Sundance announced their films in competition today, and we're proud to say that there are three Rooftop Films alums in competition. With over 9,000 submissions, it's a pretty great honor for these filmmakers. The films are:

• Humpday
(Director and Screenwriter: Lynn Shelton)
A farcical comedy about straight male bonding gone a little too far. Cast: Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Alycia Delmore, Lynn Shelton, Trina Willard. World Premiere.

Lynn's narrative film My Effortless Brilliance played at Rooftop in 2008, and is now available on pay-per-view from IFC.

(Star and director, pictured left.)

• Toe to Toe
(Director and Screenwriter: Emily Abt)
The story of an inter-racial friendship put to the test by the intense pressures of a competitive Washington, D.C. prep school. Cast: Sonequa Martin, Louisa Krause, Silvestre Rasuk, Leslie Uggams, Gaius Charles, Ally Walker. World Premiere.

Emily screened her film Take It From Me at Rooftop in 2000--before the internet!

• William Kunstler:  Disturbing the Universe
(Directors: Sarah Kunstler & Emily Kunstler)
With clients including Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and the Chicago 10, the late civil rights attorney William Kunstler was one of the most famous lawyers of the 20th century. Filmmakers Emily and Sarah Kunstler explore their father's life from movement hero to "the most hated lawyer in America."  World Premiere.

Sarah and Emily (pictured above, with their father), producer/director/activists at Off-Center Media, had three shorts play at Rooftop in 2002-4: A Pattern of Exclusion: The Trial of Thomas Miller-el; Tulia, TX: Scenes from the Drug War; Getting Through to the President. They were also some of the earliest recipients of support from the Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund.

+ + +

We're also pleased to see these friends on the roster:

• The Glass House (Director: Hamid Rahmanian)--The Glass House follows four teenage girls striving to overcome drug addiction, abandonment and abuse by attending a rehabilitation center in Tehran. North American Premiere.

• Dare (Director: Adam Salky; Screenwriter: David Brind)--Three very different teenagers discover that, even in the safe world of a suburban prep school, no one is who she or he appears to be. Cast: Emmy Rossum, Zach Gilford, Ashley Springer, Ana Gasteyer, Alan Cumming, Sandra Bernhard, Rooney Mara. World Premiere.

+ + +

Lastly, our heartfelt condolences go out to all the filmmaker alums and friends who didn't get in. There's lots of other festivals out there . . . including Rooftop! Submit your films for Rooftop's 2009 Summer Series, and good luck to all, at Sundance and beyond.

By Rooftop Films in Call For Entries, Documentary, Drama, Rooftop Filmmakers, Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund | Link | 1 Comments | Recommended (4)

Tags: Adam Salky, Emily Abt, Emily Kunstler, Hamid Rahmanian, Lynn Shelton, Rooftop Filmmakers, Sarah Kunstler, Sundance Film Festival, William Kunstler

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.

By Rooftop Films in Animation, Comedy, Drama, Home Movies, Personal Narrative, Rooftop Filmmakers, Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (8)

Tags: Benh Zeitlin, Don Hertzfeldt, Everything Will Be OK, Fabio Wuytack, I Am So Proud Of You, IFC Center, Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund, Rooftop Films

The Morning Sun (Bryan Wizemann | Brooklyn, NY | 5:30)


A woman wakes up, takes a shower, gets dressed, and leaves the house. In this fascinating and ephemeral film -- a study in the use of available light and narrative restraint -- it's up the audience to string together the pieces of her morning, and the night before.

Rooftop Films: Tell us about your film:

Bryan Wizemann: The film up at IFC.com is actually from last year, called The Morning Sun, and it's really just a story of a girl waking up in an apartment that's not her own. It stars Allison Lawrence, and was shot at Gary's Shooting Lofts here in Brooklyn.

The film that played Rooftop this year isn't on IFC.com, at least not yet, and is called Film Makes Us Happy. That film is a short doc that tries to depict the last fight I'll ever have with my wife about making films. It gets pretty emotional, and I can't quite pull the trigger about it being online. My wife goes back and forth as well, between feeling it's important to see and not wanting anyone to see it, ever.

RF: What was your inspiration?

BW: For The Morning Sun, I was at the Pittsburgh Art Museum with my cinematographer Mark and my friend Sam, seduced by a blurred Andy Warhol film still of a young woman on a bed. My next feeling was that I was completely sure that the film I created in my mind around the still was no doubt more satisfying (and arguably much shorter) than the actual film would prove to be. To be fair, I never saw the film that the still was from, but other Warhol film experiments lead me to believe I wouldn't be able to suffer through it. So we argued and crafted and conceived on the drive home, and decided to try and figure out what the simplest short film could be that captured that kind of feeling. The story of The Morning Sun came out of that conversation. I always wanted to make a low dialogue short, and Mark had just purchased the Panasonic HXV, so we were desperate to shoot something using available light to see what it could do. Inspiration also comes from want, I suppose.

For Film Makes Us Happy, the inspiration literally came from trying to stop having the same fight with Sabina (my wife) about all the money I've pissed away in independent film. I had a screenplay that was personally invited to submit to the Sundance Lab. With the promise of the lab and what that would have meant, and after the third invitation, and the third rejection, and after almost two years of waiting, it was too much for my wife to bear. Her feeling was just that film was a closed society, and only a foray of the rich and connected. Not to mention that we recently had a kid and sold our place to get out of the film debt I amassed from my last credit card feature (Losing Ground, on Netflix, go check it out!).

The fight was easy to start, so after three months of browbeating her she finally relented and agreed to put it on film, the caveat being that she would have final say on the edit and if anybody actually got to see it. By showing her some of the selects to try and convince her to let it screen, she actually ended up helping me edit it. And it did work to some degree; we reference the film more than we fight about all the money I've set fire to. It played the Hamptons and IFF Boston and was recently part of Rooftop's best of summer screening, so I'm happy it got some exposure. I think I'm going to put it back into hiding now though.

RF: Ever been in a similar situation?

BW: For The Morning Sun, kind of. For Film Makes Us Happy, the film was the similar situation, so yes, unfortunately, many times.

RF: Are you a full-time filmmaker? If not, what else are you up to?

BW: I'm not entirely sure how these people who get to make films full-time get to make films full-time. I don't know how anyone could unless they are independently wealthy and have access and opportunity and a lot of time on their hands. Really I'm just envious, and would love nothing more than to focus more on film. The one time I was able to freelance from home and swallow the debt and focus on writing was a really productive time. It just wasn't sustainable.

And I'm amazed at all the stories I hear of seven-figure indies where the writer/director received no compensation. No compensation. It's been said that no one knows how anyone makes any money in this business, and I think the answer is they just don't.

RF: What is your current/next project?

BW: I've gotten lucky this past year. That script that kept getting invited and rejected by Sundance ended up being one of the top three winners of the Slamdance Screenplay Competition. Slamdance is trying to become a frontrunner in that arena, and offer a lot of different specialized screenplay entry opportunities. I highly recommend it.

I was able to get representation from the awards publication in the trades, and Barbara DeFina recently signed on to produce. I'm a big fan of her work, not just the Scorsese films, but the smaller ones like You Can Count on Me and The Grifters. I think it's a good fit, and it's developing well. We have some key supporting roles cast, and are gearing up for production in the spring. The film is called An Entire Body, and more information is up at the film's website: www.anentirebody.com. I very excited about it.

RF: If you've been to a Rooftop show, how was the experience?

BW: I love going to Rooftop shows, but have yet to be on an actual Rooftop. The Yard venue on the Gowanus Canal is my favorite, and the selection of pre-show bands never fails to impress. The music oddly maps to the venue somehow. I was excited to be on the roof of the LES Public School they screen at [New Design High School. -ed.], but alas, there was rain a comin', so it was held indoors. That's the other fun thing about Rooftop, they always have a plan b for shitty weather.

RF: What excites you about having your short film on Rooftop Films at IFC.com?

BW: IFC is becoming one of the strongest distributors for independent film. Indeed, one of the few. I've always trusted their taste and think they've done quite a bit to push audiences toward great films that would have otherwise struggled. The Morning Sun was actually an early winner of their online Media Lab, and out of that it was able to screen on the IFC channel. It's always exciting for me when something small like that finds a way to get out into the world.

RF: Do you have any questions for the viewers? We hope they'll post comments!

BW: Do people really ever read blogs? Do they ever read blogs about filmmakers? I don't have any questions really, but I'll try and check back for comments and do my best to answer them. I once tried to have it out with Mike Plante on a Wholphin blog, but it became pretty clear that we were the only two who were reading the thing anyway. (I actually like Mike and the stuff that Wholphin programs, at least the stuff that isn't film celebrity b-sides). But yes, go ahead, ask away. Most of my film exploits are online on www.ballastfilms.com.

By Rooftop Films in Drama, Home Movies, Rooftop Filmmakers, Watch Short Films | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (9)

Tags: Ballast, Bryan Wizeman, Film, Film Makes Us Happy, IFC, Rooftop Films, Short, The Morning Sun

The melancholy tale of a lonely little girl being raised by a single mom.

This heartbreaking short film directed by David Andalman follows the solemn, lonely wandering of a little girl, Mona, who is left to her own devices by a neglectful single mother. The scene is set in a quiet, suburban town, one where whimsy and adventure is not readily available but must be sought in bubble filled bathtubs and abandoned couches near the polluted riverbed. Not surprisingly, Mona's melancholic existence manifests itself in the form of compulsive lying, lies to draw her out of her dreary life. Having lost the trust of teachers and classmates the film takes an ironic twist when, suddenly, after a certain trauma, no one believes Mona when she really needs them. The film is a contemplation upon the loneliness of the childhood experience, particularly in a single parent home, and the ritualistic nature of the imaginary world which is formed around a child's neglected existence.

David Andalman is a writer, producer, director, who releases short films under the Workhouse Production Company company and has recently released another short film, Takoma Park, which was shown at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival again chronicling the world of adolescent drama and trauma.
The Braggart was shown on Opening Night 2006 at the Pier 63 Maritime screening location.

By Rooftop Films in Drama, Rooftop Filmmakers, Watch Short Films | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (6)

Tags: 2008 Tribeca Film Festival, David Andalman, Opening Night 2006, Rooftop Films, Takoma Park, The Braggart, Workhouse Films

Since 2005, Rooftop Films has been proud to collaborate with the enchanting Rural Route Film Festival, an urban fest dedicated to showing the greener side of life. We've hosted selections from Rural Route during our Summer Series, and collaborated on screenings at their festival. Now Co-Founder Alan Webber is preparing to embark on a year-long, world wide Rural Route tour--The Year of the Nomad--jetsetting to major cities and strolling down country lanes to find and show the world's most idyllic cinema.

This weekend, catch this amazing festival one last time in NYC!

THE RURAL ROUTE FILM FESTIVAL
Friday-Sunday, October 17-19
at Anthology Film Archives
& Scandinavia House

FREE PBR
FREE ORGANIC VALLEY STRING CHEESE
FREE BOOKS FROM LONELY PLANET

Scandinavia House
58 Park Ave. (@ 38th St.)
ickets available by phone (212) 847-9737
http://www.scandinaviahouse.org/

Anthology Film Archives
32 2nd Ave. (@ 2nd St.)
http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org

SCHEDULE - ANTHOLOGY
Fri., Oct. 17 @ 7:30PM
& Sat., Oct. 18 @ 8:30PM
"Best of Rural Route Short Films"
DVD Launch Party
The world premiere of Rural Route's new "Best of" dvd! Join Rural Route as we launch the new DVD that will sail the seven seas on the worldwide "Nomad" Tour throughout 2009 (subtitled in Spanish & French). Come pick up your own copy! The program features 13 of the very best shorts from 5 years of Rural Route. This includes award-winning documentaries, experimental films, narratives, and music videos. Stories about bear hunters, Siberian folk artists, dental farmers, dancing tractors, and racing lawnmowers! Movies from the driest desert, the snowiest mountains, the greenest fields, and more!

Fri., Oct. 17 @ 9:30PM
"Big Dead Place" - Films from Antarctica by Nicholas Johnson
While periodically working on contract as a garbageman in Antarctica, Nicholas Johnson has been writing and making short films about his time on the ice. Come witness an insider's view on the bizarre culture and mesmerizing scenery of the famed McMurdo Research Station, which Werner Herzog visited in his most recent "Encounters at the End of the World".

Sat., Oct. 18 @ 6:30PM
"Arica Nativa" - Freak Films From the Chilean Andes
Rural Route's first stop on the "Nomad" Tour will be in Arica, Chile, surrounded by the Atacoma Desert (the driest place in the world). This program of films comes from our sister rural festival in Arica, and features a fascinating, experimental look into indigenous culture in the Andes.

Sun., Oct. 19 @ 4:30PM
"Go Organic!" - Healthy Foods Short Film Program
You are what you eat...so you'd better start paying attention to what exactly that is! These short selections from RR's popular new wave agricultural program provide a refreshing education on the current state of farming, and point out positive sustainable and organic practices from the Midwest to Cuba that you can take part in.

Sun., Oct. 19 @ 6:30PM
"Rural Kiwi" - Films From the New Zealand Film Archive
Rural Route also has a scheduled stop in Wellington, NZ in March of 2009. This program of films has been co-curated by Mark Williams of the New Zealand Film Archive. This program features a fun, campy farm education film from the 50s, a short about a hunter who is haunted by dead animals, and a modern Maori race car demolition derby!

SCHEDULE - SCANDINAVIA HOUSE
Saturday, October 18, 3PM
"That Special Summer" ("Kid Svensk") (Finland, Sweden)
Directed by Nanna Huolman, 2007. This award-winning film explores the extreme highs and lows of a Finnish girl growing up in 1980s Sweden. Headstrong 12-year-old Kirsi, known as Kid, has assimilated perfectly into school life in Gothenburg, but her widowed mother, Ester, lives in a Finnish cocoon, refusing to learn Swedish or partake in the local culture. When Ester decides to start a restaurant back in Finland with the help of an old beau, Kid becomes increasingly agitated, lashing out in protest. In the end, this touching drama portrays a girl not only coming to grips with a difficult mother/daughter relationship and the meaning of "home," but also her foray into first love. 85 min. Presented by the Consulate General of Finland & the Consulate General of Sweden.

By Rooftop Films in Documentary, Drama, Environmental Films, Personal Narrative, Rooftop Filmmakers, Rooftop News | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (1)

Tags: Alan Webber, Anthology Film Archives, Rooftop Films, Rural Route Film Festival, Scandanavia House, Year of the Nomad

A short coming-of-age horror film about sons, fathers and the roles they play and imagine for one another. Abandoned by his father at a highway-side pumpkin patch, an eleven year-old boy spends a peculiar and life changing night.


With Halloween looming over us, our guilty desire for horror films seems hardly satiated by late-night viewings of Nightmare on Elm Street (for the umpteenth time). What to do? Perhaps one might dim the lights, lock the doors, and watch Pumpkin Hell , the dark comedy short centered around a young boy, Terry, who has a rather strange experience when he is abandoned by his father at a highway-side pumpkin patch and spends the evening with Mick, the Malibu swigging, smutty magazine enthusiast who happens to be the proprietor of the pumpkin patch. The uncomfortable, nightmarish quality of the film mainly centers on the interaction between Terry and Mick, Mick constantly toeing the line between friendly and "overly friendly", edging closer and closer to the boundary of fully inappropriate behavior. The film moves forward, with a deliberate, eerie pace, and ends with a confused, dream-like finale calling into question notions of identity and the subconscious mind.

Max Finneran , the director of the short, created the film as his thesis project at NYU graduate film school. The film was shown during the 2008 Rooftop Films Summer Series in the Rural Route Program , a partnership series with the Rural Route Film Festival featuring films that show us the darker side of peaceful, pastoral life.

By Rooftop Films in Drama, Rooftop Filmmakers, Watch Short Films | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (6)

Tags: Max Finneran, Rooftop Films, Rural Route Film Festival, Rural Route Program

Rooftop's noble partners at the Independent Feature Project (IFP) are, like us, always looking for innovative ways to support emerging filmmakers, from their Market (which helps find funding for works-in-progress), to their Labs (which provide artistic feedback for films at the rough cut stage), and now onto distribution. Their new "First Weekend" Series will help independent filmmakers secure a crucial, successful opening weekend in a New York theater. It's a great program, and Rooftop is proud to be promoting it. And the opening film--Lance Hammer's Ballast--is truly remarkable cinema, a powerfully-restrained drama of working-class tension and violence, reminiscent of Bresson or the Dardenne Brothers.

IFP along with Vera Farmiga, Sarah Jones, Neil LaBute, Jonathan Lethem, Salman Rushdie, Kerry Washington & Adam Yauch invite you to the launch of

IFP's "First Weekend" Series
connecting audiences directly with new independent films

Thursday, October 2 at 8pm
Film Forum (209 W. Houston Street, NYC)

Featuring Lance Hammer's BALLAST
Hosted by Tony Award winner Sarah Jones

$25 gets you:

- a ticket to the Opening Weekend screening at 8pm on Oct 2 at Film Forum
- an invitation to the post-screening Q&A between Lance Hammer and Tony Award-winning playwright/poet/activist/actress Sarah Jones ("Bridge & Tunnel")
- an invitation to the exclusive after-party with the filmmaker and members of NY's arts community, including members of the Host Committee

IFP's "First Weekend" Series is a quarterly program designed to guarantee sold out shows during their Opening Weekend for independent filmmakers self-distributing their work. In purchasing a ticket and supporting the series, audiences are directly supporting truly independent films and filmmakers. The full box-office proceeds will go directly toward the film's theatrical run. (FYI - IFP just sent over the check yesterday to Film Forum to buy out the 8pm screening, so BALLAST now has a sold out show before it even opens!)

IFP and Rooftop Films urge you to support truly independent films in this new manner by supporting the "First Weekend" series.

For additional details, and to purchase your ticket: http://www.ifp.org/content/noncms/ny/newsletters/08dedicated/ballast/

By Rooftop Films in Drama, Personal Narrative | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (3)

Tags: Ballast, Film Forum, First Weekend Series, IFP, Lance Hammer, Rooftop Films

She craves adventure. He wants to settle down. In order to win her over, he tries to do something spontaneous. But she knows that "Adventures are as common as rooftops."

Berlin, a point he picked out on a map--it came to embody all his hopes and dreams of adventure that he thought would make him more like the girl he loved. She was adventurous, but gave up her journey because she wanted to be with him. He wanted her, but was he good enough? He could not see adventure in the every day like she could.

This is the story of a breaking point in a relationship. He becomes jealous and spiteful that she'd had adventures, and makes a desperate and spontaneous choice to create his own in Berlin. He becomes swept away, and distances himself from the girl he wanted to please. He thinks it is because of his love of her that he could not stay, because he needed to find adventure to satisfy her, but he does not see, as she can, that the everyday adventures are all she really wanted; the ones she could share with him.

This film showed at Rooftop's "This is What We Mean by Short Films" program on June 6th, 2008. All the films in this program are about that core human value of friendship, about sticking together, staying loyal, and finding the magic of cinema with your friends, one quick glimpse at a time. The film also screened at the University of Toronto Film Festival in 2008.

Jessica Duffin Wolf, 24, was born in Paris, France, grew up in rural Ontario, lived four years in Montreal, and now teaches the history of printmaking and graphic design at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto. She writes on film, new media, and public space for several Canadian magazines, and is working towards a PhD in English literature at the University of Toronto. BERLIN is her first movie.

By Rooftop Films in Drama, Watch Short Films | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (8)

Tags: adventure, Berlin, Friendship, Jessica Duffin Wolfe, Love, Montage Magazine, POV Magazine, Spacing Magazine, This Is What We Mean By Short Films, Toronto, University of Toronto Film Festival, YouTube

Sam Fleischner's story about an unlikely romance sprouting between two people living at polar opposite ends of society. Cable lives in an abandoned building and operates a freight elevator, while Claire with her suit, bluetooth and PDA, appears to be all business. Shot in both HD and Super 8, Cave Flower captures how New York is an amalgamation of people living in distinct and separate social spheres. Fortunately for Cable and Claire, its also a city where chance often conspires to create opportunities for people to connect despite the gaps between their respective worlds.

Cave Flower will be screening as part of our program"Romance Shorts: Looking for Love" on August 30th, on the lawn along the Gowanus Canal at The Yard. Come and find out just how much the Gowanus Canal (featured in Cave Flower!) can inspire romance.

To find out more about Sam Fleischner, check out his website and make sure to read about his amazing public art installation.

By Rooftop Films in Drama, Rooftop Filmmakers, Watch Short Films | Link | 1 Comments | Recommended (3)

Tags: 2008 Summer Series, August 30th show, Cave Flower, Romance Shorts, Rooftop Films, short films, The Yard

If you like this film, see similar ones this Saturday, August 2, at Rooftop's unique and wonderful "Home Movies" show!



The simple and powerful example of the ways the film frame shapes (and distorts) our understanding.

Like many great short films, this one starts by making you laugh. A Film About Violence presents us with the awkward situation of the filmmaker, on camera, undergoing a series of slaps to the face while he spills his thoughts on what exactly violence is. It's all about the context--how we would feel if there was a context in this situation, if there was more to the frame. If we knew the identity of the slapper or the reasons behind it, it would most likely change how we react to the action of violence. Filmmaker Ethan Knecht undergoes pain for the sake of art, and changes our reactions to the scene from laughter to self-reflection, all in just over one minute.

A Film About Violence, made in 2006, was featured in the Takoma Park Film Festival in 2007, and will be featured as part of Rooftop's Home Movies show this weekend on August 2. This show features fun, fascinating, personal, profound, and ultimately unfiltered depictions of the filmmakers in their own spheres, preserved (and also distorted) by the medium of motion pictures and how we perceive them--how we reflect on what we are shown. The films in this program are consciously mining the filmmakers' personal lives, using the immediacy of the footage to settle their own feelings, by turns comic and cartoonish, romantic and violent.

RF: Tell us about your film?

EK: My film is a short performance piece on the nature and reality of violence. Violence is both an attractive and unattractive force in contemporary America. On the one hand, violence, as it has for centuries, is a significant and profitable form of entertainment. On the other hand, it has also become a major factor in The War On Terror and of American foreign policy in general. This film explores this duality as well as question the context of violence in film and media.

RF: What was your inspiration?

EK: I'm not positive what my inspiration for this was. This was created in my first year of not having a TV and I think that stepping away from that experience gave me a new perspective on the American media...

RF: How did you withstand all those slaps to the face?

EK: Patience and humor. We only had to do about five takes.

RF: Is there anything you'd like to share about the film that might not be immediately apparent (your conception of the film, back-story, production methods, etc.)? Any interesting stories about the production?

EK: I was in the middle of a longer project and I was borrowing this great camera from my friend. I had to give it back to him the next day and I wanted to get all the use I could out of it. I was in the library studying and the idea for this project, for lack of a better term, hit me. I wrote the outline in 5 min. and then I ran home and filmed it in 10. In total it took about 30min to make and $0 which, in a world of huge budget Hollywood films, is an important thing to still be able to do. Keeping a straight face was exceedingly difficult, also my roommates heard things and weren't sure what was going on in my room.

RF: Are you a full-time filmmaker? If not, what else are you up to? What is your current/next project?

EK: I currently work for the New York Public Library in the Bronx as an Information Assistant. I'm making a film with the Library right now. In the Bronx there is obviously a huge population of immigrants. For immigrant week this year I am in the process of making a film in which I interview immigrants at the library and have them talk about their experience in the third person as a "She". In this way, all of their stories mesh into this single narrative. It has been a really great experiment so far.

RF: If you've been to a Rooftop show, how was the experience?

EK: I've been going to Rooftop for three years now. The first show I went to was on a pier in Tribeca, I didn't know that it was possible to watch films in such a beautiful setting. I have watched and been to the IFC center many times as well. It is an amazing honor to be a part of the show not just the audience.

By Rooftop Films in Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Home Movies, Watch Short Films | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (3)

Tags: A Film About Violence, context, Ethan Knecht, filmmakers, Home movies, Slap, Violence

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.

By Rooftop Films in Animation, Documentary, Drama, Home Movies, Personal Narrative, Political Films, Rooftop News, Rooftop Weekend Recap, Sparrow, Watch Short Films | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (4)

Tags: Animation Block Party, Automotive High School, Casey Saffron, In A Dream, Jenny Kessler, Jeremiah Zagar, Rooftop Films, Sparrow, The Old American Can Factory

A study in available light and narrative restraint.

A one-night stand. Friends with benefits. No stings attached. Call it what you will, but the sun always rises and someone has to go back home in the morning. In this beautifully crafted film (using only available lighting) it's up to the viewer to decide what events lead up to a woman waking up alone, in someone else's bed.

Later on this summer we'll be featuring another film by Rooftop favorite Bryan Wizemann in our Home Movies Program. According to Wizemann, the short film titled Film Makes Us Happy "documents the last fight my wife and I will ever have about making films."

Check back with Rooftop Films in the next few weeks to find out the details of the Home Movies Program and to purchase tickets.

By Rooftop Films in Drama, Home Movies, Rooftop Filmmakers | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (2)

Tags: Bryan Wizemann, Drama, Film Makes Us Happy, Home Movies Program, Rooftop Films, Rooftop Films Summer Series 2008, The Morning Sun

A successful collaboration with MoMA and The Premiere Commission

If you thought that Rooftop Films was just for young hipsters, or that "classical" music and retrospective MoMA exhibitions were out of touch with contemporary culture, the huge crowd and dynamic synergy at Rooftop's Friday night "Surreal Sounds and Shorts" show proved you wrong. Over 700 people packed the sold-out event, which began with a piano performance by Bruce Levingston, one of the most acclaimed classical concert pianists in the world. Bruce has been a dear friend and supporter of Rooftop Films for years, and has served on our Board of Directors since 2006. His witty and insightful remarks in between songs engaged the diverse crowd, while his gorgeous and impassioned performance of works by Frederic Chopin, Philip Glass, Erik Satie had our normally rambunctious crowd in a breathless and appreciative silence.

The film portion of the evening commenced with two rarely-seen silent films from The Museum of Modern Art's upcoming exhibition, Dali: Painting and Film . For the films, made by Luis Bunuel and Alma de Luce, both featuring Salvador Dali, Rooftop and Bruce Levingson's Premiere Commission enlisted acclaimed emerging composer Keeril Makan to compose original scores, which Levingston performed live, perfecting nailing the delicate timing of the images and music. Levingson concluded his performance with another world premiere of a Makan composition, a score to excerpts from Red Bucket Films' Buttons. (Red Bucket Films' debut feature, The Pleasure of Being Robbed will have its official New York Premiere at Rooftop on September 19.)

Photo (c) Sarah Palmer.
The enraptured crowd then enjoyed a program of contemporary short films in some ways inspired by surrealism. Many of the filmmakers were in attendance and hung around to talk to audience members at Rooftop's rockin after-party at Fontana's , with free drinks courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner . Those in attendance included Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie, Alex Kalman, Signe Baumane, Stephnie Lempert, Becky James, Ben Philippi (down from Montreal) and Kelly Sears (in from California).

Check out Kelly, Becky and William's films for a sense of the way that the illogical approach of surrealism infuses the rich imagery and bizarre ideas of The Drift, Snake and The Joshua Tree Launch Series. Post a question if you weren't at the show to ask it then, and the filmmakers will get back to you here!

THE DRIFT
(Kelly Sears | 08:13 | Animation)


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.

SNAKE
(Becky James | 3:03 | Animation)

Deceptively playful, Snake is a film about stubbornness in the face of change.

* * *
Join Rooftop Films on www.twitter.com/rooftopfilms for live updates from the shows. Updates about tickets, the weather, filmmaker attendance, after-parties, and the vibe on the scene.

By Rooftop Films in Drama, Rooftop Filmmakers, Rooftop Weekend Recap, Watch Short Films | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (3)

Tags: Alex Kalman, Alma De Luce, Animation, Becky James, Ben Philippi, Benny Safdie, Board of Directors, Bruce Levingston, Erik Satie, Fontana's, Frederic Chopin, Josh Safdie, Keeril Makan, Kelly Sears, Luis Bunuel, MoMA, Phillip Glass, Piano, Red Bucket Films, Rooftop Films, Salvador Dali, Signe Baumane, Snake, Stephnie Lempert, Summer Series 2008, Surreal Sounds and Shorts, The Drift, The Joshua Tree Launch Series, The Pleasure of Being Robbed, The Premiere Commission

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.

By Rooftop Films in About Rooftop Films and This Blog, Animation, Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Environmental Films, Home Movies, Personal Narrative, Political Films, Rooftop Filmmakers, Rooftop Music, Rooftop News, Watch Short Films | Link | 0 Comments | Recommended (4)

Tags: 2008 Summer Series, Rooftop Films, Underground Movies Outdoors, Watch Short Films