martha narrowly survive a motorcycle accident. During the aftermath, however, James begins to experience Martha’s phantom pains.The Pink Helmet Posse (Kristelle Laroche, Ben Mullinkosson| 9’)
Three pink tutus. Three pink helmets. Three pink skateboards. Bella, Sierra and Rella prove that skateboarding is not just for boys.Pleasure (Ninja Thyberg | 15’)
Behind the scenes of a porn shoot, the actors practice various positions. The rumor is that one of the girls is doing an advanced routine that requires someone extremely tough. Pleasure is a startling film about workplace intrigue.Portrait (Donato Sansone | 3’)
A slow and surreal video slideshow of nightmarish, grotesque and apparently static characters.Rabbit and Deer (Peter Vacz | 16’)
Rabbit and Deer are living happily and careless until their friendship is put to the test by Deer’s new obsession to find the formula for the 3rd dimension. After an unexpected accident Deer finds himself in a new world, unknown to him. Separated by dimensions the two characters have to find the way back to each other.Rat Pack Rat (Todd Rohal | 17’)
A Sammy Davis Jr. impersonator, hired to visit with a loyal Rat Pack fan, finds himself delivering last rites at the boy’s bedside.Rehearsal (Tom Rosenberg | 12’)
A surreal study of a simulated terrorist attack in middle America. Composed frames observe the meticulous care taken to create a hyperreal terrorist event. Once the bomb goes off, hundreds of volunteers deliver a convincing performance as stunned and mutilated blast victims.Rhino Full Throttle (Nashom im Galopp) (Erik Schmitt | 15’)
A young man uses art to reshape the city around him in search of its soul, but a beautiful tourist overtakes his mission in this imaginative love story.The Runaway (La Fugue) (Jean-Bernard Marlin | 22’)
A rehabilitated teenage girl stands before a judge for sentencing. Still, she fears the system is stacked against her. Winner of best short at the 2013 Berlin Film Festival.The Shirley Temple (Daniela Sherer | 10’)
The boundaries between childhood and adulthood become blurry for a kid at his mother’s cocktail party. In this experimental-narrative short, characters, symbols and abstractions interchange to examine the relationships between children and adults, escapism and sexuality.Six (Frank Jerky | 14’)
Six is a short film that follows a young boy named Dumbo, who is playing with his toy cars on the hottest day of the summer. The playing takes place on a huge rooftop in Brooklyn. No adults are around. Everyone seems to be indoors – hiding from the heat. Only Dumbo’s sister Maggie is on the other side of the roof, but she could not care less about her younger brother’s games.Street Views (Annie Berman | 8’)
Created entirely within Google, Street Views is a somnambulist tour defying natural laws of perspective, time, and continuity. Our guide discovers she can get lost while never straying from the map. Places also get lost – like a video store. She attempts to interact with this world. Retracing her path, she discovers even though all has already occurred and is transfixed, it is never the same twice.Sun of a Beach (Arnaud Crillon, Alexandre Rey, Jinfeng Lin, Valentin Gasarian | 6’)
You’re at the beach. It’s hot. Too hot!!!Symphony No. 42 (Réka Bucsi | 10’)
47 observations in the irrational connections between human and nature.Syndromeda (Patrik Eklund | 21’)
Leif wakes up on the road—naked and bloody—with no memory of what has happened. No one believes him when he claims he was abducted by aliens.Tim and Susan Have Matching Handguns (Joe Callander | 2’)
Love is swapping clips with your spouse in the middle of a three gun problem.Unlocking The Truth (Luke Meyer | 3’)
There is a particular moment right before fame strikes a young musician – between the full flowering of talent and believing in a dream so pure and strong as to feel bulletproof – which at the same time is almost imperceptible as it is happening. This documentary follows Malcolm Brickhouse, Jarad Dawkins and Alec Atkins of the band Unlocking The Truth as they summon all the influences that have helped make them who they are, and cross this metaphysical threshold.Wawd Ahp (Steven Girard, Josh Chertoff | 3’)
A man raps in the mirror, cuts off his head, and has sex with it. There is also a cartoon.Whale Valley (Hvalfjordur) (Gudmundur Gudmundsson | 15’)
Two brothers struggle to find their place and purpose while living in a small remote fjord in Iceland. Special mention at Cannes Film Festival and winner of Best Short Film at Hamptons Int’l Film Festival.Wind (Robert Löbel | 4’)
Wind is an animated short about the daily life of people living in a windy area who seem helplessly exposed to the weather. However, the inhabitants have learned to deal with their difficult living conditions. The wind creates a natural system for living.Yearbook (Bernardo Britto | 6’)
A man is hired to compile the definitive history of human existence before the planet blows up. Winner of the 2014 Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Best Animation.