IFC presents Rooftop Films Short Film Showcase

HOT DOG MAN
(Joyce Ventimiglia & Jim Haverkamp | 5:45 | Comedy, Documentary)

Thursday, July 10, 2008 | 4:55 PM

A hilarious and poignant home movie about an absurd American icon, a giant self-devouring hot dog statue in downtown Durham, North Carolina.

What goes through your head when you drive downtown and one day, there is a giant and somewhat sinister looking statue of an anthropomorphic Hot Dog? Joyce Ventimiglia and Jim Haverkamp, a husband and wife filmmaking team, gave people a chance to talk about it in their short documentary. Some people are attached to the statue, and say the town wouldn't be the same without it; and of course, some hate it--but there is no doubt that the statue provokes reactions from everyone who passes by. How do you feel about the Hot Dog Man?

Haverkamp and Ventimiglia have been familiar to Rooftop for some time now, screening Last Pack in 2001, Armor of God in 2002, and most recently, Hot Dog Man in 2007 as part of our annual July 4th "Un-American Films" program, examining what exactly "America" means. Haverkamp runs Foggy Notion Studios, and his most recent projects include Willow Garden in 2006 and Monster Road in 2004, a documentary about animator Bruce Bickford currently screening on the Sundance Channel and co-produced by Ventimiglia. Currently in production is The Man Who Would Be Polka King. Nearly all of Haverkamp's films have won awards at over 100 film festivals worldwide. He is a freelance editor in his local North Carolina, a professor at Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies, and has been deemed a "Film Impresario" by Indyweek.com.