ROOFTOP WEEKEND RECAP - June 12-14
3 SOLD-OUT SHOWS

By Rooftop Films on 06/16/2008

The First Annual Rooftop Panorama a huge success

Rooftop Films is more than a film festival--we are a community, a collaboration between filmmakers and audience members, between movies, venues and neighborhoods. We not only screen films outdoors; we also foster collaborations by renting equipment, teach filmmaking to young people at partner schools, and co-produce new films through The Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund. But because our festival runs through five months (weekends and more from May 31-September 27), as opposed to many that last a weekend or a week, there's not always the same opportunity for filmmakers, distributors, critics, and audience members to come together all at the same time.

Hence the creation of Rooftop Panorama, three days of screenings, panel discussions, live music, parties and more, as an opportunity to showcase all that we do and bring together the diverse communities we serve. Would it work?

With dozens of filmmakers in attendance, write-ups in publications from IndieWire and Variety to TK, and over 2,000 audience members in one weekend, Rooftop Panorama turned out to be one of the most successful weekends in Rooftop's 12 year history.

THURSDAY, JUNE 12
Making the Mission--a program full of films that, in both content and execution, know that taking a risk is sometimes just as important as the thing you're risking--drew 650 people to Automotive High School, and filmmakers William Lamson, Zachary Treitz, Dana O'Keefe and Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund recipient Benh Zeitlin were in attendance for a lively Q & A and an extended after-party at Matchless Bar, with free drinks courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner.

FRIDAY, JUNE 13
With the 20-year anniversary of the Tompkins Square Park riots coming up this summer, Rooftop was thrilled to host the World Premiere of Captured, a powerful and exciting documentary about Clayton Patterson, the riots and the gentrification of the Lower East Side. It's a key part of Rooftop's mission to show films about specific communities in the very neighborhoods they're covering, and this screening on a graffiti-covered roof in the LES demonstrated the persuasive power of that symbiotic relationship.

Former Mayor Ed Koch and former Parks Commissioner Henry Stern came to the show, despite being portrayed in a relatively negative light in the film, joining an astonishing 1,150 other people who formed one of the most raucous and enthusiastic crowds we've ever had at Rooftop. For a generation accused of being apathetic, the throngs at this show were clearly invigorated by the dynamic and rebellious recent history represented in the film. And with dozens of distributors in attendance for this world premiere, it's possible that because of the Rooftop premiere the film will reach an even wider audience soon.

SATURDAY, JUNE 14
Rooftop Films teamed up with IndiePix and Shooting People to host our first ever panel discussions, covering topics that are key to Rooftop's mission: Cinema and Social Justice and The Art of the Short Film. The esteemed panelists were Ryan Harrington (Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund); Simon Kilmurry (Executive Director of POV); Esther Robinson (director, A Walk Into the Sea; Founder of Art Home), and Katy Chevigny (Director, Election Day; Co-Founder of Arts Engine), Benh Zeitlin (Filmmaker, Glory at Sea); Duana Butler (Filmmaker, Curator of ReelNY); Signe Baumane (animator, Veterinarian and Teat Beat of Sex), and Casimir Nozkowski (the man who has shown more short films at Rooftop than any other)

The two lively discussions offered ranged from useful information on the state of funding for documentaries to comic information on the state of workaholism among short film animators. Despite a day of rain, it was our third sold-out show of the weekend, and an astonishing conclusion to the first annual Rooftop Panorama.

Check out Sara Zia Ibrahimi's Cusps from the Saturday night show, "INDUSTRIANCE: Eminent Domain.". The film gave us the subtitle for the show--"Films about Communities on the Cusp"--and encapsulates the thesis of the program.

CUSPS
(Sara Zia Ibrahimi | 14:28 | Documentary)


Paralleling changes in the city of Philadelphia with those in her own life, Iranian-American filmmaker Sara Zia Ebrahimi explores her experiences living as an urban nomad.

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Join Rooftop Films on A Walk Into the Sea, Art Home, Arts Engine, Automotive High School, Benh Zeitlin, Captured, Casimir Nozkowski, Cinema and Social Justice, Clayton Patterson, Cusps, Dana O'Keefe, Duana Butler, Election Day, Esther Robinson, Glory at Sea, Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund, IndiePix, IndieWire, Iranian-American, June 12th Show, June 13th Show, June 14th Show, Katy Chevigny, LowerEast Side, Making the Mission, Matchless, Mayor Ed Koch, Panel Discussions, Parks Commissioner Henry Stern, Philadelphia, POV, Radeberger Pilsner, ReelNY, Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund, Rooftop Films, Rooftop Panorama, Rooftop Rentals, Ryan Harrington, Sara Zia Ibrahimi, Shooting People, Signe Baumane, Simon Kilmurry, Sold Out, Summer Series 2008, Teat Beat of Sex, The Art of the Short Film, TK, Tompkins Square Park, Variety, Veterinarian, William Lamson, Zachary Treitz