Animation
INTERVIEW WITH JIM AND DIANE DOWNER,
DIRECTORS OF "COMPOST"
Wednesday, December 3, 2008 | 1:12 PM
The music of flowers, bugs and leaves.
Q&A
Rooftop Films: Tell us about your film.
Jim Downer: Animators have been making synesthetic films for years--visually interpreting sound. In this realm Compost is nothing new. At its core it's an experimental film made with sticks and leaves. On another level, through the symbolism provided by nature's cycles Compost represents continual change through rebirth and decomposition. The film includes the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and other conditions through quick successive interchanges of subject matter.
RF: What was your inspiration?
JD: Found animation--multiples--easily accessible everyday objects. While food shopping I couldn't help looking at piles of vegetables and thinking, "This stuff would make a great series of animated replacement objects." The idea later shifted from produce to things in the backyard.
RF: Is there anything you'd like to share about the film that might not be immediately apparent (your conception of the film, backstory, production methods, etc.)?
JD: It would have never been made without Diane, my wife, who had looked at some tests I'd done earlier in the year and then suggested we create an entire film. She's the primary force behind the film. It wasn't apparent to me at first, but now looking back on the project I see it as a documentary, a record of all the walks Diane and I took together with our four dogs to collect specimens. Things go by so quickly on the screen, when in reality they took months to collect and assemble. There's a lot of wonderfully peaceful memories associated with this film. Also, along with being entertaining the film also has scientific value. It represents a cross section, a sampling of Rochester's biomass. Grade-school children always seem to make that connection when they watch the film.
RF: What is the piece of music playing along with the images?
JD: Dave Shaw and John Nyerges are the musicians. A couple of talented individuals--easy going, intelligent, open minded, fun to work with. I'd been working with Dave, getting digital recording lessons, torturing him with avant-garde musical directing when John stopped in. He sat at the piano and I asked him to play some Baroque jazz. That's the longest piece of music in the film. All the bits and pieces are improvisational tinkerings done by Dave. At the time of recording there were no plans to make a film, it was just the three of us doing what we do as artists.
RF: What, if any, is the correlation between the images and the tonality and rhythms of the music?
JD: I relied heavily on intuition. Shooting each series of replacement objects, then testing them against the music for appropriateness. In the back of my mind I kept a visual catalogue of shapes and colors. Listening to the music I'd run through the visual possibilities internally before doing any cutting of image to music. I purposely wanted to keep the improvisational spirit of the film free from over analysis.
RF: Where did you find all of these lovely, colorful, natural images to work with? How did you select which would appear in the film?
JD: ll of the collected objects come from property around our home. Again I give Diane most of the credit here. She's a painter whose sensibilities in selecting color and texture really comes through in the film. I would have discarded, or overlooked many of the things she picked up. I had to learn not to edit, or over-think while gathering.
RF: Any interesting stories about the production? Any particular difficulties or serendipitous events or pleasant/unpleasant surprises?
JD: Now and then we picked up a stowaway--insect or spider. A couple became a part of the film and were later released. It's tough to photograph a bug who's running around an animation table. I also suffer from plant allergies. Some things we brought back into the studio made my eyes water and nose run. I had to shoot right away and then get them back outside as quick as possible. Thorns and splinters where also a bit of a painful issue. Some plants just don't want anyone touching them--understandable. On the upside, I never got poison ivy.
RF: Are you a full-time filmmaker? If not, what else are you up to?
JD: Yes, as full-time as I can be. As well as a full-time husband, graphic artist, illustrator and college professor. All simultaneous responsibilities. My wife and I also volunteer as a wildlife rehabilitators for the Department of Environmental Conservation.
RF: What is your current/next project?
JD: Just after Compost an unexpected film happened-- The Bringing of Spring. A one minute puppet film that was recently selected for screening at the LE:60 festival in Cambridge, MA. I don't talk much about current project(s). It's superstition, I don't want to jinx things. I'm also not a fan of verbal portfolios, however I will say it's a drawn animated piece, approximately four to five minutes in length.
RF: If you've been to a Rooftop show, how was the experience?
JD: I must say the Rooftop organizers have been fantastic--kind, generous, courteous, helpful. They do a great thing for independent filmmakers and I hope they continue for a very long time. Hats off to Rooftop--the work they do is not easy. They deserve enormous amounts of credit and thanks.
RF: What excites you about having your short film on Rooftop Films at IFC.com?
JD: Reaching a larger audience, and potentially influencing / encouraging someone else to make a short film.
RF: Do you have any questions for the viewers? We hope they'll post comments!
JD: Feedback is always appreciated--good, bad or ugly. Like compost, it may stink sometimes, but it helps artists grow.
AN EVENING WITH DON HERTZFELDT!
WED., NOV. 19TH AT THE IFC CENTER.
Monday, November 17, 2008 | 11:46 AM
AN EVENING WITH DON HERTZFELDT:
Wednesday, November 19 at 7:00, 9:15 and 11:15pm at IFC Center.
Don Hertzfedlt comes to New York's IFC Center on Wednesday, November 19th to present three screenings of his work. The highlight of the program is the New York premiere of I AM SO PROUD OF YOU, the sequel to his Sundance winning short Everything Will Be Ok.
I AM SO PROUD OF YOU was funded in part by the Rooftop Filmmakers Fund.
Tickets are on sale now and quickly selling out - $15 general admission/$12 for IFC Center members. You can purchase tickets on the IFC Center website.
ABOUT THE SCREENING: An Evening with Don Hertzfeldt, a special event with the Academy Award-nominated animator in person to present the New York premiere of his newest film, takes place Wednesday, November 19 at 7:00, 9:15 and 11:15pm at IFC Center. Mr. Hertzfeldt will screen his latest, I AM SO PROUD OF YOU, featuring his trademark hand-drawn animation, along with a selection of his earlier films. The evening also includes a on-stage interview and Q&A session with the audience.
Hertzfeldt's longest piece to date, I AM SO PROUD OF YOU is the eagerly anticipated second chapter to Everything Will Be OK, which screened at Rooftop Films on Opening Night 2007, was the winner of the Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Award in Short Filmmaking and was named by many critics as one of the "best films of 2007." Like all of Hertzfeldt's films, I AM SO PROUD OF YOU was single-handedly animated and photographed by hand without the use of computers. It was shot entirely on an antique 35mm animation stand, one of the last remaining cameras of its kind left in America. The film's special effects were meticulously created directly on film, using traditional double exposures, in-camera mattes, and innovative experimental techniques. The 22-minute film was nearly two years in the making.
Mr. Hertzfeldt's appearance at IFC Center is part of a national tour, with additional screenings scheduled for Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Atlanta, Seattle and other cities. Find out more at http://www.bitterfilms.com/
ABOUT THE ROOFTOP FILMMAKERS FUND: Rooftop Films commits $1 of every ticket sold and every film submission fee to fund new productions, an innovative approach to the exhibition/production cycle which uses the support of our community to produce dynamic films. This year, Rooftop Films screened a number of films we co-funded, including Jay Hodges and PJ Raval's documentary Trinidad, Benh Zeitlin's award-winning short film Glory at Sea, a post-Katrina shipwreck epic; and an excerpt from Fabio Wuytack's upcoming feature Persona Non Grata, about his father, a radical left-wing missionary working in Venezuela in the 1970s. I AM SO PROUD OF YOU will likely screen outdoors as part of the 2009 Summer Series (dates announced in the spring).
In 2007-8, Rooftop Films gave away over $12,000 in cash and more than $10,000 in services to help produce work by filmmakers whose works have shown with Rooftop Films previously.
Read more about the fund HERE.
INTERVIEW WITH BECKY JAMES,
DIRECTOR OF "SNAKE"
Thursday, November 13, 2008 | 10:13 AM
Deceptively playful, Snake is a film about stubbornness in the face of change.
Rooftop Films: What was your inspiration?
Becky James: I wanted to make something about growing up and I was kind of feeling like people were forcing me into situations that made me have to change. And then I knocked out nine teeth falling down the stairs. So I had the premise and then I just figured out each scene as I wrapped up the previous one. Animating by hand is so slow that you have lots of time to get to know the character and world and you can kind of just let the situations play out on their own.
RF: Are you a full-time filmmaker? If not, what else are you up to?
BJ: I also work at James Fuentes LLC, a downtown gallery that shows contemporary art. It is actually really great working there although the job makes it easy to feel satisfied and productive when I am doing nothing of my own stuff. Usually I am motivated by boredom.
RF: What is your current/next project?
BJ: I am working on a new film about a camel. I lost a couple weeks of work when I moved and kind of had a breakdown but actually just yesterday some friends found it in their basement. yay! although I already finished redoing that section last Tuesday.
RF: If you've been to a Rooftop show, how was the experience?
BJ: I went to a couple of shows and they were awesome. The crowds were just enormous which was super exciting and the other work was really smart and unique, the kind of stuff I was hoping to see when I first started going to festivals but remained almost completely elusive for ages.
INTERVIEW WITH ETHAN CLARKE,
DIRECTOR OF "PRINCESS"
Monday, November 3, 2008 | 10:33 AM
PRINCESS (Ethan Clarke | 7:05 | Animation)
A likely story of an unbreakable friendship between a woman and her cat. We need them. Do they really need us?
Q&A
Rooftop Films: Tell us about your film: What was your inspiration?
Ethan Clarke: I attempted to write 'Princess' after reading a blurb in the newspaper about an old woman who was found dead in her apartment. The police discovered several bite marks on her that they concluded were from her cat. Her cat was found emaciated but still alive. The whole story fleshed itself out immediately in my mind.
RF: Is there anything you'd like to share about the film that might not be immediately apparent (your conception of the film, backstory, production methods, etc.)?
EC: I ended up using a little bit of every production program i have. I liked being able to utilize my limited knowledge of 3D animation for creation of the backgrounds.
RF: Any interesting stories about the production? Any particular difficulties or serendipitous events or pleasant/unpleasant surprises?
EC: One morning I woke up to find my laptop in a pool of liquid. There were no tipped over cups or anything nearby. I was devastated. I had been sleep walking all week, one night my roomate said I had walked into his room naked while he was with his girlfriend. To this day I don't know what happened but there's a possibility that I urinated on it while sleep walking. That was quite a set back. I lost a lot. Most of the files for 'Princess' had been backed up however and after collecting myself and purchasing a new machine, I was able to continue. I back up my work all the time now. And I work on a tower computer which bares less resemblance to a toilet.
RF: Do you have a pet? Do you have any stories about your favorite pet?
EC: I currently live petless in San Francisco. I feel like i should have a good answer for this one. Pets make good cartoon characters. There's this cartoon called 'Princess' that's a good pet story.
RF: Do you prefer cats above dogs?
EC: I prefer Dogs because cats seem more indifferent to our well being.
RF: Are you a full-time filmmaker? If not, what else are you up to?
EC: I work full time in a bicycle repair shop. The owner rented me the back of the shop which happens to be a full one bedroom apartment with a back yard. On slow days when it is raining I can open the "employees only" door and my bedroom door, and work on my computer while keeping an eye on the bike shop.
RF: What is your current/next project?
EC: I'm currently working on a piece about godlessness. 'Wind in the Willows' meets Richard Dawkins in space, on acid. That's the quick description. It follows the life of a tadpole as he watches his friends mostly die off. He becomes a frog which is quite an accomplishment for tadpoles. Some tadpoles might even consider frogs the gods of their species, with the ability to leave the water's surface like they do. One of the characters can been seen on the main page of www.mega-beast.com
RF: If you've been to a Rooftop show, how was the experience?
EC: I loved coming out to New York and hanging on a roof with the Rooftop squad they are such a nice group of people. Some of my old friends including Amy Seimetz, the co-writer of 'princess', live in New York now so I ended up hanging out with a big crew. Seeing my own drawings and hearing my own voice-over projected out over Brooklyn was exhilarating. I haven't been able to get to most of the festivals 'Princess' has been a part of, but Rooftop, I had to attend.
RF: What excites you about having your short film on Rooftop Films at IFC.com?
EC: I just like getting it out there so more people can see it. I'm glad there's a place like IFC.com where one can thumb through work by up and coming film artists.
RF: Do you have any questions for the viewers? We hope they'll post comments!
EC: Do you have any stories about your favorite pet?
INTERVIEW WITH SAM MORRISON
DIRECTOR OF "ROCKET SCIENCE!"
Thursday, October 23, 2008 | 10:37 AM
ROCKET SCIENCE!
(Sam Morrison | 14:58 | Animation-Comedy)
When mystery comes calling at Grime City, captain Jack Hersey is forced to confront his darkest fear--people from out of town.
Q&A
Rooftop Films: Tell us about your film.
Sam Morrison: My film is called Rocket Science! and it's part B-Movie homage and part contemporary satire.
RT: What was your inspiration?
SM: Narratively, fantastic genre movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Incredible Shrinking Man. My co- writer and I loved the aesthetic and the fact that, often because budgets were tight, other-worldly stories had to be conveyed mostly - sometimes entirely - through the dialogue. Politically - albeit with a small 'p' - the paranoia of both the 1950's and, to differing degrees, every decade since. It was really appealing to have a protagonist who's actually a bigoted, insular misogynist.
RT: Is there anything you'd like to share about the film that might not be immediately apparent (your conception of the film, backstory, production methods, etc.)?
SM: I'd like to feebly excuse the somewhat variable appearance of the characters. There was a certain 'organic' element to production in that I was learning the software and kind of discovering what I wanted the characters to look like and how they'd move as I went. If you look close you'll see towards the end of the film they become a bit better defined and the synching improves. There's a very long backstory to the film that space probably prohibits here!
RT: The film has a clear film noir influence. Any favorite film noir films?
SM: As mentioned above, 1950's B-Movies, and some A Movies too: Sunset Boulevard , and The Sweet Smell of Success.
RT: Is Grime City based on any real place?
SM: It's that place the old late-night thriller opens on - a small town, supposedly in the 'middle of nowhere', though actually as far as the story goes, the centre of everywhere.
RT: Are you a full-time filmmaker?
SM: I'm a full-time animation director and writer, though I'm often directing commercials. I use what I earn from those jobs to fund my own projects - I've nearly finished a 5 minute short called 'Greetings' about a neurotically depressed greetings card designer... slightly more maudlin in its tone than Rocket Science but hopefully, funny.
RT: What is your next project?
SM: Rocket Science is still a going concern for me. Together with Nexus Productions in London and producer Claire Jennings I'm trying to develop the characters of Grime City into a series. There are a couple more scripts, several episode ideas and a 52-page comic already roughed out. I'm developing a shorter format series with Aardman Animation, co-writing a children's book called Aliens FC with Danny Stack and writing a live-action sitcom called 1001 Jokes with my Rocket Science co-writer Andrew Endersby.
RT: What excites you about having your short film on Rooftop Films at IFC.com ?
SM: Everything I've read about Rooftop on the web makes me believe that this is a really exciting thing to be involved in. I love the whole concept, and the fact there will now be a web presence means that all the films get seen by a wider audience, which is great.
RT: Do you have any questions for the viewers? We hope they'll post
comments!
SM: I'd just like to hear what anyone thinks of the film - good or bad. Thanks very much.
BRENT GREEN WITH DREW & THE MEDICINAL PEN
AT THE STONE (NYC) ON TUE. OCT. 14
Monday, October 13, 2008 | 10:52 AM
Rooftop Films events are more than just a movie screening--there's films you won't see anywhere else, live music, filmmakers in attendance, and a communal energy that exceeds just about anything you'll get in a theater.
Which is why we're so crazy about Brent Green--his shows have all that magic and passion, pinched together with wires and duct tape, and blasted forth though old phonographs, scratchy woodcuts, and a creaking, plaintive voice. Brent makes astonishing and inspiring animated films about strange old houses, alcoholic Santas, and bringing our soldiers home from an unnecessary war one piece at a time, and he sings the lyrics to a driving, indie-folk gospel.
With an ever-changing lineup of musicians to collaborate with (Fugazi, Califone, The Quavers, Sin Ropas, etc.), every show Brent does is unique. (I've written more here, and Brent played at Rooftop in 2006 and 2007).
On Tuesday, October 14, Brent will be playing two shows at The Stone in New York, the second of which will be with Rooftop's very own Drew and the Medicinal Pen, led by Rooftop staff member Drew Henkels. Drew's own brand of indie-carnival-folk-rock should provide a uniquely upbeat backdrop to Brent's euphoric despair. It will be a fantastic show, so don't miss it.
Tickets are $5, available at the door (no advance sales at John Zorn's cool new downtown club).
You can watch some of Brent's films online, but oh how it pales in comparison to the live act. Here's a taste. Come eat the full meal at The Stone...
PRINCESS
(Ethan Clarke | 7:05 | Animation)
Saturday, September 13, 2008 | 2:37 PM
The story of an unbreakable friendship between a woman and her cat. We need them. Do they really need us?
The pets that we share our life with make some interesting companions. They grow with us, and maybe even understand us better than we can understand ourselves. In Ethan Clarke's short film, we see an old woman and the relationship she shares with her cat Princess--love, respect, and camaraderie. Princess does not act differently because the woman is in her old age, as her son does, but remains a steady attendant and partner, and provides a way to ease the loneliness and fear of death that, perhaps, a human could not. This film takes a strange turn to expose how deeply we care for our pets, and how committed they can be to us, through to the very end.
This film screened as part of our Dark Toons Animated Shorts program on Saturday, September 13th on the roof of the Old American Can Factory. There are few restrictions on subject matter for this program--these animated shorts include cute animals like Princess that turn out to be deadly, dungeons and vengeful toys, worlds made of dreams where angels and devils battle, and expanses of nothingness. That's the magic of animation: it can warp your mind and get under your skin, but great cartoons are complex, and the films in this program flip from comic to calamitous, from heartbreaking to hilarious, all with a unique agility available only in animation.
Does this little film make you want to buy a kitty?
Interview With Kelly Sears, Director of "The Drift"
Wednesday, September 3, 2008 | 5:27 PM
Q & A
Rooftop Films: Tell us about your film.
Kelly Sears: The Drift is the tale of a 1960s space journey that goes awry and launches the counter culture revolution at the end of the decade. It's made up of collected images that are slowly animated and make you wonder if you are seeing astronauts and dropouts float away from you.
RT: What was your inspiration?
KS: I am interested in dystopic manifests destiny fables that draw largely on American history but uses fictional hinges to connect moments of time. I mine pop history images, National Geographic's, cultural encyclopedias, and ephemeral documents to find cracks in these images that could open up a different way of retelling something between a fiction and a history.
RT: Holy cow! How long did it take you to find all the images? Where did you do most of your searching?
KS: Lots of aimless treks to thrift stores and garage sales. It becomes about the thrill of the hunt, not knowing what you will find but that as soon as you see it, it will make sense in some larger narrative puzzle. My apartment is a backlog of everything that other people have ditched.
RT: Is there anything you'd like to share about the film that might not be immediately apparent (your conception of the film, backstory, production methods, etc.)?
KS: This film is one of several I am working on from mid century cultural markers and looking back on them from today to think about where things could have worked out differently in the past 50 years, how this all could be framed differently, both visually and ideologically.
RT: Any interesting stories about the production? Any particular difficulties or serendipitous events or pleasant/unpleasant surprises?
KS: I listened to David Bowie's Space Odyssey and Hawkwind's Space Ritual on repeat to get into a floaty place with the piece. As I was working on the piece, the news story broke about the astronaut love triangle that involved an attempted murder, wigs, pepper spray, and astronaut diapers, and it was timely to see actual odd stories about the trajectory of our space program circulating along with the one I was working on.
RT: Are you a full-time filmmaker? If not, what else are you up to?
KS: When I am not digging up old images or film and staying up late animating, I teach college and graduate classes on video, media research methodologies, and media history.
RT: What is your current/next project?
KS: I am working on piece that supposes a moment in a modern telecommunications network where spiritual energy invades our communication systems via suggestive emergency calls to exchange operators.
RT: If you've been to a Rooftop show, how was the experience?
KS: I happened to be in New York this summer during a screening and it was amazing to see hundred of people together enjoying movies in the summer night air. Usually I see my work at festivals and galleries and this crowd was made up of people who wanted to get out of the house on a weekend night and see something new. There were so many people there and was great to have so many new faces seeing the work.
RT: What excites you about having your short film on Rooftop Films at IFC.com?
KS: IFC.com hosted my last short and it looked wonderful. I was able to have folks see a great resolution version of the piece online. Also, it's great that these shorts can be hosted under the banner of IFC as a way for people to get access to newer shorts.
RT: Do you have any questions for the viewers? They'll post comments.
KS: Sure - I'd love to hear recommendations for thrift stores that are great to pick up old Life magazines and other general interest periodicals from the 50s-80s?
To watch The Drift, scroll below or click HERE.
THE DRIFT
(Kelly Sears | 8:13 | Animation)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008 | 11:09 AM
An absurd fable crafted from images found in thrift store bookshelves about our country's unflinching frontierism and the desire to push too far, too fast.
What happens when the final frontier has been crossed one too many times? Space, the moon, the emptiness-we've already been there. But when astronauts of a new, exalted space mission hear "the drift," a hypnotic song that sounds like emptiness, it draws them further from the ground of Earth and augments a desire to explore and live in wonder.
With Kelly Sears' looped DVD projection, still photographic images of the "American Dream" gathered from magazines, junk piles, and thrift stores become animated in a would-be documentary. They drift across the screen and give an account of a manifest-destiny space mission gone awry. Perfect images give way to rejected or forgotten hopes, and the infatuation with a song of emptiness gives birth to the 'drifter' and thoughts about our place in the universe and what it means to be human.
The Drift showed as part of our Surreal Sounds and Shorts Program at Rooftop on June 27, 2008, featuring unexpected juxtapositions and surreal short films that explore the mind's wanderings and artistic expression.
Kelly Sears is an animator and filmmaker living in Los Angeles. Her work has been shown at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, the Hammer Museum, Sundance, Anthology Film Archives and in galleries and film festivals internationally. Sears' collage animations parse together collected media artifacts to reveal secret histories, forgotten tales, and possible moments embedded in the images around us. She has upcoming shows in Los Angeles and La Verne, California, through October.
ROOFTOP WEEKEND RECAP - July 25-26
ANIMATION, FAMILY DRAMA, AND A VISIT FROM THE PRESIDENT
Monday, July 28, 2008 | 3:48 PM
FRIDAY: Animation Block Party at Automotive High School
We always have an amazing turnout for our partnership with the exuberant Animation Block Party but this week we set a record: two screens at Automotive High School allowed some 1,000 people to check out the packed program. The night began with comments from AHS teacher Jenny Kessler, who has started a student gardening program at this uber-urban school, growing vegetables on the very lawn we were watching films. She was selling a lush selection of produce to fund student activities, and our wonderfully supportive audience was thrilled to learn a little bit more about this amazing school, where students can grow crops on school grounds and convert your car to bio-diesel, all right in the heart of hipster Williamsburg.
At intermission, Rooftop hosted a public rally for Sparrow, a real live cartoonish presidential candidate. Sparrow's 5th attempt NOT to win the presidency had never before reached so many people, and though he seemed a bit overwhelmed, he also overwhelmed the masses. Screening some of his non-campaign commercials--"The Wisdom of Sparrow"--delivering a unique anti-speech, and engaging in lengthy rambling discourses trying to convince eager supporters to run the other way, Sparrow was a huge hit.
SPARROW AT ROOFTOP FILMS
And, of course, the focus of the evening was the dozens of short animated films, which had the animated audience giggling, gasping and gawking all night long, curated and hosted by the tireless Casey Saffron. After the films, the crowd packed in Matchless Bar for free drinks courtesy of Radeburger Pilsner. As a mid-summer peak for Rooftop, and the kick-off for the weekend-long ABP screenings, we couldn't've rocked a bigger or better night.
SATURDAY: In A Dream at The Old American Can Factory
Despite being a Philadelphia film, the New York premiere of Jeremiah Zagar's stunning documentary In A Dream drew a massive and enthusiastic crowd. Again, we had to set up two screens to accommodate the approximately 600 people who roamed out to The Old American Can Factory to watch the infamous Zagar family on screen. The show started with live music, presented in partnership with Sound Fix Records, and we were really thrilled to have a gorgeous set from Kelli Scarr, who composed the score for the film. The captivating documentary about a family falling apart and rebuilding themselves--using art as part of the rehabilitative process--had the audience completely enraptured.
Ironically, Jeremiah's parents and brother couldn't attend the screening because of a big family reunion. "I'm in the doghouse for missing it," Jeremiah said during the Q & A. But when asked if it was hard exposing his family like this and continuing filming, Jeremiah said, "My friends all think I'm pretentious because I keep quoting Diane Arbus, but it's fitting. She said, 'As long as I've got the camera in front of my face, a tank could roll over me.'" The elated crowd was thrilled that Jeremiah and his family had the courage to let that tank--and camera--roll.
Following the film, hundreds of folks hung out in the outdoor courtyard, dancing and drinking free drinks, courtesy of Brooklyn Oenology, completing another magical weekend at Rooftop.
SNAKE
(Becky James | 3:03 | Animation)
Screening at Rooftop Films on August 1
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 | 2:15 PM
Deceptively playful, Snake is a film about stubbornness in the face of change.
Charming. When a simple snake goes out for some snacking adventures (which reminds me of course of the ever-popular Snake video game), it seems as if nothing can stop it from reaching the next carrot. But when some obstacles come its way that it's never encountered before, well, we see sadness and pain in its line-drawn form. What seems like a simplistic cartoon gives way to much more as the snake deals with the tools it is left with, and deals with the fear and difficulty of change, prompting us to do the same in our own lives and experiences. According to Becky James, the Filmmaker, "the film chronicles a failure to deal with growing up while using its extremely appealing characters and sounds to glorify the obdurate attempt to replace what is lost."
Snake will screen at Rooftop Films on Friday, August 1, preceding the melancholy, woodsy comedy feature My Effortless Brilliance. Come see how it plays with other films!
Becky James is a founding member of the Reasonable People's League, a consortium of artists intent on delivering cutting-edge media strategies by all means necessary. Snake screened and won the Audience Award last year at the 2007 Animation Block Party, of which Rooftop held the opening night at Automotive High School.
On Friday, July 25th, this year's Animation Block Party will begin at Automotive High School, co-presented by Rooftop Films and Animation Block. It will feature 30 of the best new animated short films from around the world, and all films have the chance to win prizes at the close of the three-day event.
Rooftop Trailers!
Thursday, July 17, 2008 | 3:25 PM
We've gotten a lot of response from the first 45 seconds of our shows...so we have decided to post the Rooftop Films trailers.
This year's trailer was conceived by Mark Elijah Rosenberg, animated by Fran Krause, and features music from Drew Henkels, with his band, Drew & the Medicinal Pen.
Here is the 2007 trailer, with Rooftop Films in miniature!
We owe this 44-second gem to:
Ryan McFaul - Direction
Lothar Osterburg - Models
Dan Nuxoll - Music
Matt Elkind - Cinematography
Mark Elijah Rosenberg - Concept and Production
Enjoy!
DOCK 5
(Paul Chaudet, Benjamin Devaux, & Simon Landrein | 05:00 | Animation, Short)
Tuesday, July 15, 2008 | 3:02 PM
A glorious animated musical celebration of the dockworker, another disappearing occupation.
Dock 5 impresses us with its rhythm and the quality of its aesthetics. Superb graphic renderings place us in the dark, film-noir-like world of the dockworker at night, on the job. With the creation of musical rhythm through the manual actions of the workers, we catch a glimpse of industrial beauty. Danger and suspense arise in the visual environment of light and shadow, but a jazzy, flowing score as accompaniment soothes the viewer and take us along on the fast-paced ride. The workers and cranes dance in the rain as if it is some other jazzy universe entirely.
The directing team hails from France, and for Paul Chaudet and Simon Landrein, their first success is certainly gaining attention. The animation work of their third compatriot, Benjamin Devaux, can be found at his blog.
Dock 5 will screen on Saturday, July 19th, in Gowanus, Brooklyn at the Old American Can Factory as part of our series, "INDUSTRIANCE: The Livelong Day." The shorts program is devoted to showcasing the weirder side of the working world, and including not only these dancing dock hands, but desperate CEOs, out-of-control operating system salesmen, and radioactive chickens. This is not a show to be missed!
Check out what Animator/Director Benjamin Devaux had to say about the filmmaking process:
RF: Tell us about your film.
BD: This movie is tribute to the dockers and their universe. It's a mix between the work, architecture, and jazzy music. A kind of musical comedy with dockers, cranes, and a boat.
RF: What was your inspiration? How did you come up with the idea of joining dock workers and jazz, and was it hard to make it work?
BD: We wanted to do a movie with jazz music. It was the priority for us, and the universe of the waterfront was something really attractive. We saw the movie On the Waterfront, with Marlon Brando, that was "declic"--(a turn on) .
It wasn't that hard. Jazz music was the perfect music for this universe--black and white, very contrasted. Those long parallel and perpendicular lines in the architecture; every part of the harbor by night "is jazz". We wanted to keep this 1950 old time ambiance. Look at the generic to see what I mean. I don t think electro music would have been the good choice.
RF: Is there anything you'd like to share about the film that might not be immediately apparent (your conception of the film, backstory, production methods, etc.)?
BD: We wrote the synopsis for about 3 months,we did environment research, we took photos, drew a lot. We also went on a Harbor (very, very impressive...), then we did the story board (that changed every week). After we did the 3D animatic (that also changed every week). Finaly we started the "production" from January to June. Fortunately we had no "big problems". We really enjoyed doing this short movie.
RF: Are you a full-time filmmaker? If not, what else are you up to? What is your current/next project?
BD: At the moment I am a 3D animator on a movie, And I working on a personal short movie. I' d like to continue doing short movies, because it's a quick way to express your ideas. I'd also like to become a director.
RF: What excites you about having your short film on Rooftop Films at IFC.com?
BD: It's a great pleasure for us to participate in a festival. Our goal is not to win a prize or anything else, but just to show to people this animated movie we did, to show them our passion, and the pleasure we had to make it.
Post comments to ask more questions about the film or about Benjamin!
ROOFTOP WEEKEND RECAP - June 12-14
3 SOLD-OUT SHOWS
Monday, June 16, 2008 | 10:33 AM
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.
CRAZY EYES DOLPHIN VS. THE MAD COWS
(Ian Stewart | 4:35 | Animation)
Thursday, June 5, 2008 | 3:48 AM
A sobering animated expose about how Mad Cow Disease is now killing dolphins. Via karate.
Okay, this is seriously one of the funniest films we've ever shown in the 12 years of Rooftop Films. Ian was a camp counselor, and he used to have his kids tell a part of a story, and then pass it on to the next kid. When you start off with an energetic loony ranting about a bovine/porpoise kung-fu battle, you know you're in for a great tale.
This is one you'll watch over and over, and email to all your friends.
About the Rooftop Films Blog on IFC.com
Thursday, May 1, 2008 | 12:39 PM
For those of you who know don't know much (or anything) about Rooftop Films, here is a brief introduction:
Rooftop Films is a non-profit film festival and production collective that has been screening and producing independent films since 1997. We are most famous for our annual Summer Series, a summer-long outdoor film festival that features more than 35 screenings each year. All of our summer screenings take place in stunning outdoor locations--either on rooftop or in parks, along piers, or in other scenic outdoor locations all over New York City (and occasionally beyond). We have screened more than 1,500 films over the last twelve years, and the work we show includes everything from award-winning films and world premieres by established filmmakers, to home videos by amateur and part-time film enthusiasts.
Though we are best known for our spectacular outdoor shows, Rooftop Films is more than just a festival--we are a film community. We believe that we have a responsibility to bring filmmakers, artists and musicians together with one another and with our audiences, and we believe that independent films flourish when they get out of the indie-plexes and art-house theaters and work their way into the lives and communities of people all over the world.
Of course, that is why we show films outdoors--but that is also why we are so excited to have partnered with IFC.com to bring many of our favorite short films to the internet. Too many fantastic short films never reach the audience they deserve, and even the best and luckiest of them tend to make their way through the film festival circuit and then disappear from the public eye completely. By partnering with IFC.com, Rooftop Films can keep these films alive and bring them to thousands of new people who don't get the chance to see them at festivals.
There is much talk about how well-suited the internet is for showing short films, but so many of the internet video portals are filled with clips from TV shows and battles between wildebeests and lions. Of course, we love some of those clips, too, but the Rooftop Films page offers a quality, curated alternative to the anarchy of YouTube. We receive more than 2,000 submissions every year, and all of the films we select for IFC.com are chosen from the most extraordinary works in our library of shorts, so these films are truly the best of the best. Our goal is to create a virtual place where viewers can peruse hundreds of films in all different genres so that they can get a sense of the truly ground-breaking work being done all over the world.
And now that we also have a blog on IFC.com, the information doesn't just have to flow one way. All year long, we will be posting interviews and other bits of information about the films we select, and we highly encourage you all to respond with comments and questions for us and for the filmmakers who have made these films. We'll answer your queries, and create an online community that captures the enthusiastic spirit of our live shows.
We'll be posting 100 films between now and the end of 2008--3 a week, every week--so bookmark the page and check back in daily to watch great films and read about all of the things going on with our festival and in the indie-film world.
Rooftop Films--Underground Movies Outdoors and Online.
Check out www.rooftopfilms.com for more information about our shows and other programs.
