Rooftop Films’ 2011 Summer Lineup and Schedule

All this year's dates for New York City's premiere outdoor screening series.

It’s pretty embarrassing that I live in New York City and haven’t been to a Rooftop Films event yet, since their whole thing is showing awesome indie movies — many of them New York premieres — in awesome outdoor venues (in my defense, I’m incredibly lazy). I met the guys who founded and run Rooftop at South by Southwest this year, and they’re smart, passionate, and cool. They even funnel one dollar from every ticket sold to Rooftop screenings to a grant they dispense to filmmakers they like in order to help them fund future projects (SXSW selection “The City Dark,” for example, was made with Rooftop funds).

For their fifteenth summer film series, Rooftop’s pulled out all the stops. Highlights include the NYC premieres of Fantastic Fest favorite “Sound of Noise” (with a live performance by the film’s “musical terrorists” [!!!]) and “Bellflower,” one of my favorite films of the year so far, on the lawn of Automotive High School (in honor of the film’s insane homemade muscle car, Medusa). Here’s the announced schedule so far; there are a few more events not listed here that are still location and date TBD.

Friday, May 13

Opening Night: This is What We Mean by Short Films

Rooftop opens our 15th festival with a flash of creativity, a splatter of inspiration, and short epic stories that could save your life.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop (350 Grand Street, LES)



Saturday, May 14

”Freeloader”
(Zachary Raines | New York | World Premiere)

It’s not easy being heart-broken, down on your luck, and out on your own in New York City — particularly when you’re a Grade A jerk. Rooftop presents the World Premiere of this insightful black comedy.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop (350 Grand Street, LES)


Thursday, May 19
“
Sound of Noise”
(Ola Simonsson & Johannes Stfarne Nillsson | Sweden | NY Premiere)

A clever and maniacally entertaining Swedish comedy about a group of “musical terrorists” who break into hospitals, banks, and other public places to play compositions using the surroundings as their instruments. The screening will feature a special live performance by the musicians from the film.
Venue: On the pier at Solar One, (23rd St. and the East River, Manhattan)



Friday, May 20
Dark ‘Toons (Short Films)

Our popular annual program of enjoyably evil animation.
Venue: On the pier at Solar One, (23rd St. and the East River, Manhattan)



Thursday, May 26
No Way Out (Short Films)

These fun and frantic short films–comedy, animation, music videos — tell the twisted tales of terrified souls trapped inside the machine.
Venue: TBA



Friday, May 27

The Pursuit of Love (Short Films)

Short romantic films about chasing love, by bicycle and bottle, on the internet and in the air.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop (350 Grand Street, LES)


Saturday, May 28
“Bad Posture”
(Malcolm Murray | Brooklyn, NY | US Premiere)

A nuanced, visually inventive vista of young life in Albuquerque, New Mexico, “Bad Posture” follows Flo as he seeks to make amends — and make a connection — with Marisa, a beautiful girl whose car his best friend has stolen.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop (350 Grand Street, LES)

Friday, June 10
New York Non-Fiction
It’s Your City. Take a Look.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop (350 Grand Street, LES)


Saturday, June 11
“Green”
(Sophia Takal | Brooklyn, NY | Sneak Preview)

An eerily compelling sexual thriller from writer-director Sophia Takal, “Green” focuses on a young literary couple who encounter an alluring country bumpkin during their weekend getaway.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop (350 Grand Street, LES)

Saturday, June 18
“The Catechism Cataclysm”
(Todd Rohal | Brooklyn, NY | Part of BAM Cinemafest)

Rooftop alum Rohal’s madcap story about Father William Smoortser, who drops his bible into a toilet at a rest stop just before embarking on a day-long canoe trip, breaking loose all glorious hell.
Venue: Outdoor parking lot at BAM Cinematek



Sunday, June 19
“The Extraordinary Ordinary Life of Jose Gonzalez”
(Mikel Cee Karlsson and Fredrik Egerstrand | Sweden | NY Premiere)


Shot over a three year period in José González’s studio, at home and on tour, using a combination of video diary, surveillance camera, tour footage and animation, filmmakers Mikel Cee Karlsson and Fredrik Egerstrand provide a look into the life of one of Sweden’s most interesting artists.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop (350 Grand Street, LES)


Friday, June 24
“Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same”
(Madeline Olnek | New York, NY | NY Premiere)


Premiering on Gay Pride weekend, this playful send-up of 1950′s sci-fi follows a group of lesbian extraterrestrials banished to Earth because their feelings of love cloud up the atmosphere on their home planet.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop (350 Grand Street, LES)



Saturday, June 25
“The Redemption of General Butt Naked”
(Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion | Washington, DC)

Joshua Milton Blahyi (aka General Butt Naked) is a Liberian warlord turned evangelical minister in this stirring verité documentary about the nature of justice and absolution.
Venue: Open Road Rooftop (350 Grand Street, LES)

Friday, July 1
Northside DIY Film Competition Winner 

Rooftop partners with Brooklyn’s Northside Festival to present a special outdoor screening of Northside’s first annual DIY Film Competition winner.
Venue: On the lawn in front of Automotive High School (Bedford Ave. and N. 13th St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn)

Saturday, July 2
“Where Soldiers Come From”
(Heather Courtney | Austin, TX)

On the weekend that we celebrate those who fought the first battle for our country’s freedom, Rooftop takes you on a four year journey from a snowy small town in Northern Michigan to the mountains of Afghanistan and back, following childhood friends forever changed by a faraway war.
Venue: On the roof of the Old American Can Factory (232 3rd St. at 3rd Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn)

Friday, July 15
“Bellflower”
(Evan Glodel | New York, NY | NY Premiere)

An apocalyptic love story for the Mad Max generation, Evan Glodell’s impressive feature debut paints a classic, yet urgently contemporary, tale of the destructive power of love.
Venue: On the lawn in front of Automotive High School (Bedford Ave. and N. 13th St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn)

Saturday, July 17
Creation, Construction, “Convento” (Short Films) 

Artists fashion a madcap dance between nature and machine, between past and future, between the living and the dead, featuring robo-animal sculpture installations by Christiaan Zwanikken of “Convento.”
Venue: On the roof of the Old American Can Factory (232 3rd St. at 3rd Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn)

Thursday, July 21
Hope and Heartbreak (Short Films)
Lonely romantics lost in limbo, in a program of comedies, dramas, documentaries and more about the brilliant anguish of new love and the bittersweet taste of love lost.
Venue: On the lawn in front of Automotive High School (Bedford Ave. and N. 13th St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn)

Saturday, July 23
“Orbit” (Film)

A collaborative, feature-length omnibus movie about our solar system where every planet is represented by a short film. Co-produced by Rooftop Films and Cinemad.
Venue: On the roof of the Old American Can Factory (232 3rd St. at 3rd Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn)

Friday, July 29
Animation Block Party 

Some call it punk rock, some call it grass roots, but labels aside, NYC-based Animation Block Party is dedicated to exhibiting the world’s best independent, professional and student animation.
Venue: On the lawn in front of Automotive High School (Bedford Ave. and N. 13th St., Williamsburg, Brooklyn)

Saturday, July 30
Kill Screen Video Game Night

Rooftop partners with the avante garde video game magazine Kill Screen to bring you an evening of short films that ask the question, “What does it mean to play games?”
Venue: On the roof of the Old American Can Factory (232 3rd St. at 3rd Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn)

Thursday, August 4

Rooftop Films and IFC present
DANGEROUS DOCS AND WHISKER WARS (Short Films)

Female Mexican professional wrestlers!  Canadians assaulting rock stars in 7-Eleven! Moped gang wars in Virginia! It is time for some Dangerous Docs, PLUS a special sneak preview of “Whisker Wars,” the new docu-comedy from IFC about professional beard-growers!
Venue: Outdoors at the Crown Vic (South 2nd and Wythe, Williamsburg, Brooklyn)

Sunday, August 7
Rural Route

A program of film offering city dwellers a glimpse of the rural life, where the grass is indeed greener. This program will be fittingly screened on a brand new Rooftop Venue: The Brooklyn Grange, an organic rooftop farm in Long Island City, Queens.
Venue: On the roof of the Brooklyn Grange (37-18 Northern Blvd, LIC, Queens)

Wednesday, August 10
“At the Edge of Russia”
(Michal Marczak | Poland)

Bizarre rituals help soldiers develop powerful bonds amidst the tense existence of one of the Russian army’s last existing frozen outposts.
Venue: On the grass along the water at Socrates Sculpture Park (3134 Vernon Boulevard, LIC, Queens)

Friday, August 12
Public Places, Private Spaces
An intricate exploration of the emotions that fill the places we inhabit.

Venue: On the roof of the Old American Can Factory (232 3rd St. at 3rd Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn)

Saturday, August 20
Rooftop Shots

Closing Night! Short films fired from the roof one last time, with fiction, documentary, comedy and animations so sharp we call them shots.
Venue: On the roof of the Old American Can Factory (232 3rd St. at 3rd Ave., Park Slope, Brooklyn)