• Check out Official Poster for Indie Comedy OBVIOUS CHILD in Theaters June 6

     obvious child movie poster

    OBVIOUS CHILD, the comedic gem of a discovery of the Sundance Film Festival has an Official Poster.  The highly anticipated comedy, featuring a breakout performance by Jenny Slate will open in select theaters June 6 and expands across the country throughout June.

    For aspiring comedian Donna Stern, everyday life as a female twenty-something provides ample material for her incredibly relatable brand of humor. On stage, Donna is unapologetically herself, joking about topics as intimate as her sex life and as crude as her day-old underwear. But when Donna gets dumped, loses her job, and finds herself pregnant just in time for Valentine’s Day, she has to navigate the murky waters of independent adulthood for the first time. As she grapples with an uncertain financial future, an unwanted pregnancy, and a surprising new suitor, Donna begins to discover that the most terrifying thing about adulthood isn’t facing it all on her own. It’s allowing herself to accept the support and love of others. And be truly vulnerable. Never failing to find the comedy and humanity in each awkward situation she encounters, Donna finds out along the way what it means to be as brave in life as she is on stage. Anchored by a breakout performance from Jenny Slate, OBVIOUS CHILD is a winning discovery, packed tight with raw, energetic comedy and moments of poignant human honesty. Writer/Director Gillian Robespierre handles the topic of Donna’s unwanted pregnancy with a refreshing matter-of-factness rarely seen onscreen. And with Donna, Slate and Robespierre have crafted a character for the ages – a female audiences will recognize, cheer for, and love.

    http://youtu.be/r2GN3wdfqbA

     CAST: Jenny Slate, Jake Lacy, Gaby Hoffmann, David Cross, Gabe Liedman & Richard Kind

    DIRECTOR:  Gillian Robespierre

    WRITTEN BY:  Gillian Robespierre

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  • Filmmakers Raz Cunningham and Mel Hardy Talk About Their New Indie Comedy “Wander My Friends”

    Wander My Friends

    For indie filmmakers, getting your first feature film made is already a hurdle that oftentimes can seem insurmountable. But if you manage to run the gauntlet that is raising funds, finding the right cast, and shooting and editing the whole thing, how do you get people to actually see your pride and joy? Asking someone to click on a short YouTube video is easy, but convincing people to watch a much longer film – especially if they have to go to a theater – is tougher.

    The filmmakers behind the indie comedy Wander My Friends are well on their way to overcoming that hurdle too. The movie recently had its first screening at the SENE Festival in Providence, Rhode Island to an overwhelming positive response. Written and directed by Raz Cunningham and produced by Mel Hardy (who also co-developed the story with Cunningham and star Josh Krebs), Wander My Friends is about three creators of a successful indie comic book who find themselves concerned that they will have to choose between making money from their creation and maintaining their artistic vision. In a lot of ways, it speaks to all creative types who have dreams of success but at the same time fear about losing control of their work.

    After hearing that the film had been successfully funded on Kickstarter in 2012 and raised additional money on Slated (a film financing community), I spoke to Raz Cunningham and Mel Hardy about Wander My Friends about how they went about turning their dreams into their first full-length film as writer/director and producer.

    Can you tell me about your previous work experience in film?

    RAZ: I started working in film and TV right out of high school. I grew up in Rhode Island and at the time I knew I had to live in an area where I could not just get my feet wet but jump right into the pool. I applied to colleges in New York and eventually attended Marymount Manhattan College. Freshmen weren’t supposed to have internships, but through a very happy accident involving me working in a candle store in 30 Rock, I ended up meeting a Saturday Night Live cast member who recommended me to the internship program at NBC. I reached a deal with my college allowing me to start my time with NBC. I was there for several years and eventually just moved from Television to Film. I started as an assistant to a few great producers, including Scott Macaulay and Robin O’Hara, and eventually started getting work on other films as a Production Manager and Line Producer.

    Although I wanted to write and direct films, I continually got steady work Line Producing and Production Managing and my bills needed to be paid so I just kept right on doing it. While I was still working within the field I wanted to be in, it just wasn’t as truly fulfilling as I had hoped. Eventually I started making my own shorts and just kept continually writing in my free time. After meeting and working regularly with Mel, we both decided enough is enough when it came to our time being slaves to the logistical side of film just went to work making Wander My Friends.

    MEL: I was always interested in film. My dad took care of me when I was little and we used to watch movies all the time; not just stuff meant for kids, but movies aimed at adults too. A lot of classics, or just movies he liked and thought I would appreciate. When I was in 6th grade I had a teacher who let me make video book reports (this was unusual at the time) and I was completely thrilled. I even made up my own production company for them, which has since become my official company and still uses the logo I made when I was 12. I started studying film first at Ithaca College while I was still in high school, and then as an undergrad at Clark University. I went straight from graduating to my first film job, and never stopped since. Most of my work has been in the art or wardrobe departments, and now I do a lot of work professionally as a Production Designer. But I love producing, and that’s the ultimate goal for me.

    wander my friends

    Can you give me a brief description of the film?

    RAZ:Wander My Friends tells the story of how creative people can struggle to maintain their integrity while still making a living. Roland Vanver, Nate Park and Asher Ackerman are Editor, Artist and Writer of a popular indie comic “Wanderers”. Eventually a bigger company offers a buyout of their smaller company.

    MEL: Hilarity ensues when the three can barely handle each other, let alone pitch meetings with straight-laced businessmen.

    Where did the concept of the movie come from?

    RAZ: Actor Josh Krebs and I had come up with these three characters almost 5 years ago. Over each draft their careers changes because we just couldn’t find anything that worked with their personalities. It was only when we partnered up with Mel that we came to the realization that each of their personalities was strongly suited to the functioning members of a creative team, and due to my own personal frustrations with the storytelling of the comic (and indie film) industry, we just settled on them being comic book creators.

    MEL: A lot of my background is in improv comedy, which is something Josh Krebs also shares. Once I got involved, the three of us threw around a lot of jokes and started shaping what was originally a (somewhat) more serious script into a comedy. But the core themes and the core characters have remained mostly the same from the version that Raz and Josh brought to me.

     You were successful in funding the movie in two ways: first on Kickstarter in 2012 and more recently on Slated. What were some of the challenges of fundraising, and do you have any advice for other filmmakers who are hoping to raise money for their projects?

    RAZ: The best advice I can give to anyone raising money for a film is to know exactly what kind of project you have, know how to tell the story well, and always, ALWAYS know your audience. When you know your audience you can communicate directly with them. If possible, talk to another filmmaker, whether successful or not, just someone who has experience that can share their budgetary successes and failures with you. This will help you identify your own weaknesses and only make your pitch that much stronger.

    MEL: My advice would have to be transparency, definitely. One of the blessings of being able to crowdfund a feature film is to be able to offer your audience a window into the process of making a movie – and one that they’ve chosen to be a part of by offering their own hard-earned money. Any time I had the ability to share footage or stills with donors, I did. It was not only a nice way of getting additional investors interested and involved, but it’s also great to be able to show people “See what we were able to do thanks to you? I hope you’re as proud as we are.”

    Aside from acquiring the funding, what has been the most challenging part of the production process?

    RAZ: Post-production has been particularly challenging. We had some issues with music, scheduling conflicts with composers, and also some minor editing challenges from the technical side of things, but eventually we overcame them. It really helps if you have a clear plan for post-production during pre-production, and while we did, sometimes unforeseen events happen and schedules change. You have to make sure you account for that. Always have a backup. A “Plan B.” Always.

    MEL: As this production’s Plan B, I’m going to have to agree with post-production challenges. It’s hard to anticipate personnel turnover, and we had a solid plan during pre-production that just fell through. I’m lucky that I’m not only an experienced editor, but also probably insane and was more than willing to do whatever it took to see this project to completion. But not every film will have somebody like me working on it, and knowing what to do if anyone or anything falls through is crucial, especially on indies.

     How did you assemble the cast for the film?

    RAZ: The casting process for Wander My Friends was really intense. Auditioning can sometimes be the worst way to cast a film, but it’s the best process we have so we all still do it. Fortunately one of the leads had helped contribute to the script, so that was locked up, but when it came to casting the role of Nate Park, Mel and I wanted someone who wasn’t just a great actor, but someone who was unique. Someone who could portray modesty alongside a sense of confidence. Nate Park has a lot of confidence, the only problem with that is he doesn’t know it. He has almost no concept of it. He likes what he likes, he does what he does. Mel had worked with actor Milo MacPhail on an improv team and once I met him, he immediately blew me away with just his physicality. Once I saw he could truly act, I was even more impressed, but after watching him play a scene or two opposite Josh Krebs, I knew he was exactly right. Josh is an amazing actor and sometimes it can be difficult for other young actors to keep up, but Milo kept pace.

    We put the rest of the cast through a number of rigorous, sometimes rather unorthodox auditions, because I believe that no matter how good an actor is, they have to be able to remain in character no matter their environment, physical or emotional. We auditioned actress Laura Menzie in a car while driving with actor Josh Krebs. I wasn’t actually able to see their audition as I was driving, but I didn’t want to see it. I wanted to listen and see if they could keep my attention while driving. Sure it was a safety risk but it was worth it. Laura and Josh have a great chemistry in their scenes. I have no regrets.

    MEL: When I read the finished script, I immediately told Raz that I knew the perfect Nate, and I’m glad that when he met Milo he agreed. I also had a lot of actor friends in the Boston area who I recommended for supporting roles, but everyone had to audition. It was a long process to knit the whole cast together, but the cast we got was amazing so I’m glad.

    You recently had the premiere screening of Wander My Friends at the SENE Festival in Providence. What was the response like?

    RAZ: The response to the film was beyond anything I could have honestly imagined. I expected only family and friends to show up and give us the obligatory “good job” and “I’m so happy for you” compliments. We had well over 100 people for the screening, most of whom we didn’t know. They were not friends or family of cast and crew. They had seen the trailer and a clip of it on the news and were curious so they came to check it out. Those of us who worked on the project that were able to attend the screening of the film had a lot of these strangers come up to us and introduce themselves after. It’s important to me that comedies have fun with themselves but also have an equal amount of heart, and after the screening I knew we hit the mark.

    During the screening I sat in the very back of the theater and watched the audience while the audience watched the film. Every single one of our intended jokes, and some unintended, landed. The laughs I heard that night reaffirmed everything we had hoped and planned. Mel and I knew we were doing something right. 

    MEL: The response was overwhelmingly positive. I’m still getting calls and emails from people who just want to tell me how much they enjoyed it.

    When I was finishing up post-production on the film, there was a period of time when I became frustrated and a little jaded. Things weren’t coming together the way I wanted them too. But once I had the finished cut and I watched it alone in my apartment, I found myself laughing again at scenes I had laughed at when we filmed them. And at the screening, the audience was basically laughing non-stop. They even missed some jokes because they were laughing so hard at others. That’s an incredibly rewarding feeling. 

    What’s next for Wander My Friends and both of you as filmmakers?

    RAZ: We’re hoping to get Wander My Friends into a few more film festivals and attain the right distribution path for the project. I’d like to see it at least end up on Netflix. I’m producing and co-writing a project based on the true story of a grandfather seeking the right to be a part of his young grandson’s life. Additionally, Mel and I have already started development on our next project together with L.A.-based producer Mike Santoro. It’s an improvised mockumentary that follows the making of a doomed feature film. We’re hoping that not only is it successful, but that it also functions as a launch for a series based on the same characters. We’re really looking forward to 2014.

    MEL: Ultimately we want Wander My Friends to be seen, and we’ll do whatever we can to that end. All I’ve ever wanted to do is keep making movies, and that’s what the future holds. We’ve proven that we can make a feature with almost nothing, and we’re looking forward to using that to show people what we’re capable of.

    Check out the trailer for Wander My Friends on Vimeo:

    For more information on Wander My Friends, see the links below:

    Facebook | Twitter

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  • Short Films Lineup Revealed for Rooftop Films 18th Annual Summer Series

    Rat Pack RatRat Pack Rat

    Rooftop 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.

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  • Winners Announced for the USA Film Festival’s 36th Annual National Short Film Competition

     One Armed ManOne Armed Man

    The USA Film Festival announced the winners of the 36th Annual National Short Film & Video Competition. The awards program took place on Closing Night of the 44th Annual USA Film Festival in Dallas.  One Armed Man, directed byTim Guinee, won the First Place award for Fiction; Confusion Through Sand directed by Danny Madden won the First Place award for Animation and Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution directed by Matthew VanDyke won the First Place award for Non-Fiction.

     Chosen from more than 500 U.S. entries, the winners included:

    FIRST PLACE / FICTION $1,000 
    One Armed Man, Tim Guinee, director 

    FIRST PLACE / ANIMATION $1,000
    Confusion Through Sand, Danny Madden, director

    FIRST PLACE / NON-FICTION $1,000
    Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution, Matthew VanDyke, director

    First Place Winners in the Fiction, Animation and Non-Fiction categories that meet Academy eligibility requirements qualify for consideration from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. For more information on Rules & Eligibility for the Academy Awards, please visit www.oscars.org/rules

    THE STUDENT AWARD $250 
    Samnang, Asaph Polosky, director 

    SPECIAL JURY AWARDS $250 each
    5cm, Jordan Schiele, director Children of the Peacock, Travis Andrade, director For the Birds, Tara Atashgah, director A Long Walk, Chinonye Chukwu, director

    THE TEXAS AWARD $250
    A Quiet Strength, Bobbie Baird, Hannah Caggiano, Deborah Hammond, Tommaso Spinelli, co-directors

    In addition to the Jury awards, FESTIVAL-AWARDED PRIZES also went to the following official selection short works:

    Across Grace Alley, Ralph Macchio, director
    The Bakerman and the Bunnymen, Scout Raskin, director
    Dress, Henry Ian Cusick, director
    Looms, The Funk Brothers, directors
    Ni-Ni, Melissa Hickey, director
    Thursday, Milcho Manchevski, director
    Tobacco Burn, Justin Liberman, director

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  • Official Poster Unveiled for 38th Montreal World Film Festival

    official poster of the 38th Montreal World Film Festival

    The design of Bolivian artist Marco Tóxico was chosen by the public to be the official poster of the 38th Montreal World Film Festival taking place from August 21st to September 1st, 2014.

    Tóxico’s work is known around the world, having appeared in publications in Argentina Belgium, Brazil, France, Germany, Mexico, Peru, Spain and Venzuela, not to mention his numerous international exhibitions. He is the co-founder with Karen Gil of the La Ñatita Editions devoted to the publication of  their graphic works.

    Tóxico was named one of the ten best illustrators at the Cow International Design Festival in Ukraine and earned honorable mention at the 2013 Latin-American Design Conference in Buenos Aires.

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  • More Films Added to 2014 Cannes Film Festival

    White God by Kornél MundruczóWhite God by Kornél Mundruczó

    Six more films have been added to the Official Selections of 2014 Cannes Film Festival taking place May 14th to May May 25th. Films include In The Name of my Daughter will screen in Out of Competition, and White God by Kornél Mundruczó will screen in Un Certain Regard section.

    Out of Competition

    L’Homme qu’on aimait trop (In The Name of my Daughter) by André Téchiné with Guillaume Canet, Catherine Deneuve and Adèle Haenel (1h56)

    Un Certain Regard 

    Fehér Isten (White God) by Kornél Mundruczó (1h59)

    Special Screenings

    Of Men and War (Des Hommes et de la guerre) by Laurent Bécue-Renard (documentary, 2h22)

    The Owners by Adilkhan Yerzhanov (1h33)

    Géronimo by Tony Gatlif with Céline Salette, Rachid Yous (1h44) – a screening of the film will also be organized for the high school students of the PACA Region.    

    El Ardor by Pablo Fendrik (1h40) with Gael Garcia Bernal, member of the Jury of the Competition, will also be featured as a Special Screening. 

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  • Sprout Film Festival Returns Weekend of May 31; Unveils Official Selections

     sprout film festival 2014 poster

    The Sprout Film Festival returns for its 12th year in New York City, over the weekend of May 31st-June 1st, 2014, screening films featuring people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The festival announced the official selections for the 2014 Sprout Film Festival, which will showcase 37 independent short films, documentaries, animations, music videos and features from 11 different countries.

    sprout film festival-2014 official selections

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  • Twin Cities Film Fest Announces 2014 Dates

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    Twin Cities Film Fest (TCFF)

    The 5th Annual Twin Cities Film Fest (TCFF) will be held October 16th – 25th in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.  The Shops at West End and Showplace ICON Theatre & Lobby Lounge will once again be the exclusive venues for this year’s festival.   

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  • 41 Students Selected as Finalists for 41st Student Academy Awards

    `40th Student Academy Award winners40th Student Academy Award winners

    Forty-one students from 23 U.S. colleges and universities as well as 10 students from foreign universities have been selected as finalists in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 41st Student Academy Awards competition. 

    The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level.  Past Student Academy Award® winners have gone on to receive 46 Oscar® nominations and have won or shared eight awards.  They include John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Robert Zemeckis, Trey Parker and Spike Lee.

    Academy members will now vote to determine up to three winning films in each category. The winners, but not their medal placements, will be announced later this month.  The winning students will be brought to Los Angeles for a week of industry activities and social events that will culminate in the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 7, at 6 p.m., at the DGA Theater in Hollywood, at which time the gold, silver and bronze medalists will be revealed.

    The finalists are (listed alphabetically by film title):

    Alternative
    “Dreamers,” Joseph Dwyer, Boston University
    “Entropic Apogee,” Bill Manolios, Art Institute of California – San Francisco
    “Jaspa’ Jenkins,” Robert Carnilius, Columbia College Chicago
    “Oscillate,” Daniel Sierra, School of Visual Arts, New York
    “Passer Passer,” Louis Morton, University of Southern California
    “Person,” Drew Brown and Ramona Ramdeen, The Art Institute of Jacksonville, Florida
    “The Private Life of Fenfen,” Leslie Tai, Stanford University
    “Staircases,” Steinar Bergoy Nedrebo, School of Visual Arts, New York

    Animation 
    “Baxter,” Ty Coyle, Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia
    “Goodnight Boon,” Jeremy Jensen, New York University
    “Higher Sky,” Teng Cheng, University of Southern California
    “Marcel,” Eric Cunha and Seung Sung, School of Visual Arts, New York
    “Owned,” Daniel Clark and Wesley Tippetts, Brigham Young University, Utah
    “Roadkill Redemption,” Karl Hadrika, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida
    “Two Ghosts,” Amy Lee Ketchum, University of Southern California
    “Umbra,” Pedro Jesus Atienzar Godoy, Pratt Institute, New York
    “Yamashita,” Hayley Foster, Loyola Marymount University, California

    Documentary
    “The Apothecary,” Helen Hood Scheer, Stanford University
    “Eth“no”representation,” Ryan Metzler and Scott Kulicke, Occidental College, California
    “Heel’d,” Thomas Smith and McKenna Hinkle, Villanova University, Pennsylvania
    “Light Mind,” Jie Yi, School of Visual Arts, New York
    “My Sister Sarah,” Elizabeth Chatelain, University of Texas at Austin
    “One Child,” Zijian Mu, New York University
    “Punches & Pedicures,” Ashley Brandon and Dennis Höhne, Wright State University, Ohio
    “Scattered,” Lindsay Lindenbaum, School of Visual Arts, New York
    “White Earth,” J. Christian Jensen, Stanford University

    Narrative
    “AM800,” James Roe, University of New Orleans
    “Above the Sea,” Keola Racela, Columbia University, New York
    “Door God,” Yulin Liu, New York University
    “Interstate,” Camille Stochitch, American Film Institute, California
    “Istifa (Resignation),” Rahat Mahajan, Art Center College of Design, California
    “So You’ve Grown Attached,” Kate Tsang, New York University
    “Sweepstakes,” Mark Tumas, Temple University, Pennsylvania
    “Way in Rye,” Goran Stankovic, American Film Institute, California
    “What Remains,” Julie Koegl, University of North Carolina School of the Arts

    Foreign Film
    “Border Patrol,” Peter Baumann, The Northern Film School, United Kingdom
    “Intruder,” Geun Buem Park, Korean Academy of Film Arts, South Korea
    “Kam,” Katarina Morano, University of Ljubljana – Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television, Slovenia
    “Nocebo,” Lennart Ruff, University of Television and Film Munich, Germany
    “North,” Philip Sheerin, National Film and Television School, United Kingdom
    “Paris on the Water,” Hadas Ayalon, Tel Aviv University, Israel
    “Sacred Defense,” Nima Mohaghegh, Netherlands Film Academy
    “Souffle Court,” Johann Dulat, ENS Louis-Lumière – The National Film, Photography & Sound Engineering School, France
    “The Oasis,” Carl Marott, The National Film School of Denmark
    “Wo Wir Sind,” Ilker Çatak, Hamburg Media School, Germany

    To reach this stage, U.S. students competed in one of three regional competitions.  Each region is permitted to send to the Academy up to three finalists in each of the four categories.  The Student Academy Awards Nominating Committee screened and voted on the finalists in the Foreign Film category.

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  • Award Winners Announced For 17th Cine Las Americas International Film Festival

    MATEO directed by María GamboaMATEO directed by María Gamboa

    Cine Las Americas announced  the award winners for the 17th Cine Las Americas International Film Festival, which took place April 22 to 27 in Austin, Texas. The festival grants jury awards in the categories of Narrative Feature Film, Documentary Feature Film, Narrative Short Film, and Documentary Short Film. The Hecho en Tejas Jury Award is presented in partnership with the Texas Archive for the Moving Image (TAMI). In addition, four audience awards are recognized: Audience Award for Narrative Feature, Audience Award for Documentary Feature, Audience Award for Best Hecho en Tejas Film and the Emergencia Audience Award, granted to the most popular youth film.  MATEO directed by María Gamboa swept the major awards winning both the Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature and the Audience Award for Narrative Feature.

    17th Cine Las Americas International Film Festival Award Winners

    Narrative Feature Competition

    Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature
    MATEO
    Dir. María Gamboa, Colombia/France

    Mateo, 16, collects extortion money on behalf of his uncle and uses his pay to help out his mother, who grudgingly accepts the ill-gotten money out of need. They live by themselves in the poor, violent neighborhoods alongside the Magdalena River valley in Colombia. To prove his worth, Mateo agrees to infiltrate a local theater group in order to uncover its members’ political activities. As he becomes enthralled with the free-flowing creative lifestyle of the troupe, his uncle escalates demands on him to produce incriminating information on the actors. Under pressure, Mateo must make difficult choices. At the Miami International Film Festival, where MATEO had its world premiere, the film won Best First Feature and Best Screenplay.

    http://youtu.be/tYYStTWt76M

     

    Special Jury Award for Best Comedy
    LA DESPEDIDA (The Goodbye)
    Dir. Alvaro Diaz Lorenzo, Spain/USA

    Documentary Feature Competition

    Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature
    ROQUE DALTON, ¡FUSILEMOS LA NOCHE! (Roque Dalton, Let’s Shoot the Night!)
    Dir. Tina Leish, Austria/El Salvador/Cuba

    ROQUE DALTON, ¡FUSILEMOS LA NOCHE! is a poetic documentary, a manifesto both for reading poetry and for living a life that takes responsibility for the state of the world. Roque Dalton (1935-1975) is El Salvador’s most important poet. His life is an adventure, his poetry an exciting shower of sparks between political utopia and sensuality, revolutionary beliefs and lust for heresy. As playful as Roque Dalton’s poetry, this film interweaves interviews with his family, friends, lovers and contemporaries with touching readings of his works by students, actors, prostitutes, prisoners, famous friends and the children of the underprivileged protagonists of his works. The film has screened to great success on the festival circuit, including important stops at the Havana Film Festival and MiradasDOC.

    Statement from the Jury: “We appreciated seeing a complex political figure like Roque Dalton integrated into a poetic narrative. It also included the complexity found in any human story, because everything is not black and white.”

    Narrative Short Competition

    Jury Award for Best Narrative Short
    PADRE (Father)
    Dir. Santiago ‘Bou’ Grasso, Argentina/France

    Honorable Mention for Narrative Short
    ROJO (Red)
    Dir. Carlos Alejandro Molina M., Venezuela

    Documentary Short Competition

    Jury Award for Best Documentary Short
    TRAZOS EN LA CUMBRE (Drawing on the Heights)
    Dir. Alejandro Victorero, Carlos Alejandro Molina, Venezuela

    Honorable Mention for Cinematography
    NADIE ESPECIAL (Nobody Special)
    Dir. Juan Alejandro Ramírez, Peru

    Hecho en Tejas Competition

    Texas Archive of the Moving Image Hecho en Tejas Jury Award
    LADONNA HARRIS: INDIAN 101
    Dir. Julianna Brannum, USA

    Audience Awards

    Audience Award for Narrative Feature
    MATEO
    Dir. María Gamboa, Colombia/France

    Audience Award for Documentary Feature
    SIGO SIENDO (I’m Still)
    Dir. Javier Corcuera, Peru/Spain

    Although the film is about music and musicians, it is not strictly a musical film. Rather, it is a reflection of seemingly disparate stories searching to find one another in a Perú struggling to find its own identity. SIGO SIENDO was nominated for the Platino Prizes, and chosen to screen at Iberodocs in Edinburgh, where director Javier Corcuera was honored for his career achievements as a documentary filmmaker.

    Hecho en Tejas Audience Award
    MICHA
    Dir. Eugene Martin, USA

    Audience Award for Emergencia Youth Film Competition
    THE HEARING
    Dir. Russell Ratt Brascoupe, Canada

    Wapikoni Mobile

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  • Eric Rohmer’s A SUMMER’S TALE Finally Gets US Theatrical Release

    Eric Rohmer's A SUMMER'S TALE 

    Eric Rohmer’s A SUMMER’S TALE (Conte d’été), the third entry in the TALES OF THE FOUR SEASONS cycle—and the only one never previously released theatrically in the US will finally get a release date. A SUMMER’S TALE will open at Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in New York on June 20, and in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Royal, Playhouse 7 in Pasadena and Town Center in Encino on July 18. A national release will follow.

    A SUMMER’S TALE originally premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 1996. Following A TALE OF SPRINGTIME (1990) and A TALE OF WINTER (1992), A SUMMER’S TALE resumed the cycle after THE TREE, THE MAYOR AND THE MEDIATHEQUE (1993) and RENDEZVOUS IN PARIS (1995). AUTUMN TALE (1998) rounded out the series.

    Gaspard (Melvil Poupaud), a recent university graduate, arrives at the seaside in Bretagne for three weeks’ vacation before starting a new job. He’s hoping his sort-of girlfriend, the fickle Léna (Aurélia Nolin), will join him there; but as the days pass, he welcomes the interest of Margot (Amanda Langlet, the titular character from Rohmer’s PAULINE AT THE BEACH), a student of ethnology working as a waitress for the summer. Things start to get complicated when the spoken-for Margot encourages Gaspard to have a summer romance with her friend, Solène (Gwenaëlle Simon), and he complies. When Léna turns up, and scheduling complications abound, Gaspard will have to make a choice…

    Rohmer’s characteristically light touch allows his characters to discourse on love and friendship, even as their body language complicates and even contradicts their words. Diane Baratier’s cinematography perfectly captures the languor of youth and the feeling of a French beach vacation–the sea, the sunlight and the picturesque surroundings convey the openness of a world of possibilities faced by these young people.

    1996; restored 2013  109 min  In French with English subtitles

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  • Rooftop Films Announces Short Films Selected to Screen on Opening Night

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    rooftopfilms

    Rooftop Films in New York City, announced the selection of short films to screen on opening night, of the the 18th annual Rooftop Films Summer Series.  Under the title, THIS IS WHAT WE MEAN BY SHORT FILMS, opening night on Friday, May 16th, will highlight some of the most exciting and original short films from around the world. The following night, Rooftop Films will present a special sneak preview screening of the upcoming A24 Films release OBVIOUS CHILD, described as a subversive, modern-day romantic comedy from writer/director Gillian Robespierre.

    THIS IS WHAT WE MEAN BY SHORT FILMS 

    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. This film blurs lines between gender and race, reducing each participant to the utilitarian role of a musical instrument. 
    Filmmaker in attendance.

    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.

    Symphony No. 42 (Réka Busci | 10’)
    47 observations in the irrational connections between human and nature.

    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. 
    Winner of SXSW Jury Prize.

    Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared II: Time (Becky Sloan, Joe Pelling | 4’) Rooftop Alumnus
    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.

    Afronauts (Frances Bodomo | 13’) Rooftop Alumnus
    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. 
    Filmmaker in attendance.

    Master Muscles (Efren Hernandez | 13’)
    Veronika and Efren take a trip. 
    Filmmaker in attendance.

    Person To Person (Dustin Guy Dega | 18’) Rooftop Alumnus 
    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.

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