BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID:-//B-Side Presents: The Rooftop Films 2008 Summer Series//iCal4j 1 .0//EN VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080531T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080531T213000 SUMMARY:At the Death House Door DESCRIPTION:Sat.\, May 31\n Venue: on the lawn at Fort Greene Park\, Broo klyn\n Directions: B/D/M/N/Q/R to DeKalb or C/G to Fulton / Lafayette. E nter park at Myrtle Ave. & Washington Park.\n Rain Date: Sun.\, June 1 ( check rooftopfilms.com or call 718-417-7362 for updates)\n 9:00PM: Films \n Q&A with filmmakers Steve James & Peter Gilbert after the screening\n Tickets: Free!\n Presented in partnership with: IFC.com\, New York maga zine\, Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership & Council Member Letitia James \n \nIFC and Rooftop Films Present\nAt the Death House Door (Steve James & Peter Gilbert | Huntsville\, TX | 1:38:00)\n \nPastor Carroll Pickett oversaw 95 executions at a Texas prison\, but the experiences changed h is views forever. The makers of “Hoop Dreams” examine this contentious i ssue through the story of this unique anti-death penalty activist. \n \n Carroll Pickett was a pastor in Huntsville\, TX—a place best known for i ts many prisons and high number of executions—when two of his parishione rs were taken hostage in an infamous prison riot in 1974. He was called in to try to broker peace\, but his friends were eventually killed\, and Pickett vowed to never return to that prison. \n \nBut years later\, th e prison asked him to become the chaplain\, and he thought he could do s ome valuable work for the people there. Indeed he did\, until suddenly h is job description changed\, and he was asked to be the minister presidi ng over executions. He would spend all day with the condemned\, getting to know them\, listening to their fears\, concerns and confessions\, and aiding any of their last wishes. Pickett agreed in principal with the d eath penalty\, but he certainly had trepidation about the burden of task . \n \nOver 15 years\, he was at 95 executions\, each a fascinating stor y. And over those years\, Pickett's opinion of the death penalty changed completely. \n \n"At the Death House Door\," directed by Steve James an d Peter Glibert (the director and producers of “Hoop Dreams”)\, is a gri pping\, fascinating\, powerful film about Pickett\, about a wrongly-exec uted man named Carlos De Luna and his family\, and about the tragic mora l mistake that is the death penalty. Pickett's character unfolds with a stately grace. Being an old-fashioned Texan\, he's reluctant to reveal h is emotions\, a trait which only makes them burn with more ferocity as y ou see them shine through\, as you watch an amazing evolution of a man's feelings and ideology. It’s a rare and stunning transformation to see i n a documentary\, or in life in general. \n \nAfter every execution\, Pi ckett recorded an audio diary of what happened and what he was thinking and feeling. Until the documentary\, not even his family knew these tape s existed\, and watching Picket re-listening to them in the film is one of the most harrowing looks into man's soul that you’ll ever see. \n \nF inally\, the execution of Hector De Luna\, a man who Pickett suspected w as innocent\, is enough to set the ball in motion for Pickett to leave t he prison and become an anti-death penalty activist. Emotionally\, Picke tt was verging on self-destruction. But he harnesses these core moral di sturbances and uses them (and an array of factual evidence) to fight aga inst the death penalty. He actively campaigns now\, arguing that not onl y is the death penalty cruel and painful\, not only are there irremediab le mistakes made\, not is the penalty ineffective as a criminal deterren t (there are hundreds more people on death row now than there were when it was reinstated 30 years ago)\, but it's a fundamentally immoral act\, that's "not Christian\, it's not American\, and it's not Texan\," a mor al blight on our society which makes us weaker as a people. \n \n"I'm an gry\," says Rose De Luna\, the sister of the wrongly-executed Hector De Luna. "Stay that way\," Pickett says.\n \n** Watch “At the Death House D oor” on IFC! ** CATEGORIES:Feature LOCATION:Lawn @ Fort Greene Park URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/atthedeathhousedoor_rooftopf ilms2008 UID:148176999-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080606T203000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080606T210000 SUMMARY:Sound Fix Presents: Dirty on Purpose DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n Dirty on Purpose performs live before the films! \n Pitchfork-- Rating 7.7 - "\;Blurry\, constantly in motion\, Dirty on Purpose look to make sense of whatever drama that can be found in between coming down in the morning and waking up to it." \; \n Presented by Rooftop Films and Sound Fix Records \nFollowed by the Short Film Program \n This is What We Mean By Short Films \n \n\n Listen to Dirty on Purpose on MySpace \n Buy Tickets to the show at going.com . \n\nVenue: Open Road Rooftop \n \nTicket price in cludes admission to all events that evening\, including the musical perf ormance\, the films\, and the open bar after party at Fontana's \, s ponsored by Radeberger Beer \n \n About the Band: \n Yo La Tengo is still the most obvious touchstone\, although “Marfa Lights”\nhas the buz zing\, slow-build intensity of a classic Sonic Youth tune\, and “Your\nS ummer Dress” offers echoes of the Sundays’ diaphanous guitar shimmer.\nO verall\, however\, Dirty on Purpose have established a sound that’s reco gnizably\ntheir own. \n Stewart Mason\, All Music Guide \n \n \n “The m any moods of youthful Brooklyn rockers.” The full-length debut\nfrom thi s Brooklyn foursome is a wet dream of collegiate\, aural wizardry\,\nswi nging smartly between noisy rambunctiousness and delicate bedroom\npop. Whenever bombast threatens to veer into utter chaos (on the semispastic\ n“Car No Driver”) or pensive space-outs drift too far into the ether\n(“ Always Looking Part 2”)\, they deftly regain control. Hotly tipped folk newcomer\nJaymay lends sprightly backing vocals on several tracks\, incl uding the\npretty but melancholic “Light Pollution.” \n Peter Gaston\, Spin \n \n The band is worthy of the hype... What I love about [Hallelu jah Sirens] -- it\ncould have gone a couple of ways. The co-ed vocals\, gauzy guitars\, the way\nthose creeping subterranean basslines work thei r way through the songs\, puts\nme in mind of those British shoegazer ba nds of the early 90s. the big washes\nof guitar sound\, beautiful atmosp heric melodies tucked inside these big cavernous\nguitarscapes... But th ere’s a flipside to this band. They could just do\nthat beautiful humung ous ballad thing for an entire album and probably do\npretty well at it. But they also got these grooves going — the bass/drums\nthing — that so rt of hurdling momentum of these songs is what really put\nme over the t op about this record. I think about listening to this record as if\ni wa s hearing a great song rushing past me from a subway train. Like you jus t\nhear it\, and it’s passed you before you know it. \n Greg Kot\, Chic ago Public Radio’s \nSound Opinions & Chicago Tribune \n \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Live Music Pre-Show - admission included with purchase of a ti cket to the films LOCATION:Roof @ Open Road Rooftop URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/soundfixpresentsdirtyonpurpo se_rooftopfilms2008 UID:148211068-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080606T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080606T213000 SUMMARY:This is What We Mean by Short Films DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n Opening Night! \n &ldquo\;Adventur es are as common as rooftops.&rdquo\; We kick off our 12th year of &ldqu o\;Underground Movies Outdoors&rdquo\; with short films that don&rsquo\; t take long to astonish\, amaze and inspire. \n \n Venue: on the roof of the Open Road Rooftop Address: 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side\, Manhattan) Directions: F/J/M/Z to Essex / Delancey Rain : In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same locati on 8:00PM: Doors open 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Dirty on Purpose 9:00PM: Films \n 11:30PM - 1:00AM: Open Bar After Party at Fontana&rsquo\;s (105 Eldridge St @ Grand) Courtesy of Radeb erger beer \n Tickets: $9 at going.com \n Preview: See short film s from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partn ership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, Open Road New York &\ ; New Design High School \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \nThese are the movies that define the short film as a genre&mdash\;quickly clever but profound ly rich\, packed with hard-hitting humor and long-lasting poignancy. All the films in this program are about that core human value (prized also by animals and packing supplies) of friendship. Whether your best friend is a monkey or your father is a middle class mystic\, if your practical joke gets your girlfriend crushed or your best friend popped like bubbl ewrap\, this program of short films is all about sticking together\, sta ying loyal\, and finding the magic of cinema with your friends\, one qui ck glimpse at a time. \n Click on the films below to read descriptions \, rate them\, add them to your calendar\, etc. \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Shorts Program LOCATION:Roof @ Open Road Rooftop URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/thisiswhatwemeanbyshortfilms _rooftopfilms2008 UID:148194384-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080606T233000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080607T000000 SUMMARY:After Party: Open Bar at Fontana's DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n After every Rooftop Films show at Open Road Rooftop \, everyone who attends the screening is invited to an open ba r after-party with free Radeberger Beer at Fontana's (105 Eldridge S treet between Broome and Grand). \n \n \nIt's a great opportunity to mee t the filmmakers and Rooftop Films staff and to relax with a drink to ta lk about the movies.\n\nYou must be 21 or over to attend the after party and you MUST get a wristband at the show before heading over to the b ar. \n \n \n \n \n CATEGORIES:After Party - Open Bar included with purchase of a ticket to t he evenings films LOCATION:Fontana URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/afterpartyopenbaratfontanas_ rooftopfilms2008 UID:148211756-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080607T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080607T130000 SUMMARY:Krush Groove 2008 - All Day Event DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n Krush Groove 2008 \n \n All-day music\, art and f ilm event! \n \nVenue: On the roof of the Open Road Rooftop \n A ddress: 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side\, Manhattan)\n \n Directions: F/J/M/Z to Essex / Delancey\n \n Rain: In the event o f rain the show will be held indoors at the same location \n \n Musi c &\; Live Performances: 1 PM - 8:30 PM \n Films: 8:30 \n Tic kets: $5 for Kids\, $15 or $25 for Adults at going.com \n BUY TI CKETS! All proceeds go to support New Design High School \n Pres ented in partnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, Open Road New York &\; New Design High School \n Rooftop Films and New Desig n High School present a day-long music and graffiti art festival at O pen Road Rooftop\, a beautiful urban space overlooking the Lower East Side that is decorated with magnificent graffiti murals. The benefit w ill run all day long\, with live music\, DJs\, Mural Art Workshops\, a nd other performances and the event is hosted by the legendary Fab 5 Freddy . \n \n Due to city and state-wide budget cuts announced ea rly February\, New Design is being forced to raise money or they will have to discontinue numerous Arts Integration Programs\, which include a fter school and summer initiatives\, programs that enable them to keep their students in a creative learning environment. To help support on e of our partner schools\, Rooftop Films is helping to organize a spec tacularly festive event in this stunning rooftop space. \n \n Tick ets: Tickets are $5 for kids (18 and under) and adults can buy ticke ts for $15 or $25 at going.com . All tickets are general admission and if you want to help the school but can't attend\, you can just make a donation to the school by buying a ticket at any of the above rates. \n Hosted by: Fab 5 Freddy &\; M'tume Gant \n \n Special Performances by: Andrew Thompson\, Ase Dance Company\, Kahlil Almust afa \, Julia Ahumada Grob \, New Design Music Production Students and many more..... \n \n Dance Party Sounds by: Dj Chela\, Dj Cato \ , Scientific\, Gaslamp Kill er \, Dj Rabbi Darkside and New Desi gn Turntablists! \n \n Films By: Casimir Nozkowski and the In ternets Celebrities \, Charlie Ahearn \, Clenched Fist Productions \, NDHS Film Students\, and many more. \n \n Additional Events: Liv e Mural Art Wokshops\, live screen printing by Fresthetic &\; 1 Soul Designs \, food and beverages by Twilight Cafe\, Open Road Skat e park open from 1:30-3:30pm. \n \n After Party: 11PM-4AM at Gal lery Bar . NO COVER CHARGE! Must be 21 or over. \n \n BUY TICKETS | ROOF PICS | NEW DESIGN HIGH \n \n CATEGORIES:Event, Shorts Program LOCATION:Roof @ Open Road Rooftop URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/krushgroove2008_rooftopfilms 2008 UID:148180896-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080612T203000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080612T210000 SUMMARY:Sound Fix Presents: O'Death DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n O'Death performs live before the films! \ n "...if your idea of a good time is a crowd of folks moshing to the sou nd of banjo feedback and Savage Republic drumming\, then live O'Death is your cup of moonshine." - Village Voice \n \nPresented by Rooftop Film s and Sound Fix Records \nFollowed by the Short Film Program \n Making the Mission \n \n\nListen to O'Death on MySpace \n Buy Tickets to the show at going.com . \n\nVenue: Automotive High School \n \nTic ket price includes all events that evening\, including the musical perfo rmance\, the films\, and admission to the open bar after party at Mat chless \, sponsored by Radeberger Beer \n \n About the Band: \n\nFi ve guys\, maybe three shirts between them\, take to the stage. There’s a banjo\, a fiddle\, a drum set littered with gas cans\, chains\, and bro ken cymbals. Then they all start howling\, stomping\; it’s an anachronis tic jug band party in a junkyard with sing-along hooks and weathered voc als from another time. Their fans\, an ever-expanding congregation\, sin g along and follow the band with an almost religious fervor\, and as voc alist Greg Jamie’s eyes roll back into his head there’s a sense that som ething almost sinisterly spiritual has overtaken everyone in the room. T his is the world of O’Death.\n \n \nOriginally formed in 2003 while the members attended SUNY Purchase\, the band – with Jamie on guitar and voc als\, Gabe Darling on banjo\, David Rogers-Berry on drums\, Jesse Newman on bass\, and Bob Pycior on fiddle – self-released their first album in 2004. They quickly took to the task of stirring up a wholly original sc ene of NY musicians with their reverently twisted take on Americana filt ered through a wealth of musical influences as divergent as Bill Monroe\ , Prince\, Dock Boggs\, Neil Young\, The Microphones\, and The Misfits v ia a series of shows at the now defunct Apocalypse Lounge.\n \nAs they gathered the songs for their second LP\, Head Home\, the band perfected their mesmerizing and riotous stage presence and took to turning their s hare of heads across the country\, playing over 100 shows in 2006\, and gracing the stage alongside acts including Battles\, Dr. Dog\, Art Brut\ , Langhorne Slim\, The Big Sleep\, and Old Time Relijun.\n \nWith the r e-release of Head Home\, the critically acclaimed NY act has created a p erfect companion to their spellbinding live show. Part southern gothic s piritual\, part moonshine fueled hoedown\, these recordings\, now presen ted with new remixes done by the band and Billy Pavone\, are a timeless addition to the canon of weird old America.\n \nO’Death will be heading out this summer and fall to promote the record in the US and Europe (wi th City Slang handling the European release). It’s an infectious sound c oming your way\; unique and wonderfully raw\, but with the ability to dr op the jaws of even the most jaded music fanatic and leave them testifyi ng to it’s unique power.\n \n \n CATEGORIES:Live Music Pre-Show - admission included with purchase of a ti cket to the films LOCATION:Lawn @ Automotive HS URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/soundfixpresentsodeath_rooft opfilms2008 UID:148212390-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080612T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080612T213000 SUMMARY:Making the Mission DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n\n Short films about big adventures\, including the award-winning post-Katrina shipwreck epic &ldquo\;Glory At Sea\,&rdquo\; co-funded by the Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund. . \n \n V enue: On the lawn of Automotive High School \n Address: 50 Bedford Ave\, between N. 12th and Lorimer (Williamsburg Brooklyn) \n Directions: L to Bedford Avenue OR G to Nassau Avenue Rain: In the e vent of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location 8:00PM : Doors open \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by O'Death 9:00PM: Films \n 11:30PM - 1:00AM: Open Bar After Party at Matchle ss (557 Manhattan Avenue @ Driggs ) Courtesy of Radeberger beer \n T ickets: $9 at going.com \n Preview: See short films from this and o ther programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partnership with: IF C.com \, New York magazine \, and Automotive High School \n \n PROGRA M NOTES: \n“Glory at Sea!” (co-funded by the Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund ) is a film about a group of people in post-Katrina New Orleans who bui ld an elaborate make-shift raft that will sink at sea so they can join t heir lost loved ones. Working on a shoe-string budget\, director Benh Ze itlin knew that in order to make this movie\, he’d have to actually buil d an elaborate make-shift raft and sink it at sea. Zeitlin and Court 13 Pictures banded together a cast and crew willing to risk their very live s not simply for this film\, but for what this film represented—that spi rit of camaraderie and community in which the journey itself provides an irrational and necessary hope. \n \n \nIn the guidelines to the Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund (see pg. TK)\, we say "We are more likely to fund film s that make the most of their resources and community." We don't have th e means to fund big-budget films\, so we want to support filmmakers who are clever and collaborative\, and uphold the collective ideals of Rooft op Films. \n \n \nThis entire program is full of films that know that ta king a risk is sometimes just as important as the thing you’re risking. This show is all about explorations of the high seas and Hades\, of oute r space and ex-urbia\, of imaginary lands and the minds of over-educated New Yorkers. It’s about dancing your way out of prison and about saving the Dodo bird. It’s about making the mission.\n \n Click on the films below to read descriptions\, rate them\, add them to your calendar\, et c. \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Shorts Program LOCATION:Lawn @ Automotive HS URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/makingthemission_rooftopfilm s2008 UID:148181839-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080612T233000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080613T000000 SUMMARY:After Party: Open Bar at Matchless DESCRIPTION: \n\n After every Rooftop Films show at Automotive High Sch ool \, everyone who attends the screening is invited to an open bar afte r-party with free Radeberger Beer at Bar Matchless (557 Manhattan A venue @ Driggs). \n \n \nIt's a great opportunity to meet the filmmakers and Rooftop Films staff and to relax with a drink to talk about the mov ies.\n\nYou must be 21 or over to attend the after party and you MUST get a wristband at the show before heading over to the bar. \n \n \ n \n \n CATEGORIES:After Party - Open Bar included with purchase of a ticket to t he evenings films LOCATION:Matchless URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/afterpartyopenbaratmatchless _rooftopfilms2008 UID:148212100-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080613T203000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080613T210000 SUMMARY:Sound Fix Presents: A.R.E. Weapons DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n A.R.E. Weapons performs li ve before the film! \n Presented by Rooftop Films and Sound Fix Records \nFollowed by Captured \n \n\nListen to A.R.E. Weapons on MySpace \n B uy Tickets to the show at going.com . \n\nVenue: Open Road Rooftop \n \nTicket price includes admission to all events that evening\, incl uding the musical performance\, the films\, and the open bar after part y at Fontana's \, sponsored by Radeberger Beer \n \n About the Ban d: \nFormed in 1999 by McAuley\, McPeck\, and Noel\, A.R.E. Weapons ha s been described as hardcore\, electro-rock.Their live shows are not ed for their aggressiveness and confrontational style. Rough Trade was e ncouraged to sign the band after Pulp's Jarvis Cocker heard A.R.E. Wea pons live. \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Live Music Pre-Show - admission included with purchase of a ti cket to the films LOCATION:Roof @ Open Road Rooftop URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/soundfixpresentsareweapons_r ooftopfilms2008 UID:148212608-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080613T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080613T213000 SUMMARY:Captured DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n\n World Premiere! \nThe amazing story of Clayton Patterson\, prolific photo documentarian of the turbu lent Lower East Side for 30 years. \n \n Venue: on the roof of the O pen Road Rooftop Address: 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side\ , Manhattan) Directions: F/J/M/Z to Essex / Delancey Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location 8:00P M: Doors open \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by A.R.E. W eapons 9:00PM: Films \n 11:30PM - 1:00AM: Open Bar After Party at Fontana&rsquo\;s (105 Eldridge St @ Grand) Courtesy of Radeberger be er \n Tickets: $9 at going.com \n Presented in partnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, Open Road New York &\; New Design H igh School \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \n20 years before there was YouTube\, and Macaca\, Critical Mass arrest videos\, and the RNC\, Clayton Patter son was capturing video that exposed the struggle between community acti vists and the often abusive NYPD. He dedicated his life to documenting t he final era of raw creativity and lawlessness in New York City's Lower East Side\, a neighborhood famed for art\, music and revolutionary minds . Traversing the outside edge\, he's recorded this dark and colorful soc iety--from drag and hardcore\, heroin\, homelessness\, to political chao s and\, ultimately\, gentrification. \n \n \nIn the LES of the late 70’s and early 80’s\, it seemed that it was impossible to take a boring phot ograph. Realizing this\, Patterson vowed to himself not to miss a moment \, and he was a ubiquitous presence on the streets\, in bars\, and at pa rties\, shooting literally hundreds of thousands of photographs and coun tless videos that captured the essence of the era in what might have bee n the most thrilling neighborhood on earth. For native New Yorkers\, loo king at his documents is like staring through a window to our own past\, and the drugs\, piercings\, mohawks\, kangols and graffiti on display a re\, in this context\, not kitschy and nostalgic. Rather\, they express the rich diversity of many little communities living together in a troub led little niche of the city\, long ago changed beyond recognition. \n \ n \nThose who have lived in New York since the 70’s remember when the Lo wer East Side was not merely an edgy\, popular neighborhood with a bustl ing night life. Back then\, it was a cauldron in which avant-garde music and art were stirred together with punk rock and the nascent hip hop cu lture\; and it was also a dirty\, crumbling\, and often quite dangerous place to live. When Patterson began\, he was not anticipating that this dingy neighborhood populated by lower class Puerto Ricans\, Jewish immig rants\, radical squatters\, and decadent hipsters would someday become a desirable location to live and the locus of the city’s never-ending cyc le of gentrification. He just thought the place was wild\, unpredictable \, and undeniably beautiful in a gloriously ugly sort of way. \n \nBut even for long-time residents who can recall those days\, the videos of t he Tompkins Square Riots captured by Patterson in 1988 are a bracing rem inder that\, just 20 years ago\, the battle between New York’s poorer re sidents and our professional-class gentrifiers was not fought in the new spapers and the city council. Back then\, this fight was fought in the s treets. \n \n \nThere couldn’t be a more perfect setting for the world p remiere of this enrapturing documentary than amidst the stunning graffit i murals of Open Road Rooftop. Located atop a public high school in the heart of the Lower East Side\, Open Road is one of the few remaining lin ks to the radical urban culture of 80’s that shaped the life and art of Clayton Patterson. His odyssey from voyeur to political provocateur reve als that it can take losing everything you love to find your own signifi cance. \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Feature LOCATION:Roof @ Open Road Rooftop URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/captured_rooftopfilms2008 UID:148184001-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080613T233000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080614T000000 SUMMARY:After Party: Open Bar at Fontana's DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n After every Rooftop Films show at Open Road Rooftop \, everyone who attends the screening is invited to an open ba r after-party with free Radeberger Beer at Fontana's (105 Eldridge S treet between Broome and Grand). \n \n \nIt's a great opportunity to mee t the filmmakers and Rooftop Films staff and to relax with a drink to ta lk about the movies.\n\nYou must be 21 or over to attend the after party and you MUST get a wristband at the show before heading over to the b ar. \n \n \n \n \n CATEGORIES:After Party - Open Bar included with purchase of a ticket to t he evenings films LOCATION:Fontana URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/afterpartyopenbaratfontanas_ rooftopfilms2008 UID:148212664-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080614T170000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080614T180000 SUMMARY:Cinema and Social Justice DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n Can films change the world? What role can f ilmmakers play in local community activism and global policy change?. \ n \nOn Saturday\, June 14\, in conjunction with IndiePix and Shooting Pe ople\, Rooftop Films will host two panel discussions\, on The Art of t he Short Film and Cinema and Social Justice \, bringing in filmmake rs\, programmers and funders to discuss issues that are crucial to Rooft op Films’ mission. \n \n THE ART OF THE SHORT FILM: Can films chang e the world? What role can filmmakers play in local community activism a nd global policy change? Filmmakers can tap into the power of storytelli ng to translate complicated issues into stories that people can relate t o\, engaging audiences and motivating change. This can take place in man y ways\, from small shifts in perception to epic battles in Congress and the courts. Filmmakers also deal with social justice on a very local an d personal level\, as artists fighting for health insurance\, sustainabl e incomes\, and vibrant communities to live in. Hear from filmmakers abo ut the possibilities for impact and outreach in their neighborhoods and beyond and get inspired by their passion for filmmaking\, connectivity a nd the possibilities for change. \n \n \n Panelists include: Ryan Ha rrington (Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund)\; Simon Kilmurry (Executive Di rector of POV)\; Esther Robinson (director\, A Walk Into the Sea \; Fou nder of Art Home)\, and Katy Chevigny (Director\, Election Day \; Co-Fo under of Arts Engine).\n \n \nTicket price includes admission to both two panel discussions ( The Art of the Short Films and Cinema and Soci al Justice )\, a reception in the Old American Can Factory Courtyard wit h free wine courtesy of Brooklyn Oenology \, and admission to the short film screening Industriance Shorts: Eminent Domain . \n  \n \n \n \ n CATEGORIES:Panel Discussion, Panel Discussion - admission included with p urchase of a ticket for the evening's films LOCATION:Courtyard @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/cinemaandsocialjustice_rooft opfilms2008 UID:149248041-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080614T183000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080614T193000 SUMMARY:The Art of the Short Film DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n Hear from a range of filmmakers about the c raft and possibilities of the short film. \n \nOn Saturday\, June 14\, in conjunction with IndiePix and Shooting People\, Rooftop Films will ho st two panel discussions\, on The Art of the Short Film and Cinema and Social Justice \, bringing in filmmakers\, programmers and funders to discuss issues that are crucial to Rooftop Films&rsquo\; mission. \n \n THE ART OF THE SHORT FILM: The filmmakers on this panel work in animation\, documentary\, narrative and the hard-to-describe\, and they will talk about what they do\, why they do it and how they get it done. Get inspired by the sheer range and creativity of these amazing filmmak ers. These filmmakers do not make shorts as calling-cards\, they make th em because they love to work within the limitations of the form. These a re not shorts in search of a feature but films that you will fall in lov e with. Just as they are.\n \n \n Panelists include: Benh Zeitlin (Fi lmmaker\, Glory at Sea)\; Duana Butler (Filmmaker\, Curator of ReelNY)\; Signe Baumane (animator)\, and Casimir Nozkowski (the man who has shown more short films at Rooftop than any other). \n \nTicket price includ es admission to both two panel discussions ( The Art of the Short Films and Cinema and Social Justice )\, a reception in the Old American Can Factory Courtyard with free wine courtesy of Brooklyn Oenology \, and a dmission to the short film screening Industriance Shorts: Eminent Domai n . \n  \n \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Panel Discussion - admission included with purchase of a ticke t for the evening's films LOCATION:Courtyard @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/theartoftheshortfilm_rooftop films2008 UID:149247268-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080614T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080614T200000 SUMMARY:Panorama Reception at OACF DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n Reception in the Courtyard of the Old American Can Factory\, with free wine courtesy of Brooklyn Oenology. \n \nOn Sa turday\, June 14\, in conjunction with IndiePix and Shooting People\, Ro oftop Films will host two panel discussions\, on The Art of the Short Film and Cinema and Social Justice \, bringing in filmmakers\, prog rammers and funders to discuss issues that are crucial to Rooftop Films’ mission. \n \nTicket price includes admission to all events on June 14th--both two panel discussions ( The Art of the Short Films and Cin ema and Social Justice )\, a reception in the Old American Can Factory C ourtyard with free Wine courtesy of Brooklyn Oenology \, and admission to the short film screening Industriance Shorts: Eminent Domain . \n  \n \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Event, Party LOCATION:Courtyard @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/panoramareceptionatoacf_roof topfilms2008 UID:149249709-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080614T203000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080614T210000 SUMMARY:Sound Fix Presents: Silver Haunches DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n Silver Hanuches performs li ve before th e film! \n Presented by Rooftop Films and Sound Fix Records \nPrecede d by 2 Panel Discussions and the Panorama Reception in the Courty ard\n \n\nFollowed by Industriance Shorts: Eminent Domain \n \n\nLi sten to Silver Hanches on MySpace \n Buy Tickets to the show at going.com . \n\nVenue: Open Road Rooftop \n \nTicket price inclu des all of the events on June 14th\, including the music performance\, t he reception\, the films and the panel discussions. \n \n About the Ba nd: \n \n \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Live Music Pre-Show - admission included with purchase of a ti cket to the films LOCATION:Roof @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/soundfixpresentssilverhaunch es_rooftopfilms2008 UID:148212878-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080614T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080614T213000 SUMMARY:INDUSTRIANCE: Eminent Domain DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n\n Dynamic short films about communit ies in flames and on the cusp. \n \n Venue: On the roof of The Old A merican Can Factory \n Address: 232 3rd Street at the corner of 3rd Av enue (Gowanus\, Brooklyn) \n Directions: F\, G to Carroll Street o r M\, R to Union Street and read here for directions from the train| Map \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at t he same location \n 5:00PM: Panel Discussion outside in the courtyard - Cinema and Social Justice \n 6:30PM: Panel Discussion outside in t he courtyard - The Art of the Short Film \n 7:30PM - 8:30PM: Receptio n in the courtyard including wine courtesy of Brooklyn Oenology \n 8:3 0PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Silver Haunches 9:00PM: Fi lms \n Tickets: $9 at going.com \n \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \nPresented in partnership wi th: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, and XO Projects \n \n PROGRAM NOT ES: \nVery soon after the birth of Rooftop Films\, co-founder Josh Bre itbart came up with a very simple catch-phrase that was meant to sum up what Rooftop Films was all about: “Movies that show us where you live an d how you live.” Over time\, this simple set of words became something l ike a guiding mantra for us as we programmed our festival. The availabil ity of digital cameras had made possible an explosion of video documenta tion of local cultures and communities and the cumulative effect of thes e works was to awaken in society at large a greater sense of the myriad ways in which how we live is inextricably tied to place. \n \n \nEnthral led by this realization\, we came to understand that--as a festival whos e screenings actually take place outdoors in communities--we were partic ularly obligated to show those works that addressed the transformation o f neighborhoods\, towns and cities\, and the implications this process h as for the people who live there. \n \n \nThis sense of responsibility c ame to mind recently when we were interviewed by the Times for an articl e about the old Bushwick warehouses that we converted to spacious lofts back in 1997\, and which served as the home base for Rooftop Films for 5 formative years. The spaces are now known locally as “The McKibbin Dorm s\,” and the wide-open artists’ spaces that we once hoped would be the l ocus of beneficent community participation have been chopped up into cra mped\, lousy quarters for young and disgruntled transplants. \n \n \nAft er reading the article\, we lamented the sorry state of our former home\ , and an old friend wrote me\, “Foucault put it best (and I paraphrase): People know what they do and they frequently know why they do what they do\, but rarely--if ever--do they know what they are doing does.” \n \n \nFoucault was wise\, but his aphorism is not law. This program of shor ts features six stunning films that show that if we look closely and wit h an unwavering eye\, it is possible to determine and predict the real c onsequences of our actions. Perhaps\, with work\, we can even turn the t ide. \n \n \n Part of Rooftop Films and XO Projects’ INDUSTRIANCE™ Serie s: films\, discussions\, installations and more about the changing lands cape in industry\, architecture\, agriculture\, labor\, and related fiel ds. \n \n Click on the films below to read descriptions\, rate them\, a dd them to your calendar\, and more. \n CATEGORIES:Panel Discussion, Party, Shorts Program LOCATION:Roof @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/industriance_rooftopfilms200 8 UID:148185205-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080620T203000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080620T210000 SUMMARY:Sound Fix Presents: Deer Tick DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n Deer Tick performs li ve before the film s! \n Presented by Rooftop Films and Sound Fix Records \nFollowed by the short s program All is Fair \n \n\nListen to Deer Tick on M ySpace \n Buy Tickets to the show at going.com . \n\nVenue: Ope n Road Rooftop \n \nTicket price includes admission to all events that evening\, including the musical performance\, the films\, and the open bar after party at Fontana's \, sponsored by Radeberger Beer \n \ n About the Band: \nDeer Tick is a real band\, instead of a singer/son gwriter with a silly moniker. Deer Tick includes John McCauley on guit ar and vocals\, Chris Ryan on string bass and electric bass\, and Denn is Ryan on drums and vocals. \n \nAny consideration for your McDonalds or your Chevy commercial would be appreciated. Deer Tick's lookin' to really sell out. \n \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Live Music Pre-Show - admission included with purchase of a ti cket to the films LOCATION:Roof @ Open Road Rooftop URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/soundfixpresentsdeertick_roo ftopfilms2008 UID:148213144-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080620T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080620T213000 SUMMARY:All is Fair DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n Rooftop Films\, KY &\; New York m agazine present All is Fair: Romance Shorts \nLonely souls break all the rules as they search for love in strange ways and illogical place s. \n \n Venue: on the roof of the Open Road Rooftop \n Address : 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side\, Manhattan) \n Directions : F/J/M/Z to Essex / Delancey \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location \n 8:00PM: Doors open \n 8: 30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Deer Tick \n 9:00PM: Films \n 11:30PM - 1:00AM: Open Bar After Party at Fontana&rsquo\;s (105 Eldridge St @ Grand) Courtesy of Radeberger beer \n Tickets: $9 at going.com \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs a t www.IFC.com \nPresented in partnership with: KY \, New York magazi ne \, IFC.com \, Open Road New York &\; New Design High School \n \ n PROGRAM NOTES: \nLonely souls break all the rules as they search for love in strange ways and illogical places. \n \nLonely people in love do desperate things. This impulsive behavior can lead to thrilling momen ts—sometimes even wonderful\, long-term\, loving relationships. But if w e are honest with ourselves we realize that more often than not the root emotions that drive us to pursue a new romance\, to consummate it\, and even to continue it\, are rarely those emotions that we would generally classify as noble. With our back against the wall the butterflies in ou r stomach become far more insidious creatures\, undermining our judgment and often driving us toward radical decisions—not all of them sound. \n \nIgnoble drives are on full display in this program of short films\, and seeing all of these works together we realize that raw emotions and questionable choices are the very elements that make a sensual moment tr uly romantic—and that make a romantic film genuinely riveting to watch. Romantic urges lead some into questionable or dangerous situations (Man) \, while others end up falling for the wrong people (Baby Cakes Diary #4 ). Emotions drive some to confusion and a reluctant detached isolation ( Mr. P)\, and some feel so powerless that they choose to end their relati onship--even before it has reached its nadir (The Pull). But when we ove rcome our insecurities we can experience the blissful sensations of a na scent\, mutual love (Two Cars\, One Night). And even when things do go w rong\, we can at least derive some humor and wisdom from the lessons tha t we have learned along the way (Teat Beat of Sex). \n \nCaught in the grip of desperate\, romantic love\, the only thing we can do is ride the wave\, forget about the rules\, and hope that in the end we make the ri ght decisions. Speaking of his father’s Amazonian girlfriend\, Brad Neel y’s Baby Cakes says\, “When I was around her\, I felt like a goblin made entirely out of wicked genitals. I am a horrible person.” Baby Cakes is not a horrible person\, he is just human and in love.\n \n Click on t he films below to read descriptions\, rate them\, add them to your calen dar\, and more. \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Shorts Program LOCATION:Roof @ Open Road Rooftop URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/allisfair_rooftopfilms2008 UID:148186642-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080620T233000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080621T000000 SUMMARY:After Party: Open Bar at Fontana's DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n After every Rooftop Films show at Open Road Rooftop \, everyone who attends the screening is invited to an open ba r after-party with free Radeberger Beer at Fontana's (105 Eldridge S treet between Broome and Grand). \n \n \nIt's a great opportunity to mee t the filmmakers and Rooftop Films staff and to relax with a drink to ta lk about the movies.\n\nYou must be 21 or over to attend the after party and you MUST get a wristband at the show before heading over to the b ar. \n \n \n \n \n CATEGORIES:After Party - Open Bar included with purchase of a ticket to t he evenings films LOCATION:Fontana URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/afterpartyopenbaratfontanas_ rooftopfilms2008 UID:148213282-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080621T203000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080621T210000 SUMMARY:Sound Fix Presents: Sharon Van Etten DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n Sharon Van Etten performs li ve before the film! \n Presented by Rooftop Films and Sound Fix Records \n\n\nF ollowed by Women of Brukman \n \n\nListen to Sharon Van Etten o n MySpace \n Buy Tickets to the show at going.com . \n\nVenue: The Roof of the Old American Can Factory \n \nTicket price includes al l of the events on June 21st\, including the music performance\, and the films. \n \n About the Performer: \n "\;Sharon Van Etten plays bittersweet neofolk so slow\, spare and subtle that you might have to crane your neck to hear it. The Brooklyn songsmith&rsquo\;s tunes are definitely worth the effort."\; - Time Out New York \n \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Live Music Pre-Show - admission included with purchase of a ti cket to the films LOCATION:Roof @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/soundfixpresentssharonvanett en_rooftopfilms2008 UID:148213820-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080621T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080621T213000 SUMMARY:The Women of Brukman DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n\n The Brukman garment workers in Arg entina take control of their factory during the 2001 financial crisis\ , winning a radical victory for worker-owned industry. \n \n Venue: On the roof of The Old American Can Factory \n Address: 232 3rd Street at the corner of 3rd Avenue (Gowanus\, Brooklyn) \n Directions: F\, G to Carroll Street or M\, R to Union Street and read here for di rections from the train| Map \n Rain: In the event of rain the show w ill be held indoors at the same location \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presen ts live music by Sharon Van Etten 9:00PM: Films \n Tickets: $9 a t going.com \n \n Preview: See short films from this and other progra ms at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, and XO Projects \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \nIt’s easy to think that small groups can’t affect nation-wide issues\, such as the e conomy\, or that individuals can’t change large companies. The Women of Brukman proves that committed workers and activists can revolutionize th eir workplace\, their country\, and the world. \n \n \nIn 1991\, Argenti nean president Carlos Menem pegged the value of the peso to that of the US dollar\, opened up his nation’s trade barriers to import foreign prod ucts and international corporate ownership\, and privatized many nationa l industries. The result was a short-term influx of cash\, but a legacy of hyperinflation\, huge deficits\, and the loss of protections for work er’s wages and jobs. In 1998\, Argentina plunged into a recession\, and by the end of 2001 the nation was in turmoil. By some accounts\, up to 2 5% of the population was unemployed. \n \n \nIt was during this period t hat the employees at the Brukman garment factory showed up for work one day to find that the bosses had simply disappeared. Being owed months of back pay\, and with no other employment opportunities available\, the w orkers (primarily women) decided simply to do their jobs\, with or witho ut the company’s owners. \nThe results were astonishing. Working collabo ratively and sharing their knowledge in a way that was productive and en lightening\, the workers trained themselves in machine repair\, sales\, and business management. Each worker could try different jobs\, keeping their tasks interesting\, and everyone had a say in major decisions. The re were intriguing new difficulties to be worked out\, to be sure\, and we witness the tension of internal debates over workers’ pay\, and the d rama of the company bonding together to meet a production deadline under crisis. We also see the intellectual radicalization of the workers\, as breakroom conversations begin to cover Trotsky and Marx. The level of i nvestment is clearly successful\, but will the workers be allowed to kee p the factory when the owners return? \n \n \nPerhaps the most important thing that happened for the workers is that they restored their dignity . Director Isaac Isitan has said\, “When governments lose their legitima cy\, mutiny becomes necessary. Argentineans exercised that right by rein venting their local economy and by occupying abandoned factories.” So wh en the owners do return\, when lawyers tie them up in court\, when the g overnment sends the police to lock them out—beating them and shooting th em with rubber bullets—the women of Brukman were ready and capable of fi ghting. This exciting and inspiring documentary captures the many years of their struggle as heroes of a progressive and powerful new workers co operative movement. \n \n \nPart of Rooftop Films and XO Projects’ INDUS TRIANCE™ Series: films\, discussions\, installations and more about the changing landscape in industry\, architecture\, agriculture\, labor\, an d related fields. \n \n \n Click on the films below to read descriptions \, rate them\, add them to your calendar\, and more. CATEGORIES:Feature LOCATION:Roof @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/thewomenofbrukman_rooftopfil ms2008 UID:148187443-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080627T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080627T223000 SUMMARY:Surreal Sounds and Shorts: Live Music and Short Films DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n Unexpected juxtapositions and surre al short films\, preceded by a performance by pianist Bruce Levingston and the world premiere of a score for piano inspired by short films f rom MoMA's Dali: Painting and Film exhibition . \n \n Venue: on the roof of the Open Road Rooftop Address: 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lo wer East Side\, Manhattan) Directions: F/J/M/Z to Essex / Delancey Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same lo cation 8:00PM: Doors open \n 8:30PM: Acclaimed pianist Bruce Leving ston performs live music and a world premiere score by Keeril Makan \n 9:00PM: Films \n 11:30PM - 1:00AM: Open Bar After Party at Fontana&r squo\;s (105 Eldridge St @ Grand) Courtesy of Radeberger beer \n Tic kets: $9 at going.com \n Preview: See short films from this and ot her programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partnership with: Pre miere Commission \, IFC.com \, New York magazine \, Open Road New York &\; New Design High School \n \n Film and Music Program : \nRooft op Films and Premiere Commission present an extraordinary night of short films and live music inspired by the life and art of Salvador Dali. The evening begins with a live performance by the acclaimed concert pianist Bruce Levingston\, who will be playing swirling and ethereal works. Mr. Levingston will conclude his set with the world premiere of a new score by Keeril Makan for the screening “Dali: Home Movie\, 1954\,” and "Me njant garotes"\, two short films from Dali: Painting and Film \, an u pcoming exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art . This will be followed by a new composition by the composer that will accompany a screening of excerpts from Red Bucket Films' "Buttons." \n \n\n Menjant garotes (Ea ting Sea Urchins) (Luis Bunuel | 1930 | Spain | 4:00) \nWhile on locati on in Cadaqués to shoot scenes for L'Age d'or (1930)\, Buñuel made this home movie featuring Dalí's estranged father and stepmother in an intima te moment: dining alfresco on sea urchins\, a local delicacy. Courtesy F ilmoteca de Catalunya-ICIC\n \n \n Dali: Home Movie\, 1954 (Alma De Luc e | 1954 | Spain | 1:47) \nColor home movie footage shot by Alma De Luce in July 1954 at the Port Lligat\, Spain home of Salvador Dalí. Dalí clo wns around with a wooden pitchfork\, mimicking the actions of his much b eloved silent film comedians Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. \n \n \n Buttons (Excerpts) (Josh Safdie\, Alex Kalman\, Benny Safdie| 2008 | N ew York) \nJosh\, Benny and Alex roam the world with video cameras in ha nd\, capturing loose\, magical moments. They collect these instances lik e they are little buttons\, so that is what they call them. Red Bucket's first feature film\, The Pleasure of Being Robbed was selected for the 2008 Cannes Directors Fortnight. \n \n \n The pianist: \nPianist Bruce Levingston is one of today's leading figures in contemporary music. Many of the country's most important composers have written works for him in cluding Philip Glass. The New Yorker describes him as "elegant and engag ing"\, "a poetic pianist who has a gift for inventive - and glamorous - programming". Mr. Levingston is also Artistic Director of the Premiere Commission and has sat on the board of Rooftop Films since 2006. \n \ n \n \n The composer: \nWinner of the 2008 Rome Prize\, Keeril Makan writes music that challenges description and thwarts assumptions about w hat is beautiful. \n \n \n Short Films Program: \n \nFollowing Mr. Levin gston’s performance\, Rooftop Films will present a program of new surrea l short films. \n \n \n Click on the films below to read descriptions\, rate them\, add them to your calendar\, and more. \n \n CATEGORIES:Event, Party, Shorts Program LOCATION:Roof @ Open Road Rooftop URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/surrealsoundsandshorts_rooft opfilms2008 UID:148187529-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080627T233000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080628T000000 SUMMARY:After Party: Open Bar at Fontana's DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n After every Rooftop Films show at Open Road Rooftop \, everyone who attends the screening is invited to an open ba r after-party with free Radeberger Beer at Fontana's (105 Eldridge S treet between Broome and Grand). \n \n \nIt's a great opportunity to mee t the filmmakers and Rooftop Films staff and to relax with a drink to ta lk about the movies.\n\nYou must be 21 or over to attend the after party and you MUST get a wristband at the show before heading over to the b ar. \n \n \n \n \n CATEGORIES:After Party - Open Bar included with purchase of a ticket to t he evenings films LOCATION:Fontana URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/afterpartyopenbaratfontanas_ rooftopfilms2008 UID:148214111-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080628T203000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080628T210000 SUMMARY:Sound Fix Presents: Artanker Convoy DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n Artanker Convoy performs li ve before t he films! \n Presented by Rooftop Films and Sound Fix Records \nFollo wed by Neo-Lounge \n \n\nListen to Artanker Convoy on MySpa ce \n Buy Tickets to the show at going.com . \n\n Venue: The Ol d American Can Factory \n \nTicket price includes admission to all e vents that evening\, including the musical performance and the films. \n \n About the Band: \nArtanker\, Joe F and Chris Seeds played in the 9 0s acid bubblegum group Stratotanker. Before that\, Artanker and Joe F p layed in The Jinx Clambake Explosion with James Murphy of LCD Sound Syst em. Art Lavis played with Princess Superstar and later occasionally tour ed with The Oranges. Jake Oas played with the Low Down Dirty D.A.W.G.S. Jon Warren played percussion for the Robert Ivey Ballet and studies tabl a under Misha Masoud. Tritter is our newest member\, if you saw us in th e UK you were lucky enough to catch him. He's been producing the Mossy P ine record that Chris wrote that just came out on Heron. Check it out CATEGORIES:Live Music Pre-Show - admission included with purchase of a ti cket to the films LOCATION:Roof @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/soundfixpresentsartankerconv oy_rooftopfilms2008 UID:148213591-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080628T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080628T213000 SUMMARY:Neo-Lounge DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n In the aftermath of the SARS outbrea k in Beijing\, the filmmaker was immersed with a small group of daring and desperate ex-patriots who banded together at the decadent Neo-Lou nge nightclub. \n \n Venue: On the roof of The Old American Can Facto ry \n Address: 232 3rd Street at the corner of 3rd Avenue (Gowanus\, B rooklyn) \n Directions: F\, G to Carroll Street or M\, R to Unio n Street and read here for directions from the train| Map \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Artanker Convoy 9:0 0PM: Films \n Tickets: $9 at going.com \n \n Preview: See short fi lms from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partn ership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, and XØ\; Projects \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \nBeijing is an ancient city in the midst of a massive transition. Like many cities in China\, the population has expl oded in recent decades. The coming Olympics has put a strain on the city to redevelop and remake itself in ways that often pit traditional Chine se values and structures against a rapid and ruthless Westernization. Bu ildings are built and torn down faster than they can be remembered\, and communities are constantly being displaced\, shattered and reconfigured . \n \n \nOften considered the cultural capital of China\, the city attr acts a diverse range of foreigners\, there for business\, pleasure\, sel f-reinvention and other obscure pursuits. Joanna Vasquez Arong—a native of the Philippines who has also lived in Boston\, Paris and London—moved to Beijing in 2002\, planning to leave behind her career in finance and economic development to pursue filmmaking. Soon thereafter\, the SARS o utbreak transformed the city into a ghost town of 17 million people\, wi th stores shuttered\, transportation shut down\, ad hoc quarantine hospi tals overflowing\, and the once bustling streets populated only with a s mall smattering of masked wanderers. In was during this period that Aron g discovered Neo-Lounge\, a decadent club owned by wildly hip couple fro m Shanghai\, and one of the few places that remained open\, serving a cl iental of what few die-hard ex-patriots remained in the city. \n \n \nOv er the next three years\, Arong was immersed in the shifting community i n and around Neo-Lounge. Her intimate camerawork and startling editing p ropels the characters forward in a pulsing freefall. Her sense of narrat ive is excellent\, and her jarring edits create just the right feeling o f dislocation and symbolic inevitability as she captures a deep nihilism within the group. Drunken partying always indicates a certain amount of abandon\, a willful amount of self-destruction\, an escape. But in the case of the Expat\, you can sense a deeper desire for self-erasure. Aron g's intricately crafted film is a passionate and intelligent exploration of that pathos. \n \n \nAs the film progresses\, two characters come to the foreground. Leonardo GrigliÈ is a mysteriously wealthy middle aged Italian impresario\, oddly reminiscent of Boris Yeltsin (including his p enchants for vodka and tanks). Leo has a magnificent house stuffed to th e gills with art and artifacts\, and is constantly entertaining\, though he is also constantly complaining that everything is "boring." Nothing could be worse for him than a moment of boredom\, and his curious ways o f filling the time are consistently hilarious. He often hires Diliana Ge orgieva\, a young aspiring actress/model/singer from Bulgaria\, to come perform at his parties. \n \nWe follow the two of them as their lives t wist and turn\, always around the central elements of partying and perfo rming (which both do equally with a great lack of inhibition). Slowly\, the desperation and confusion in both becomes clear: that feeling of sel f-erasure is reified (in fascinatingly opposing ways). With Diliana\, we learn of a past she ran from\, secrets she's kept\, and watch as she wo rks to settle herself down in this new\, boyfriend-less\, Kung Fu studyi ng\, way. Leo\, however\, tries to clean himself up\, but to do so up an d leaves China for Moscow\, departing still a mystery man. \n \n \nBeiji ng will never be the same. \n\n \n \n Preceded by the short film: \n Construction-Destruction (Klemens Hufnagl & Julia Drack | Austria & C hina | 10:30) \n\n This gorgeous documentary witnesses that as one part of China builds rapidly\, another part of China is torn down just as fa st. \nPart of Rooftop Films and XO Projects’ INDUSTRIANCE Series: films\ , discussions\, installations and more about the changing landscape in i ndustry\, architecture\, agriculture\, labor\, and related fields.\n \n \n Part of Rooftop Films and XO Projects’ INDUSTRIANCE™ Series: films\, discussions\, installations and more about the changing landscape in ind ustry\, architecture\, agriculture\, labor\, and related fields. \n \n \n Click on the films below to read descriptions\, rate them\, add them to your calendar\, and more. CATEGORIES:Feature LOCATION:Roof @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/neolounge_rooftopfilms2008 UID:148188867-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080704T170000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080704T170000 SUMMARY:Un-American Films DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n Food\, drinks\, live music\, fantas tic fireworks view and explosive political films. A mix of the wacky a nd the weighty in contemporary America. \n \n Venue: On the pier at S olar One \n Address: 23rd Street @ the East River (Kips Bay\, Manhatta n) \n Directions: R/6 to 23rd St.\, walk all the way east to the river \n \n Note: All audience members must be at the venue by 6pm\, due to standard 4th of July NY Police Department restrictions. The matter is out of our control\, and if you are late\, the NYPD will not let you past their barricade. Please arrive early. Rooftop Films cannot refund your money if you are late. \n \n Rain: In the event of rain\, ther e will be some covering for the audience\, but we suggest you bring an umbrella. The show will be held in accordance with the city plan for the fireworks\, either later that night or on a later date to-be-deter mined. \n 5:00PM: Doors open\, open bar begins\, courtesy of Radeber ger beer and Brooklyn Oenology \n 6-9:00PM: Live music by FRANCES \, TITUS ANDRONICUS and ALEKS AND THE DRUMMER presented Sound Fix \n 9:00PM: The best fireworks view in the city \n 9:30PM - 10:30PM: short films\n \n Tickets: $30 at going.com \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \nPresented in part nership with: New York magazine \, IFC.com \, and Solar One \n PROGR AM NOTES: \nFood\, drinks\, live music\, fantastic fireworks view and explosive political films. A mix of the wacky and the weighty in contemp orary America. \n \n \nRooftop’s annual 4th of July show includes a part y atmosphere peppered with some prepossessing films\; serious calls for social justice tempered by some seriously funny films. In this crucial e lection year\, we present films on a range of topics\, stressing the imp ortance of history and offering irreverent looks at our heroes\, making a case for a re-evaluation of who we are as Americans and who we want as president. \n \nThis show takes an intimate look at a variety of issue s facing our nation\, using artfully-told personal stories and carefully -crafted craziness to address the breadth of the American experience. Th ese films provide unexpected insights\, stories that are both disquietin g and uplifting\, and that peculiar brand of intelligently twisted Ameri can humor. \n \nThere are personal stories of soldiers coming back from war\, which remind us of the ongoing costs of being part of a war socie ty\, no matter the battle. There’s an intriguing dialogue between a Musl im-American and a seemingly close-minded American whose bigoted views pe rhaps don’t come from base of ignorance and isolationism you might expec t. And there’s a hilarious animated musical video that might tell you a few things you probably didn’t know about JFK: “He smelled like the futu re / His words felt like flowers / And if he shook your hand you'd make love with it for hours.” \n \nCome make love with America at Rooftop Fi lms!\n\n \n Click on the films below to read descriptions\, rate them\ , add them to your calendar\, and more. \n CATEGORIES:Event, Party, Shorts Program LOCATION:Solar One URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/unamericanfilms_rooftopfilms 2008 UID:148189818-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080711T203000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080711T210000 SUMMARY:Sound Fix Presents: Yerbabuena DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n Yerbabuena performs li ve before the fi lms! \n Presented by Rooftop Films and Sound Fix Records \n\n\nFollow ed by La Cornona y Alguna Tristeza \n \n\nListen to Yerbabuena on MySpace \n Buy Tickets to the show at going.com . \n\nVenue: The Roof of El Museo del Barrio \n \nTicket price includes all of th e events on July 11th\, including the music performance\, the films and the reception. \n \n About the Band: \n YERBABUENA (one word) is a group of individuals who come together to play the music that they lov e under the musical direction of singer-composer-musician Tato Torres . It is composed of musicians\, singers and dancers from the New York C ity area\, who share an intense passion for the musical traditions of Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. \n \nThe last thing that will come to yo ur mind while at a YERBABUENA event is that you're watching a show\, it feels more like a cross between a jam in the park\, a spiritual ce remony and a family reunion. They convey wholeness and harmony\, and t heir music is moving beyond belief. The music they play is\, by nature \, participatory. Whether bomba\, plena or mú\;sica jí\ ;bara \, it's all interactive. And being witness to their vibrant soun ds and the deep joy that making music together gives them\, just leave s the audience no choice but to join in the chorus or dance for the dr ums. After a YERBABUENA session\, you'll be uplifted\, tired and happy . CATEGORIES:Live Music Pre-Show - admission included with purchase of a ti cket to the films LOCATION:On The Roof @ El Museo Del Barrio URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/soundfixpresentsyerbabuena_r ooftopfilms2008 UID:148214577-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080711T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080711T213000 SUMMARY:La Corona y Alguna Tristeza DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n The beauty and melancholy of Latin A merica are intertwined in documentaries from Colombia and Peru. \n \n Venue: on the roof of El Museo Del Barrio \n Address: 1230 Fifth Avenue @ 104th Street (East Harlem) \n Directions: 6 to 103rd St. or 2 /3 to 110th St. \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held in doors at the same location \n 8:00PM: Doors open \n 8:30PM: Sound F ix presents live music by Yerbbauena \n 9:00PM: Films \n Presented in partnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, and El Museo de l Barrio \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \n La Corona y Alguna Tristeza (Sho rt Films) \n \n \nRooftop Films organized the first ever screenings on t he roof of El Museo Del Barrio in 2007 and we are proud to return there this summer to present three more screenings atop their beautiful buildi ng. Since its founding in 1969\, El Museo del Barrio has evolved into Ne w York’s leading Latino cultural institution\, having expanded its missi on to represent the diversity of art and culture in all of the Caribbean and Latin America. \n \nBefitting the location\, all of our shows at E l Museo Del Barrio will highlight the work being done by Latino filmmake rs and artists as well as issues relating to life in and around El Barri o. On July 11th\, we will be presenting two profound and accomplished do cumentaries that display the alternately wistful and enthusiastic dreams of a few troubled citizens of Latin America. \n \n \nFor better and for worse\, the varied peoples of Latin America are bound by a common\, tur bulent history—that of colonization by the nations of Europe and cynical manipulation by the United States\, twin afflictions which have stymied national and class unity and interfered with the potential for the men and women of the region to take pride in their lives and culture. Both o f the documentaries in this program speak to these imprisoned hopes in d ifferent\, but equally beautiful and uplifting ways: one is a brilliantl y poetic sketchbook and travelogue about a trip through the mountains of Peru\; the other an inverted success story about an annual beauty pagea nt in one of Colombia’s women prisons. The producers of these two films do not attempt to offer answers or propose solutions to the regions myri ad problems\, but neither do they exhibit lack of hope for the future. I n the end\, the willfulness of the subjects and the sheer beauty of thes e works make the same case for optimism: even in times of despair\, we c ontain within ourselves the capacity to find some kind of loveliness wit hin the struggle. \n \n Click on the films below to read descriptions\, rate them\, add them to your calendar\, etc. \n CATEGORIES:Shorts Program LOCATION:On The Roof @ El Museo Del Barrio URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/thecrownandsomekindofsadness _rooftopfilms2008 UID:148191579-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080712T203000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080712T210000 SUMMARY:Sound Fix Presents: She Keeps Bees DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n She Keeps Bees performs li ve before the film! \n Presented by Rooftop Films and Sound Fix Records \n\n\nFollo wed by Knee Deep \n \n\nListen to She Keeps Bees on MySpace \n Buy Tickets to the show at going.com . \n\nVenue: The Roof of the Old American Can Factory \n \nTicket price includes all of the eve nts on July 12th\, including the music performance and the films. \n \ n About the Performer: \n CATEGORIES:Live Music Pre-Show - admission included with purchase of a ti cket to the films LOCATION:Roof @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/soundfixpresentsshekeepsbees _rooftopfilms2008 UID:148214769-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080712T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080712T213000 SUMMARY:Knee Deep DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n Matricide gets a modern twist in thi s bittersweet true-crime story of a Maine boy who believed the family farm was his\, right up until the day his mother evicted him. On that day\, Mom got shot. \n \n Venue: On the roof of The Old American Can Factory \n Address: 232 3rd Street at the corner of 3rd Avenue (Gowanu s\, Brooklyn) \n Directions: F\, G to Carroll Street or M\, R to Union Street and read here for directions from the train| Map \n Ra in: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same loca tion \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by She Keeps Bees 9:00PM: Films \n Tickets: $6 at going.com for a limited time \n \ n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, and XØ\; Projects \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \n &ldquo\;A rural Ras homon\, and\, like the masterful movie it most resembles\, 1992&rsquo\;s Brother&rsquo\;s Keeper \, it is up to us to figure it all out. Amaz ing&hellip\;mesmerizing&hellip\;one of the best documentaries on close d off communities and human politics ever mounted.&rdquo\; --Bill Gi bron\, DVD Talk. \n \nIf you travel through Maine and leave behind the familiar coast of summer vacations\, you find yourself in a different M aine\, the Maine of fields\, farms\, work and dirt. It’s a place most to urists never see—as the locals say\, the real Maine. \nThis is where Jos h Osborne was raised\, on his family’s third-generation dairy farm in Fa rmington\, with his mother\, father\, and two sisters. Pulled out of sch ool in the sixth grade\, Josh would get lost on the five-mile trip to to wn and faced a life of hard labor. He worked on the farm every day for a dozen years on the promise that it would someday be his. \nBut things d idn’t turn out that way. Which is why on a beautiful summer’s day\, this 22-year-old farm boy found himself aiming a rifle at his mother. Drawin g from verite footage\, home movies\, interviews\, police tapes\, crime scene videos\, love letters\, and re-creations\, Knee Deep asks the ques tion: Why would a son try to kill his mother? The answers are surprising ly tragic and comic. \n \nKnee Deep is certainly the story of Josh and his family\, but it is also a portrait of a community in transition and it vividly displays the impact that rapid development has on small towns and big cities the world over. The lure of so called “easy money” lures individuals and city planners to sell their traditional farms and local industrial districts to big developers\, re-zoning lands to build condo miniums and McMansions\, all too often failing to realize that they have traded away the land that sustains their businesses and keeps their eco nomies diverse and their society self-sustaining. Josh’s betrayal by his mother is\, in the end\, a deliciously melodramatic metaphor for the wa y that we forsake the future of our society as we shut down family farms and local manufacturers. \n \n \n Part of Rooftop Films and XO Projects ’ INDUSTRIANCE™ Series: films\, discussions\, installations and more abo ut the changing landscape in industry\, architecture\, agriculture\, lab or\, and related fields. \n \n\n CATEGORIES:Feature LOCATION:Roof @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/kneedeep_rooftopfilms2008 UID:148191876-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080718T203000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080718T210000 SUMMARY:Sound Fix Presents: Goddamn Rattlesnake DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n Goddamn Rattlesnake performs live before t he films! \n \nPresented by Rooftop Films and Sound Fix Records \nFol lowed by the Short Film Program \n Rural Route Films \n \n\nListen to Goddamn Rattlesnake on MySpace \n Buy Tickets to the show at g oing.com . \n\nVenue: Automotive High School \n \nTicket price incl udes all events that evening\, including the musical performance\, the f ilms\, and admission to the open bar after party at Matchless \, spon sored by Radeberger Beer \n \n About the Band: CATEGORIES:Live Music Pre-Show - admission included with purchase of a ti cket to the films LOCATION:Lawn @ Automotive HS URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/soundfixpresentsgoddamnrattl esnake_rooftopfilms2008 UID:148214986-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080718T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080718T213000 SUMMARY:Rural Route DESCRIPTION:\n The rougher side of the rural life. Short films about trou blemakers\, hell-raisers\, and two entire towns that brawl annually. \n Free gift from The Brooklyn Kitchen to the first 100 attendees who arrive at the show! \n \n \n \n Venue: On the lawn of Automot ive High School \n Address: 50 Bedford Ave\, between N. 12th and Lori mer (Williamsburg Brooklyn) \n Directions: L to Bedford Avenue OR G to Nassau Avenue Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location 8:00PM: Doors open \n 8:30PM: So und Fix presents live music by Goddamn Rattlesnake \n 9:00PM: Film s \n 11:30PM - 1:00AM: Open Bar After Party at Matchless (557 Manhat tan Avenue @ Driggs ) Courtesy of Radeberger beer and Cabana Cachaca \n \n Tickets: $9 at going.com \n Preview: See short film s from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in par tnership with: Rural Route \, Cabana Cachaca \, Radeberger \, The B rooklyn Kitchen \, IFC.com \, New York magazine \, and Automotive Hi gh School \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \n Every year at Rooftop we co- present a program with The Rural Route Film Festival \, and usually we have a show about the greener side of life\, the pastoral peace of count ry living. We spread out on the lovely lawn at Automotive High School\, have a picnic\, and wax poetic about nature—the quiet lands\, the kindly folks\, the soothing solitude. \n\nBut that ain’t gonna happen this yea r. In this show we’ve got escaped convicts and their daring daughters\, psychotic pumpkin salesman and their would-be sons\, shitters\, shiners and more. This show is about how that seemingly peaceful pasture turns i nto an eerily isolated nightmare. How that innocent little rube of a gir l turns out to be a ruthless vixen. How one small town uniquely thrills for a sport that’s just a step above total mob chaos. This is a show to shock and shake up us city folk\, and show off just how rugged the Rural Route is—this year we’re burning rubber in the road. \n \n Click on th e films below to read descriptions\, rate them\, add them to your calend ar\, etc. \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Shorts Program LOCATION:Lawn @ Automotive HS URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/ruralroute_rooftopfilms2008 UID:148191958-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080718T233000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080719T010000 SUMMARY:After Party with Cabana Cachaca and Radeberger at Bar Matchless DESCRIPTION: \n\n After every Rooftop Films show at Automotive High Sch ool \, everyone who attends the screening is invited to an open bar afte r-party at Bar Matchless (557 Manhattan Avenue @ Driggs). On August 18th\, we'll have 90 minutes of free Cabana Cachaca and Radeberger B eer . \n \nIt's a great opportunity to meet the filmmakers and Rooftop F ilms staff and to relax with a drink to talk about the movies.\n\nYou mu st be 21 or over to attend the after party and you MUST get a wristban d at the show before heading over to the bar. \n \n \n \n \n \n CATEGORIES:After Party LOCATION:Matchless URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/afterpartywithcabanacachacaa ndradebergeratbarmatchless_rooftopfilms2008 UID:155992372-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080719T203000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080719T210000 SUMMARY:Sound Fix Presents: Pwrfl Power DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n Pwrfl Power performs li ve before the fi lm! \n Presented by Rooftop Films and Sound Fix Records \n\n\nFollowe d by Industriance Shorts: Livelong Day \n \n\nListen to Pwrfl Po wer on MySpace \n Buy Tickets to the show at going.com . \n\ nVenue: The Roof of the Old American Can Factory \n \nTicket price in cludes all of the events on July 19th\, including the music performance and the films. \n \n About the Performer: \nAn unconventional marria ge of melodically rich\, Fahey-styled acoustic virtuosity and conversati onal\, knowingly naive lyrical abandon. With the most basic of building blocks\, Nomura forges a uniquely avant-informed brand of outsider folk music--one that relies as much on impish mischief as it does on consider ed craft and technique. \n \n \nPWRFL POWER has shared bills with Daniel Johnston\, No Age\, White Magic\, Beach House\, Wooden Wand\, Jana Hunt er\, Tiny Vipers\, John Vanderslice\, and countless others. He is the fi rst musician to be on the cover of Seattle’s Stranger in 9 years and the winner of “Block Star Contest\, which resulted in him being cast as him self singing “it’s okay” in an Esurance TV commercial. CATEGORIES:Live Music Pre-Show - admission included with purchase of a ti cket to the films LOCATION:Roof @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/soundfixpresentspwrflpower_r ooftopfilms2008 UID:148210495-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080719T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080719T213000 SUMMARY:INDUSTRIANCE: The Livelong Day DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n\n Short films about the weirder side of work. Dancing dock hands\, desperate CEOs\, out-of-control operati ng system salesmen and radioactive chicken. \n \n Venue: On the roo f of The Old American Can Factory \n Address: 232 3rd Street at the co rner of 3rd Avenue (Gowanus\, Brooklyn) \n Directions: F\, G to Carr oll Street or M\, R to Union Street and read here for directions f rom the train| Map \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be hel d indoors at the same location \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live mu sic by Pwrfl Power 9:00PM: Films \n Tickets: $9 at going.com \ n \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC. com \n Presented in partnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, and XØ\; Projects \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \nFor some folks\, work is their passion\, and they’re willing to lose money to save a dyin g industry like drive-in movies\, or spend their free time nostalgically playing at a children’s version of their profession\, like the railroad ers who maintain model trains. For other folks\, work is a struggle\, as white-collar wimps jostle for jobs and harried commuters are heckled by the very infrastructure that supports them. But for most everyone\, wor k is a necessity\, and so we present a joyful program about jobs that’s both hard-working and humorous. \n \n \nPart of Rooftop Films and XO Pro jects’ INDUSTRIANCE™ Series: films\, discussions\, installations and mor e about the changing landscape in industry\, architecture\, agriculture\ , labor\, and related fields. \n \n \n Click on the films below to read descriptions\, rate them\, add them to your calendar\, and more. CATEGORIES:Shorts Program LOCATION:Roof @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/industriancethelivelongday_r ooftopfilms2008 UID:148192402-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080725T203000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080725T210000 SUMMARY:Sound Fix Presents: Plushgun DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n Plushgun performs live before the films! \n \nPresented by Rooftop Films and Sound Fix Records \nFollowed by the Short Film Program Animation Block Party \n \n\nListen to Plushgun on MySpace \n Buy Tickets to the show at going.com . \n\nVenu e: Automotive High School \n \nTicket price includes all events that evening\, including the musical performance\, the films\, and admission to the open bar after party at Matchless \, sponsored by Radeberger Beer \n \n About the Band: \nPlushgun is a project birthed in the cr amped confines of Dan Ingala's overpriced and undersized "bedroom" in Ne w York City. While writing a song on his acoustic guitar\, Dan had an id ea: "what if I added some synths to this?" And synths he added\, and thi s song is known today as "Just Impolite." Dan incorporated the name Plus hgun to this project\, as in something soft\, something killer.\n \n "J ust Impolite" hit Myspace in February of '07\, and in just months\, thro ugh word of mouth\, the project spread from one fan to another\, until i t was heard by RagTag productions\, producers of the popular "We Need Gi rlfriends" web-tv series who approached Dan about using his music in the ir show. Plushgun was then introduced to a new audience\, and Plushgun's popularity grew exponentially. \nWhen people started to demand live sho ws\, Dan was scared. It was just him and a computer\, and computers tend to be terrible showmen. So he asked for help from past acquaintance\, g uitarist\, and showman extraordinaire Taylor Armstrong to bring this pro ject to the live stage. Plushgun then absorbed the talents of Pearson Co nstantino\, a drummer whose ability to compete with electronic drums was unmatched\, and Sam Kim aka "Kamuela"\, bassist\, backup-singer\, actor \, and all-around cool-dude. \n \n \nPlushgun's songs are nostalgic\, po ppy\, dance-able\, and surprisingly deep. Whether they are about chasing dying romances ("Just Impolite")\, high-school anxiety ("How We Roll") or angst-riddled anthems for a lost generation ("Dancing in a Minefield\ ,") Plushgun tackles these themes with unabashed catchiness in an electr olicious soundscape.\n \n \n CATEGORIES:Live Music Pre-Show - admission included with purchase of a ti cket to the films LOCATION:Lawn @ Automotive HS URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/soundflixpresentsplushgun_ro oftopfilms2008 UID:148208973-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080725T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080725T213000 SUMMARY:Animation Block Party DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n Some of the best\, new\, animated sh ort films from around the world\, co-presented by Animation Block. \ n \n Venue: On the lawn of Automotive High School \n Address: 50 Be dford Ave\, between N. 12th and Lorimer (Williamsburg Brooklyn) \n Direc tions: L to Bedford Avenue OR G to Nassau Avenue Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location 8:00PM: Doors open \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Plu shgun 9:00PM: Films \n 11:30PM - 1:00AM: Open Bar After Party at Matchless (557 Manhattan Avenue @ Driggs ) Courtesy of Radeberger bee r \n Tickets: $9 at going.com \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partnership with : Animation Block \, IFC.com \, New York magazine \, and Automotiv e High School \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \nSome call it punk rock\, som e call it grass roots\, but labels aside\, NYC based Animation Block Par ty is dedicated to exhibiting the world's best independent\, professiona l and student animation. Since the premiere of the first official Animat ion Block Party film festival on September 9th 2004\, Animation Block ha s received over 3500 animation submissions from all ends of the earth an d screened many of the greatest animated shorts made anywhere. With a lo yal and enthusiastic fan base\, Animation Block Party programs are not m erely screenings—they are exciting film events. \n \n \nThe 2008 Animati on Block Party will run from July 25-27 starting with an opening night a t Rooftop Films at Automotive High School\, followed by two days of scre enings at Bam Cinematek. The festival will feature more than 80 films\, including premieres from the world's top animators\, newfound student wo rks and the best professional and indie shorts of all genres. \n \n \nFo llowing the Rooftop screening on July 25th\, all in attendance will have the opportunity to meet the filmmakers and festival organizers at the a fter party at Bar Matchless with beer courtesy of Radeberger. \nThe full list of films will be available in July online at www.rooftopfilms.com \n \n \n The Films \n Intelligent Life: Michael Langan (1 min) \ nA "green" public service message from ABP and Michael Langan. \n \n Kid Show: Tom Deslongchamp (2:45 min) \nWatch children sing\, dance\, draw and jump. \n \n The Adventures of Tommy T-Bone: David Icely (: 45 seconds) \nWith the help of his toaster friend\, Tommy avoids the ch opping block. \n \n Chef Barry: Chelsea Manifold (1 min) \nChef Bar ry is the ultimate cable-access guide to stoner cooking. \n \n Lotion s Eleven: Matt Lee (2 min) \nThe opening chapter of the popular Lotion s series with all of today&apos\;s favorite Hollywood megastars. \n \ n Burnout: Alex Cormack (1:20 min) \nStill images flicker into a craze d car chase. \n \n Vincent Security: Ashley Holzwasser (1 min) \nOl d school guard\, Vincent gives the "new guy" a tour of the office. \n \n I Live In The Woods: Max Winston (3 min) \nA woodsman's manic jou rney and confrontation with America's God. \n \n Taxi Guy: Hubert Ch an (2 min) \nA day in the life of a city cab driver. \n \n Roommates : Mike Hollingsworth (2 min) \nBennie confronts Matt about problems in the apartment. \n \n Zombie Movie: Garrett K. and Taylor Armstrong (1 min) \nA zombie decapitates everything in his path of destruction. \n \n Bush Vs. Bin Laden: Darren Way (2 min) \nG. W. Bush versus Osa ma Bin Laden in a stop-motion Western shootout! \n \n PSA for Pedophi les: Luis Cerritos (1 min) \nA warning to the world from Luis Cerritos and friends. \n \n Lupo Dentro: Gabriele Diaferia (5 min) \nA seri es of demented gags in a bizarre world inhabited by fairytale characters . \n \n The Flower Colour Sound Cartoon: Phil Dubrovsky and Dale Hay ward (2 min) \nAn epic tale of an optimistic flower. \n \n Lunch Lad y: Steve Stark (1 min) \nDon&apos\;t mess with the Lunch Lady\, ever. \n \n Feast: Kerpely Adel\, JiHyun Ahn (3 min) \nA fat man keeps e ating and eating. This is a story about the biter and the bitten. \n \n Breakfast Outtake: Bob Fox (:30 seconds) \nGreg and Christian don&a pos\;t order the usual. \n \n Magnetic Squirrel — Dog Dazed: Patrick Mallek (2 min) \nThe Magnetic Squirrel avoids various obstacles in rou te to his delicious nuts. \n \n Puke Bug: Jeremie Duval (1:30 min) \nThat zany puke bug steals a penny from his nemesis\, the non-puke bug. \n \n Conflict Resolution: All Things Media (1:44 min) \n \nOpie and Jimmy work out their differences the only way they know how. \n \ n Team Yo Shimbo: Chester Knebel and Will White (1:20 min) \nThe hard streets of the playground basketball to the most extreme. \n \n A Let ter to Colleen: London Squared (8:30 min) \nAndy writes to Colleen in an attempt to put his 18th birthday demons to rest. \n \n Cuddle Stic ks: Mike Geiger (2:40 min) \nA boy and his favorite popsicle-like snac k work their magic. \n \n Ziptoc: Vera Wing Lui (2 min) \nA story a bout a little girl who loves to keep everything fresh. \n \n Blindspo t: Norah Solorzano (5 min) \nA surreal film interprets the singular ag onies of childhood and of being oneself.\n \n BullHorn: Nathan Gooden (5 min) \nA Western genre short\, exploring of the beginning of hate and revenge. \n \n Meet The American States: Tommy Cannon (2 mi n) \nIntroducing America.\n \n Sudden Change: Preston Spurlock ( 2 min) \nThe wonders of the female menstrual cycle. \n \n Tales for Cruel People: Hans Blume\, Igor Buharov\, Ivan Buharov (6:45 min) \nSa d stories about happiness. \n \n In The Beginning: Choom Lam (3:45 m in) \nA tale about how the universe began has a very unexpected end. \n \n Elephant Girl: David Lobser (5 min) \nTwo sisters who are more than sisters. \n \n Year of the Polygon: Tim Dormady\, Zane Kozak\, Yurie Rocha (2 min) \nA rebel takes us on a tour of a conceptual E-spa ce 'Mega Excellent City'. \n \n ABP Outro : Adam Ansorge \n\n \n \n CATEGORIES:Shorts Program LOCATION:Lawn @ Automotive HS URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/animationblockparty_rooftopf ilms2008 UID:148205380-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080725T233000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080726T000000 SUMMARY:After Party: Open Bar at Matchless DESCRIPTION: \n\n After every Rooftop Films show at Automotive High Sch ool \, everyone who attends the screening is invited to an open bar afte r-party with free Radeberger Beer at Bar Matchless (557 Manhattan A venue @ Driggs). \n \n \nIt's a great opportunity to meet the filmmakers and Rooftop Films staff and to relax with a drink to talk about the mov ies.\n\nYou must be 21 or over to attend the after party and you MUST get a wristband at the show before heading over to the bar. \n \n \ n \n \n CATEGORIES:After Party - Open Bar included with purchase of a ticket to t he evenings films LOCATION:Matchless URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/afterpartyopenbaratmatchless _rooftopfilms2008 UID:148209390-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080726T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080726T213000 SUMMARY:In A Dream DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n When the filmmaker set out to make a documentary about the legendary mosaics his father pieces together\, he didn&rsquo\;t mean to take his family apart. An eye-popping and hea rt-wrenching documentary about art and love\, merging home movies and public expression. \n \n Advance Tickets sold out\, but advance tickets WILL be available at the door\, starting at 8 PM. \n \n Venue: On the roof of The Old American Can Factory \n Address: 232 3rd Street at the corner of 3rd Avenue (Gowanus\, Brooklyn) \n Directions: F\, G to Carroll Street or M\, R to Union Street and read here for direc tions from the train| Map \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music 9:00PM: Films \n 11:00PM-1:00AM: After Party in the Court yard with free wine courtesy of Brooklyn Oenology and free beer courte sy of Radeberger \n Tickets: $9 at the door. \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in par tnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, and XØ\; Projec ts \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \nThis stunning documentary is really the pe rfect film for Rooftop\, where we don’t screen in theaters\, we screen i n communities. We take independent cinema out of the underground and int o the outdoors\, and match films with venues and neighborhoods to create meaningful and intimate connections. It’s a marriage of widely public a rt and deeply personal cinema. \n \n \nIsaiah Zagar’s gigantic\, intri cate murals have been part of a Philadelphia revitalization for decades. In the 1960s\, Zagar and other artists were in danger of losing their h omes and studios because they city wanted to build a Crosstown Highway. But all along South Street\, Zagar crafted mosaics that filled the entir e sides of decaying buildings\, and along with many other residents\, ac tivists and artists\, the community successfully foiled the eminent doma in abuse and saved their neighborhood. (For an amazing interactive 360-d egree view of Zagar’s Magic Garden\, and an excellent history of Zagar’s involvement in helping to preserve and heal the Center City neighborhoo d in Philadelphia\, visit: www.isaiahzagar.org and www.philadelphiasm agicgardens.org/history.html ). \n \n \nOf course\, as is often the ca se\, places like the Magic Garden\, Julia and Isaiah Zagar’s gallery\, a nd the many other theaters\, cafes and shops that opened in the neighbor hood led to the skyrocketing real estate prices\, so the struggle to sur vive and create continues. But with Zagar\, his art addresses social iss ues\, but comes from a very personal place. His murals are infused with the interests\, stories\, and loves of his life. The names of his friend s and family are woven into the walls\, and portraits spring from the ja gged patterns. Mirror shards are scattered through his murals\, indicati ng the self-reflective nature of the work\, for both Zagar and the publi c. \n \n \nIt was this milieu and perspective that Jeremiah Zagar aime d to capture with a documentary about his father. He ended up with much more. Similar to the way his father’s art makes private passions public\ , Jeremiah’s film unexpectedly reveals the fragility of his family’s lif e. In A Dream plays like one of our favorite genres here at Rooftop\, th e home movie (our annual screening of Home Movies will be on 8/1/08)\, w here only a filmmaker personally invested in the story could discover an d disclose the intimate difficulties—mistreatment\, infidelity\, drug ab use\, mental instability. But that same private perspective is what keep s the film honest\, never veering into sensationalism. Told with dexteri ty\, sensitivity and poignancy\, In a Dream is an eye-popping and heart- wrenching documentary about art and love\, merging home movies and publi c expression. \n \n \n Part of Rooftop Films and XO Projects’ INDUSTRI ANCE™ Series: films\, discussions\, installations and more about the cha nging landscape in industry\, architecture\, agriculture\, labor\, and r elated fields. \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Feature LOCATION:Roof @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/inadream_rooftopfilms2008 UID:148193286-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080726T233000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080727T000000 SUMMARY:After Party in the OACF Courtyard DESCRIPTION:Outside in the courtyard including wine courtesy of Brooklyn Oeneology. CATEGORIES:Event LOCATION:Courtyard @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/afterparty_rooftopfilms2008 UID:148210133-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080801T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080802T005400 SUMMARY:My Effortless Brilliance DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n Dumped by his best buddy\, a su ccessful novelist voyages into the wilderness to track down his old pal\ , get drunk in the woods\, and hunt cougars in this brilliantly understa ted comedy about bad friendships between good friends. \n \n Ve nue: On the lawn of Automotive High School \n Address: 50 Bedfo rd Ave\, between N. 12th and Lorimer (Williamsburg Brooklyn) \n Dire ctions: L to Bedford Avenue OR G to Nassau Avenue \n Ra in: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same loca tion \n 8:00PM: Doors open \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents l ive music by Drew and the Medicinal Pen \n 9:00PM: Films \n 11:30PM - 1:00AM: Open Bar After Party at Matchless (557 Manhattan A venue @ Driggs ) Courtesy of Radeberger beer \n Tickets: $9 at goin g.com \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, Hint Water \, Council Member David Yassky &\; A utomotive HS \n \n \n All in attendance will receive a co mplimentary bottle of Hint Water \n\n \n PROGRAM NOTES: My Effortless Brilliance (Lynn Shelton | Washington | 1:19:00) \n \nSean Nelson (the charismatic lead singer of Harvey Danger ) plays E ric Lambert Jones\, a critically lauded but self-involved writer who has been unceremoniously left behind by his long-time best friend. In an at tempt to piece together the fractured friendship\, Eric takes a side tri p from his latest book tour to drop in on Dylan\, newly settled in the p icturesque backwoods of Washington state. An awkward weekend ensues as t he two ex-buddies chop wood\, match wits and ultimately embark on an imp romptu\, booze-soaked cougar hunt with Dylan's enigmatic and strangely m enacing new friend\, Jim (Rooftop alumnus Calvin Reeder). \n \n \nWritin g in collaboration with the film's performers\, director Lynn Shelton ta kes a cinema verite approach to this\, her second narrative feature. The approach is similar to that of many strong new independent dramas\, as Shelton and her team built the characters and plotline around its stars rather than writing a script and fitting actors into predetermined rolls . But My Effortless Brilliance is much more concise\, focused and—most i mportantly—funny\, than even the best of the films it resembles. The per formances by Nelson and Harris seem deceptively casual\, but beneath the surface a very real tension exists between the two that simmers without ever erupting or exploding into a contrived denouement. \n \nCertainly one of the best films to premiere at 2008’s South By Southwest Film Fes tival\, My Effortless Brilliance is a subtle\, brilliant\, naturalistic yet wonderfully engaging\, charming and often hilarious new drama from t he Pacific Northwest. Lean and loose like a vacation in the woods with f riends\, yet structured and riveting like a finely crafted novella\, Lyn n Shelton’s film is a joy to watch\, a pleasure to consider afterwards\, and one of the most surprising films of the year. \n \n \nPreceded by: \n Snake (Becky James | New York | 3:00) \nDeceptively playful\, Snake is a film about stubbornness in the face of change. The film chronicles a failure to deal with growing up while using its extremely appealing ch aracters and sounds to glorify the obdurate attempt to replace what is l ost.\n \n \n I Shot the Mayor (or Plan B) (Astrid Bussink | Scotland | 6:00) \nThe plan that wasn't much of a plan. ‘I shot the mayor (or Plan B) is a film about documentary filmmaking. In a search that is as exciti ng as it is naïve\, filmmaker Astrid Bussink finds herself out of luck a nd ends up being directed by her subject. ‘I shot the mayor (or Plan B)’ is a humorous and personal approach to the delicate matter of finding a subject for your film\; you can’t always shoot what you want… \n \n \ n CATEGORIES:Feature LOCATION:Lawn @ Automotive HS URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/myeffortlessbrilliance_rooft opfilms2008 UID:156067875-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080802T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080802T203000 SUMMARY:Home Movies DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n Home Movies \n \n Fragile memories\, prese rved (and distorted) in motion pictures. Fun\, fascinating\, personal an d profound. \n \n Venue: On the lawn along the Gowanu s Canal at The Yard \n Address: 400 Carroll Street (btw. Bond / Nevins - Carroll Gardens) \n Directions: F / G to Carroll at Smit h\, walk 3 blocks east (downhill) on Carroll or M / R to Union\, walk 2 blocks south to a left on Carroll \n Rain: In the event of rain t he show will be held indoors nearby at The Old American Can Factory\, 23 2 3rd Street (corner of 3rd Avenue) \n 8:00PM: Doors open \n 8:30 PM: Sound Fix Presents Live Music by The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players \n \n 9:00PM: Films \n 11:00PM – 12:30AM: Receptio n including free wine courtesy of Brooklyn Oenology \n Tickets: $9 a t the door or online at going.com \n Preview: See short films fro m this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partne rship with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, Brooklyn Oenology \, M eanRed Productions and The Yard \n \n The first 100 in attend ance will receive a FREE copy of Jim Munroe's book\, An Opening of Unsp eakable Evil\, a novel about a demonic ritual that catches on with the kids as peformance art. The book even includes a scene that features a R ooftop FIlms show! Read more about it here \n PROGRAM NOTES: \n Every year Rooftop hosts a program of Home Movies—discovering t he forgotten\, unmediated moments of people’s lives\, unfiltered and as they live them. The films reveal textures\, patterns\, feelings that mig ht go unnoticed\, fleeting incidents that would otherwise pass without t hought\, but when captured on film or video provide an insight into the lives captured\, or those recording.\n \n \nThis year’s program is sligh tly different\, in that it’s less about the immediate moment than about the reflected moment—less web cam and more video diary. We use diaries t o record our most intimate feelings. What we write is raw and honest. We vent\, we explore\, we admit our fears and regrets. The films in this p rogram 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. \n \n\n\n\n THE FILMS \n Full E ffect (Jeremy Bailey | Toronto\, ON | 2:20) \nVeteran Rooftop filmmake r Jeremy Bailey wants to be understood\, and pulls out his most emotive video effects in a desperate plea to connect with you. \n\n Carmichael & Shane (Alex Weinress & Rob Carlton | Pymble\, Australia | 6:00) \nS hane also wants to be understood\, but there’s only so much compassion g oing around. A comic tale about twins. \n\n Baby Cakes Diary #3 (Brad Neely | Austin\, TX | 2:45) \nBaby Cakes profound thoughts are recorde d in another day’s diary: a trip to the park with a bag of banana chowde r\, a search for wizard turds\, and a glimpse of the Brain Fuckler\, jus t fuckling the shit out of people’s brains. \n\n Film Makes Us Happy (Bryan Wizeman | Brooklyn\, NY | 12:20) \nWhen filmmaking is your passi on but also your problem\, turning the camera on your own life may be th e only solution. Rooftop alum Wizeman “documents the last fight my wife and I will ever have about making films.” \n\n Every Other Girl in the World (Christopher Miner | Jackson\, MS | 29:00) \nWhen Rooftop last saw Miner (Between Me and the Earth\, 6/22/07)\, he was traveling to Nia gara Falls to shed his virginity. Now we’re with him on his honeymoon in Acapulco\, where he once spent a summer\, years ago. But his wife doesn ’t know his complicated history\, and Miner’s own critical self-analysis (and over-thinking) threatens to ruin the trip\, if not the marriage\, just as they begin. \n\n INTERMISSION \n \n\n I Met the Walrus (Josh Raskin | Toronto\, ON | 6:00) \nIn 1969\, 14-year-old Jerry Levitan (t he producer of this film) captured one of the greatest teenage home reco rdings of all time: he snuck into John Lennon’s apartment to conduct an impromptu interview. Almost 40 years later\, animator John Raskin uneart hs the tape\, and poetically gives life to this long lost artifact\, whi ch puts Levitan’s youthful optimism in balance with Lennon’s cynical hop es. \n\n Count Backwards from Five (Tony Gault | Glenwood Springs\, CO | 6:00) \nA visual exploration of generosity and addiction. Tony Gault returns to Rooftop\, using old answering machine tapes and home movie f ootage to decipher his brother’s serenely troubled life. \n\n Relax at Home (Sara Pomerance | New York\, NY | 3:30) \nOne of the misfortunes of old age is revealed in this simple slice of life at a relaxing brunc h. \n\n A Film About Violence (Ethan Knecht | New York\, NY | 1:00) \nThe simple and powerful example of the ways the film frame shapes (and distorts) our understanding. \n\n White Vans (Aren Hansen | Vancouve r\, BC | 13:00) \nHansen uses video surveillance to set a trap for a bi ke thief\, but learns more about himself and the nature of revenge than he learns about the would-be criminal. \n\n The Things She Would Tell Me (Miryam Welbourne | Brooklyn\, NY | 2:00) \nAn innocently recorded lunch conversation reveals a shockingly guilt-free revelation about lov e and murder. \n\n The Apology Line (James Lees | London\, UK | 10:00 ) \nMembers of the public anonymously confess to absolutely anything ov er the telephone.\n \n \n CATEGORIES:Shorts Program LOCATION:The Yard URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/homemovies_rooftopfilms2008 UID:157539682-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080806T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080806T203000 SUMMARY:Trouble The Water DESCRIPTION:The story of an aspiring rap artist and her streetwise husban d who are trapped in New Orleans by deadly floodwaters. Armed only with a video camera\, they show what survival is all about. \n \n Ven ue: On the Lawn adjacent to the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center\, 110t h St. between 5th and Lenox Aves. MAP \n Directions: 2/3 to 110th Str eet \n Rain: the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the Mu seum of the City of New York (1220 Fifth Avenue--check rooftopfilms.com or call 718-417-7362 for updates) \n 8:00PM: Live music 8:30PM: The f ilm Admission: FREE \n Presented in partnership with: ASCAP Emp loyees For Relief Fund \, Historic Harlem Parks \, Zeitgeist Films \, the Central Park Conservancy \, ASCAP and imagenation . \n T rouble the Water (Tia Lessin and Carl Deal | New Orleans | 1:37:00) K imberly Rivers Roberts and her husband Scott had just gotten a video cam era a few weeks before Hurricane Katrina hit their neighborhood\, New Or leans' 9th Ward. Trouble the Water\, directed by Rooftop's neighbors and friends Tia Lessin and Carl Deal\, includes Kim and Scott's astonishing footage documenting the experience. With overwhelming compassion and ho nesty\, it tells the story of so many people in America today&mdash\;tho se whose lives were ruined (or lost) to Katrina\, and those across the c ountry who are being left behind by an uncaring government. Trouble th e Water was the winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at t he 2008 Sundance Film Festival. When the rains come and the water begi ns to rise\, Kim points her camera at the wind-lashed streets while her off-camera monologue mixes prayers and bravado\, fear\, resignation and hope. The flooding forces Kim and Scott into their attic of their traile r house\, along with neighbors and children they rescue. When desperate people call 911 for help\, they are simply told that no rescue teams are coming until the flooding recedes\, leaving thousands to die. The toll would have been even higher if it weren't for the heroism of people like Kim and Scott's neighbor\, a drug dealer named Larry Simms\, who swims from house to house with a large punching bag\, floating women and child ren to safety. In jarring contrast\, the local Navy base\, which is lo cated on the highest ground in the neighborhood\, is running emergency g enerators for power\, and\, because of government cutbacks\, had around 500 empty apartments\, offers no help at all. When Scott and others appr oach the base\, they are greeted with automatic weapons and told to leav e. "What good is it to have a military if they can't serve us\," Scott s ays ruefully. After the storm\, when National Guardsmen show up to help rebuild New Orleans\, one of the locals earnestly says to them\, "I hope you don't have to go back to Iraq because that ain't our war. Our war i s here." Trouble the Water follows Kim and Scott for over a year as th ey try to rebuild their lives and their city. They battle FEMA for their pitifully small relief assistance checks\, struggle to start a new life in a new city\, and are still looked-down upon by the very authorities meant to serve them. Rooftop alum PJ Raval shot the post-hurricane foota ge\, and he has done a brilliant job showing the destruction of the city without fetishizing the ruins\, as so many films do. His intelligent ci nematography highlights the heartfelt compassion the filmmakers feel for their subjects\, creating a perfect balance between Kim's footage and t he "professional" footage shot later. Indeed\, what makes Trouble the Wa ter such a significant film is the way Deal\, Lessin and editor T. Woody Richman collect and arrange the dramatic parallels and contradictions\, allowing them to focus a grand socio-political story through the lens o f a tragic personal narrative. The emotional climax of the film comes directly from Kim's talents and spirit\, as she belts out a song about h er life directly at the camera. She has a dynamic gift for rhythm and rh yme\, and the insightful and intimate lyrics that lay her emotions bare create one of the most breathtaking pieces of music ever captured in fil m. Of all the excellent Katrina documentaries and narratives\, none so perfectly encapsulates the human tragedy in New Orleans and across the country as Trouble the Water. * * * \n \n \n \nS ee Trouble the Water again\, and tell your friends to go see it\, at Th e IFC Center \, starting August 22. CATEGORIES:Documentary LOCATION:Harlem Meer\, Central Park URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/troublethewater_rooftopfilms 2008 UID:156611575-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080808T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080808T224600 SUMMARY:Up With Me DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n Love and loyalty are put to the test when a Harlem teenager is offered a prep school scholarship upstate. \n \n \n Venue: on the roof of El Museo Del Barrio \n Address: 1230 Fifth Avenue @ 104th Street (East Harlem) \n Directions: 6 to 103rd St. or 2/3 to 110th St. \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location \n 8:00PM: Doors open \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Balun \n 9:00PM: Film s \n Presented in partnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, and El Museo del Barrio \n \n Up With Me (Greg Takoudes | New York\, NY | 1:16:00) \n \n\n“In school\, they taught us about great civilizat ions. But one day\, they’ll count Harlem as one of them\, and they’ll co unt us. No billionaire wants so much as us. . . . No one ever loved like I love Francisco. There were no better friends than ours.” But when Fra ncisco\, a teenager from Harlem\, is admitted to an upstate boarding sch ool on scholarship\, he is torn between his life at home—his loyal girlf riend and his jealous best friend—and the new environment. \n\nIn tough and disadvantaged neighborhoods\, people always face a dilemma choosing between local pride and worldly desire\, between staying loyal and seek ing a better life. How do you improve yourself (or even define “improvem ent”) in ways that don’t alienate your friends\, your loved ones\, your community? \n\nFrancisco wants the education\, but doesn’t want to cha nge. In a brilliant act of narrative restraint\, the filmmakers barely s how Francisco at the new school for most of the movie\, leaving the audi ence wondering (like his friends) what the upstate academy is actually l ike for him. His tender scenes with Erika subtly highlight the way he’s not quite sure what to do with his newly acquired knowledge\, embarrasse d to embarrass her\, even though she is clearly a poetically insightful and inquisitive person. \n\nBut as Francisco tries to leave his troubl es in Harlem behind\, his best friend Brandon puts his own life in dange r—partly to test his own ability to hustle\, and partly as a loyalty tes t to Francisco. Brandon is desperately needy\, but also has a nihilist p ragmatism about him that is both scary and sad. While Francisco tries to better himself through education\, and seems to consider his friend’s c avalier thug life as childish\, Brandon defends his lifestyle with a mix of defiance and defeatism: “What else are we gonna do? This is my life. ” \n\nThis gritty\, charming and dynamic narrative feature was created as a collaboration between director Greg Takoudes and at-risk youth at the East Harlem Tutorial Program. The screenplay is based on months-long writing workshops with the teenagers\, who then starred in the movie\, and—when they weren't acting in scenes—helped crew the set. “I wanted to turn these teens into filmmakers\,” Takoudes said in IndieWire\, “to te ach them film skills\, and make our movie in a way that the creative res ponsibility for the film rested as much with the teens\, as with me. I t hought that if they understood this responsibility\, that they would ris e to the occasion. And they did.” The film was shot in the streets where they hang out and in the apartments where they live—and now Rooftop Fil ms and El Museo del Barrio invite you to see it in that same neighborhoo d. \n\nAt Rooftop Films\, we don’t screen in theaters—we screen in com munities. You’re not going into a dark\, isolated room to watch a movie\ , but coming out into the world\, experiencing the film in a shared\, co mmunal environment\, much the way these teenagers opened up their own li ves to share with the world. With the filmmakers\, cast and crew in atte ndance\, this screening of Up With Me promises to be a lively and memora ble experience. \n CATEGORIES:Narrative Feature LOCATION:On The Roof @ El Museo Del Barrio URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/upwithme_rooftopfilms2008 UID:156068699-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080809T210000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080809T224800 SUMMARY:I'll Come Running DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n An awkward\, comic\, sexy one night s tand turns substantial\, then life-changing\, in this dizzying mix of ro mantic comedy and drama. \n \n \n Venue: On the roof of The Old American Can Factory \n Address: 232 3rd Street at the corner of 3rd Avenue (Gowanus\, Brooklyn) \n Directions: F\, G to Carroll Street or M\, R to Union Street and read here for directions from the train| Map \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held in doors at the same location \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Bell \n 9:00PM: Films \n 11:00PM-1:00AM: After Party in the Cou rtyard with free wine courtesy of Brooklyn Oenology and free beer cour tesy of Radeberger \n Tickets: $9 at going.com \n \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, and XØ\; Projects \n \n I’ll Come Running (Spencer Parsons | Austin\, TX & Cop enhagen | 1:48:00) \n \nPelle (Jon Lange) is a Danish tourist in Texas\ , “a kitsch paradise\, where they execute the retarded.” Veronica (Melon ie Diaz) is a waitress in a tacky Tex-Mex joint. She takes him home\, bu t they go to bed in separate rooms. Now they both have second thoughts a bout having second thoughts. Through a closed door\, they wait expectant ly\, sexual tension building. \n \n“This kind of awkwardness gets point s for style\,” she says. \n\n\n \n\nIt’s the awkwardness of getting to know someone through Simpsons references\, political graffiti\, and tequ ila. The awkwardness of being in a foreign country and not knowing why a nymore\, because “no matter where you go\, you’re still stuck with yours elf.” I’ll Come Running is about the awkwardness of wanting love and fin ding it at the wrong time in the wrong place. \n \nThe blossoming affai r between Veronica and Pelle—or Lisa and Millhouse\, as they call each o ther\, to help overcome language difficulties—is a delight to watch beca use it’s believable but unexpected. They flirt and dig at each other\, g et serious then laugh\, a perfect distillation of what fast\, passionate relationships are like: sharp\, sweet\, funny\, then suddenly painful\, and ultimately blissful. \n \nThe film follows a similar pattern\, as a twist so clean and total it defies implausibility sends Veronica on an unplanned trip to Copenhagen. There\, Pelle’s family refuses to accept easy answers\, hurtling farther into the pain. There\, lies build themse lves into truths\, as Veronica and Pelle’s best friend Soren try to comf ort themselves and start anew (much the way in Pelle’s TV show lies and tricks were a necessary convalescence). There\, the jaunty tourist attit ude from Texas is upended\, and the mood of the film reflects Veronica’s sense of displacement and loss. \n \nSpencer Parsons\, a Rooftop veter an (Resolution\, 2002\; Once and Future Asshole\, 2005\; recipient of a 2007 Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund grant)\, has crafted his debut feature wit h wit and poignancy\, lending remarkable weight to an unusual love story \, and coaxing stunning performances from the entire cast. The brillianc e of I’ll Come Running is that when the tone of the film u-turns\, you r ealize that Veronica and Pelle’s cavalier\, comic attitude toward their romance was a defense mechanism against both the great tragedies and the quotidian disappointments of life. That seemingly shallow defense has s ignificance in and of itself. There is a glorious importance to their on e-night stand\, to the Viking Ship Museum\, to a hand-rolled cigarette t raded for a paint pen. Because through the sadness and difficulty\, ther e is still joy\, there is still laughter\, there is still the possibilit y of love. \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Narrative Feature LOCATION:Roof @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/illcomerunning_rooftopfilms2 008 UID:156067559-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080815T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080815T203000 SUMMARY:Heavy Load DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n A joyous and hard-rocking documentary about a band overcoming learning disabilities\, as well as t heir own differences\, to prove they can still rock on. Preceded by a preview of Z Rock\, the new series on IFC. \n \n \n Venue: On the lawn of Automotive High School \n Address: 50 Bedford Ave\, between N. 12th and Lorimer (Williamsburg Brooklyn) \n Directions: L to Bedford Avenue OR G to Nassau Avenue \n Rain: In t he event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location \n 4:00 - 8:00: Happy Hour at Sound Fix with $1 PBR\, $2 well drinks and $5 Bloody Mary's \n 8:00PM: Doors open \n 8:30PM: Soun d Fix presents live music \n 9:00PM: Films \n 11:30PM - 1:00A M: Open Bar After Party at Matchless (557 Manhattan Avenue @ Driggs ) Courtesy of Radeberger beer \n Tickets: Free! \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Pres ented in partnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, Council M ember David Yassky &\; Automotive HS \n \n PROGRAM NOT ES: \n \n\n\n\n\n Heavy Load (Jerry Rothwell | England | 1:31:00) \n&ldquo\;A triumph of disfunctionalness!&rdquo\; &mdash\;Wrec kless Eric \n \nHeavy Load are a UK punk band\, and like any emerging ba nd they&rsquo\;re subject to the combustible flux of ego\, ambition\, fa ntasy\, expectation and desire. The singer&rsquo\;s an emotional sweethe art\, fawning over his shy girlfriend\, but at times he&rsquo\;ll ruin a recording session by screaming curses into the mix and giggling. The gu itar player keeps an even keel\, in his playing and in his life\, but he &rsquo\;s been known to be so lax as to drift off in the woods on nature hikes he&rsquo\;s supposed to be leading\, not even noticing when his f riends cheer him on. And the drummer is fierce on the kit\, but longs to sing and play guitar and make his own songs\, though sometimes he&rsquo \;s a bit scared to get on a high stage. \n\nHeavy Load have been arou nd for nine years\, steadily building a niche following but never truly breaking through to the mainstream. But the members of the band have fou nd happiness\, a sense of purpose and joy\, in making music. They are un ique in that the lack of success hasn’t dampened their spirit\, in part\ , perhaps\, because the band is made up of musicians with and without se rious learning disabilities. \n \nFor most of the band’s existence\, se eking fame hasn’t been their main struggle. The band’s survival is a pre carious negotiation between two different worlds: on the one hand the in stitutional timetable of day centers\, work placements and social worker s\; on the other hand the chaotic slacker life of rehearsal rooms\, stud ios and gigs. But when the band sets out to record their first album\, T he Queen Mother’s Dead\, and takes on a national health care issue regar ding caretakers for the disabled\, feuding ambitions start to interfere with the easy pleasure of small-time gigs and friendly camaraderie. \n \nAs they move out of the ghetto of disability club nights to test wheth er their dreams can survive in the mainstream\, this hilarious and charm ing documentary captures the excitement\, sweat and romance of playing i n a band through the eyes of these very unique characters. \n \nWatch a trailer and meet the band on IFC.com .\n \nPRECEDED BY: \n Z Rock ( IFC TV | 20:00) \nZ Rock is a 10-episode semi-scripted\, comedy series that follows a group of musicians leading a double life: by night they’r e a hard-partying rock band and by day they’re a Wiggles-style kids’ par ty band. Z Rock is loosely based on the real lives of its three New York based stars\, brothers Paulie Z and David Z\, and lifelong friend Joey Cassata and their actual band\, Z02\, giving a satirical look at the dar k underbelly of the rock n’ roll dream. Guest stars include: Joan Rivers \, Musicians Dave Navarro\, Dee Snider\, John Popper (Blues Traveler)\, Chris Barron (Spin Doctors)\, Comedians Dave Attell\, Gilbert Gottfried\ , Greg Giraldo\, ‘Big” Jay Oakerson\, Lynne Koplitz\, Patrice Oneal\, an d Joe DeRosa. \n\n IFC Season Premiere on Sunday\, August 24\, 11:30P M. \n \n \n \n  \; CATEGORIES:Documentary Feature LOCATION:Lawn @ Automotive HS URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/heavyload_rooftopfilms2008 UID:157755393-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080816T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080816T203000 SUMMARY:Song Sung Blue DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n Lightning & Thunder\, a homegrown Milwau kee husband and wife Neil Diamond cover band. They fall in love\, rise t o fame and suffer grave misfortune as they share the music of the Jewish Elvis with the people of Milwaukee. email songsungblue@rooftopfilms.co m to sign up so that you can perform Neil Diamond Karaoke live on stage prior to the film ( directions below ). \n Please note: this is a fre e public event\, and Song Sung Blue is a beautiful and powerful document ary\, but it is a serious film for adults and mature children. Please no te that there is some strong language. \n If the weather looks q uestionable\, please call 718.417.7362 AFTER 3 PM on Saturday for an upd ate. \n Venue: on the lawn at Southpoint Park on Roosevelt Island \n Address: The Southern tip of Roosevelt Island \n Directions: F tr ain or the tram to Roosevelt Island. Walk South along the West side of t he island through the gate at Southpoint Park. Continue South through th e park to the very southern tip of the island. MAP \n Rain: In the e vent of rain the show will be held the next day\, August 17\, at the sam e location. \n 8:00PM: Sign up to perform Neil Diamond Karaoke LIVE in front of a huge audience! \n 9:00PM: Films \n Admission: FREE \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, C ity Council Member Jessica Lappin &\; The New York City Council Manh attan Delegation &\; the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation \n \ n PROGRAM NOTES: \n Song Sung Blue (Greg Kohs | Wisconsin | 1:27:00) \nJoin us for a karaoke celebration of the music of Neil Diamond followe d by a beautiful documentary about two American dreamers who fought thei r whole lives to make people happy and to forget their problems and worr ies by playing the music of one of America’s great crooners. Filmmaker G reg Kohs goes backstage into the personal lives of a brave couple - from their humble beginnings over 20 years ago to the threshold of fame\, fr om disaster to rebirth\, through to the most dramatic chapters in the li ves of these authentic American dreamers.\n \nKohs first encountered Li ghtning & Thunder in 1993 while directing a documentary for Harley-David son. Lightning was belting out Sweet Caroline to a crowd of grizzled bik ers dancing their chaps off. The footage never made it into the Harley f ilm\, but the impression the pair left on him was lasting\, and he felt an affection for them that he found nearly impossible to articulate. \ n\nA few years later\, Kohs began documenting Lightning and Thunder’s jo urney\, hoping he could capture some of the enchanting enthusiasm he had witnessed in the bar that night—admittedly harboring a deep desire to h elp them achieve their unlikely dreams. He followed them as they lugged their gear in and out of bowling alleys\, bars\, night clubs\, and stead ily bigger venues\, eventually capturing their performance at a huge out door concert that culminated with a joyous and unlikely duet with a surp risingly game Eddie Vedder. \n\nSoon thereafter\, tragedy struck\, and a series of misfortunes and medical problems nearly derailed their drea ms and their relationship. They teeter for years on the brink of disaste r\, but their love for one another and the joy they bring to their fans never wavers. Song Sung Blue captures the uniquely American ability to i nvent one's self and strive for a seemingly impossible goal. It’s about fleeting celebrity and love and about a couple who manages to maintain t heir passion for one another amid the vicissitudes of life. \n\n“I ABSO LUTELY LIVE TO DISCOVER FILM’S LIKE THIS” \nCAPONE - AIN’T IT COOL NEWS \n\n“A GREAT MOVIE FROM BEGINNING TO END” \nA Spy named Dugrex - AI N’T IT COOL NEWS \n\n“THE ULTIMATE PICTURE OF THE AMERICAN ROCK STAR DREAM” \nLindsay Eanet - THE MANEATER \n\n“STRANGER-THAN-FICTION” \nDennis Harvey - VARIETY \n\n Prior to the Film YOU can perform Neil Diamond karaoke LIVE on stage: \nIn the spirit of Song Sung Blue\, prior you can sign up to perform your favorite Neil Diamond song LIVE o n the lawn in front of the full audience. Pick your favorite Diamond gem and email us at songsungblue@rooftopfilms.com --send us your name\, the song you want to sing\, and the best email address to be reached at and if you sign up in time you can be the lead vocalist on stage as we all sing along to Sweet Caroline\, Song Sung Blue\, Cracklin’ Rosie\, Gi rl\, You’ll Be a Woman Soon\, Up on the Roof\, America\, Heartlight\, an d many more. \n \nAvailable Songs: America\, Brother Love's Travelin' S alvation Show\, Cherry\, Cherry\, Cracklin' Rosie\, Hello Again\, Holly Holy\, I am...I Said\, The Last Thing On My Mind\, Love on the Rocks\, S eptember Morn\, Solitary Man\, Song Sung Blue\, Story of My Life\, Sweet Caroline\, Thank the Lord for the Night Time\, You Don't Bring Me Flowe rs\, And The Grass Won't Pay No Mind\, Brooklyn Roads\, Girl\, You'll be a Woman Soon\, Headed for the Future\, Heartlight\, I believe in Happy Endings\, I Haven't Played This Song in Years\, I'm a Believer\, I'm Ali ve\, Kentucky Woman\, Leave a Little Room for God\, Longfellow Serenade\ , Morningside\, Play Me\, Red Red Wine\, Shilo\, Soolaimon\, Stones\, Tw o Wrong\, Yesterday's Song\, You are The Best Part of Me \n\n\n\n \n \ n Preceded by: \n A Different Color Blue (Melanie Levy | California | 3:59) \n Meet Charles Curtis Blackwell -- poet\, artist and activist wh o\, at the age of 20\, lost his eyesight. Despite being unable to see fu lly\, he continues to work through visual medium\, creating pieces of be auty and remarkable spirit. \n \n Click on the films below to read des criptions\, rate them\, add them to your calendar\, and more. CATEGORIES:Documentary Feature LOCATION:South Point Park URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/songsungblue_rooftopfilms200 8 UID:157753368-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080822T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080822T203000 SUMMARY:Flying on One Engine DESCRIPTION: \n  \; \n Charming curmudgeonly doctor Sharadkumar Dic ksheet lives half the year in a small\, dingy apartment in Brooklyn\, su rviving on Social Security payments. The rest of his year is spent perfo rming hundreds of operations a day in India\, saving tens of thousands o f lives a year. A portion of each ticket sold benefits his charity\, The India Project. \n \n Venue: On the lawn of Automotive High School \n Address: 50 Bedford Ave\, between N. 12th and Lorimer (Wi lliamsburg Brooklyn) \n Directions: L to Bedford Avenue OR G to Nassau Avenue \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location \n 8:00PM: Doors open \n 8:30PM: S ound Fix presents live music by Kiran Ahluwalia \n 9:00PM: Films \n 11:30PM - 1:00AM: Open Bar After Party at Matchless (557 Manhat tan Avenue @ Driggs ) Courtesy of Radeberger beer \n Tickets: $9 or $15 at going.com . $1 from each of $9 tickets\, and $7 from each of the $15 ticket goes to The India Project and helps fund life-saving surg eries for poor and indigent children. \n Preview: See short films f rom this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partnershi p with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, Council Member David Yassky & amp\; Automotive HS \n PROGRAM NOTES: Flying on One Engine (Josh ua Z. Weinstein | New York\, India | 52:00) Wheelchair bound\, without a larynx\, and diagnosed with a life-threatening aortic aneurysm\, Dr. S haradkumar Dicksheet now lives only (and barely) so he can travel to Ind ia to perform free operations in marathon-like surgery sessions where up to 700 children receive treatment for their cleft lips and other deform ities. Although Dicksheet survives off of social security while living i n his Brooklyn apartment\, his life is drastically different in India wh ere the eight-time Nobel Prize nominee saves hundreds of lives daily and is treated like a living god. Flying on One Engine shows how this quirk y\, funny\, and sometimes difficult character overcomes his own ailments by helping others. Joshua Z . Weinstein began making his film when he was just 22 years old. Dicksheet was the attending resident when Josh&rs quo\;s father was in medical school\, and in the mid 90&rsquo\;s his fat her made his first trip to India to assist with the free operations. Jos h tagged along two years ago when his father asked him to make a promoti onal video for Dr. Dicksheet&rsquo\;s organization\, but once he began t o capture his complicated subject on camera\, he knew that he would be m aking something much more interesting than a simple promotional tool. Young filmmakers raised on the over-long films dominating today&rsquo\;s multiplexes could stand to take a lesson from Josh and Flying on One En gine\, his first full-length film. Clocking in at 52 minutes\, his film is a compelling\, touching\, refreshingly economical\, and surprisingly unsentimental look into the life of a complicated living legend. Dickshe et's accomplishments are tremendous\, but it is almost as amazing that D icksheet is even alive--most people do not survive a partially paralyzin g car accident\, larynx cancer\, and 2 life-threatening heart attacks. W hen we watch him in his home in NYC he appears literally on the verge of death&ndash\;he can barely walk across the room without losing his brea th. But the second he arrives in India he finds the strength to perform over 70 operations in a day. Still\, some of the most charming moments in the film are the darkly funny little moments spent with him as he co mplains about how it depressed him when Liz Taylor got fat and laments t he undue credit bestowed upon Mother Theresa. He is a real curmudgeon\, and if any of us were to meet him without knowing his accomplishments\, he might seem like any other grumpy grandfather. He has devoted his life to saving the lives of poor children\, and it's hard not to get choked up when you see these kids transformed and witness lives saved by the hu ndreds. But Weinstein doesn&rsquo\;t hesitate to let us see the real man behind these miracles\, and he rightly calculates that by showing us so me of Dicksheet&rsquo\;s inner demons\, he only augments our sense of wo nder at what the man has achieved. Rooftop Films is proud to get the o pportunity to screen this film and especially to have Dr. Dicksheet and members of his team in attendance at the screening. Plays With: Yapti k-Hasse (Edgar Bartenev | Russia | 29:00) Edgar Bartenev crafts an epi c poem from his exhilarating footage of a group of nomadic Nenets who li ve in the Siberian tundra at "The End of the World"\, as the territory i s known in the local dialect. They travel hundreds of miles around the r egion with their herd of reindeer\, raise their families as they move ac ross the tundra\, and live off the land\, seemingly as unaffected by mod ernity as one could ever imagine. \n CATEGORIES:Documentary Feature LOCATION:Lawn @ Automotive HS URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/flyingononeengine_rooftopfil ms2008 UID:157755736-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080823T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080823T203000 SUMMARY:Munyurangabo DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n A stunning neo-realist drama ab out revenge and friendship in post-genocide Rwanda. The debut feature fr om the 2008 recipient of the Rooftop Films and Eastern Effects Equipment Grant. \n \n Venue: On the roof of The Old American Can Fac tory \n Address: 232 3rd Street at the corner of 3rd Avenue (Gowanus \, Brooklyn) \n Directions: F\, G to Carroll Street or M\, R t o Union Street and read here for directions from the train| Map \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same l ocation \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Twi the Humbl e Feather \n 9:00PM: Films \n \n Tickets: $9 at going.com \ n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.c om \n Presented in partnership with: Eastern Effect s\, IFC.com \, New York magazine \, and XØ\; Projects \n \n P ROGRAM NOTES: \n \n\n \n \n Munyrangabo (Lee Isaac Chun g | Rwanda & USA | 1:37:00) \n\n\n“Like a bolt out of the blue\, Korean American filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung achieves an astonishing and thorough ly masterful debut with Munyurangabo\, which is—by several light years—t he finest and truest film yet on the moral and emotional repercussions o f the 15-year-old genocide that wracked Rwanda.” — Robert Koehler\, Var iety \n\n“We hear so often today of the “collapse of Western culture” t hat it comes to sound like a bit of cocktail party repartee\, almost tak en for granted\, such an obvious fact of life that of course there’s not hing we can do about it\, like global warming. Nothing could be more dan gerous. Munyurangabo also grows out of cultural collapse on a grand (and horrific) scale\, and then proceeds to transcend it.” — Robin Wood\, F ilm Comment \n\n\n\n\n\nThere is an old axiom in narrative that a weap on seen in the first act will be used in the final act. The drama is wha t lies in between. Munyurangabo opens with a scene of a young man in a R wandan market\, watching a nearby fistfight\, and stealing a machete. Bu t the portent of that act—under violent circumstances and in a nation st ill reeling from a brutal Genocide in 1994—is immediately destabilized i n one of Chung’s astonishing camera moves\, which manages to be naturali stic and subtle\, but also momentous. From a close-up on the now bloody machete\, the camera tilts up to the troubled face of Ngabo\, then back down to the machete\, clear of blood. The drama posed within Munyurangab o does not follow your typical action/revenge plot—the question posed is not if or how Ngabo will use the machete. The question is should he use it. \n \nNgabo and his best friend Sangwa set out on a journey. If the re is any doubt as to their goal\, it’s cleared up early in the film\, w hen Ngabo asks Sangwa\, “Do you forget that we’re on a journey to kill a man?” The conversation is covered with direct addresses to the camera\, quietly accosting and implicating the viewer\, and mirroring a stunning moment later in the film\, when the opposite sentiment is expressed in a direct address from Edouard B. Uwayo\, Rwanda's actual poet laureate\, who recites a stark and lovely poem calling for peace. The poem is aptl y titled “Liberation is a Journey.” \n \nAlong the way\, Sangwa must de al with his own difficult past\, returning to his home after three years with no communication. The rich back-story is subtly revealed\, perfect ly weighing the tension of the scenes\, which are played with a minimum of dialogue\, few close-ups\, and a languorous delivery that belies the complex passions. Long takes and wide angles allow the subtle gestures o f body language to grandly enrich the emotions—Sangwa’s mother eagerly f eeding her grown son when there is so little food\, and dejectedly waiti ng alone in the doorway as her son leaves the house off-camera\; Sangwa’ s father aggressively showing his son how to till a field after the boy had abandoned the family for city life\; Ngabo contemplatively hacking a t a tree stump with the machete\; and everyone moving as if exhausted by the myriad burdens of heat\, poverty\, hunger\, illness\, and guilt. \n \nAs the friends press on\, Sangwa and Ngabo’s friendship is tested\, torn between their expectations for a brutal fate\, and their hope that somewhere in them lies the willpower to discover liberation. By leaving us with core ambiguities in the plot\, Chung challenges the audience to ask complex and poignant questions. As an individual\, what is the moral thing to do\, when given the opportunity for revenge? And given that We stern manipulations and indifference have forced Rwanda and much of Afri ca to prey on itself\, what is the proper punishment for a criminal\, wh en the entire nation has become a victim? \n \n* * * \n\nLee Isaac Ch ung was awarded Rooftop Films and Eastern Effects 2008 Equipment Grant \, lending him a complete two-ton lighting and grip package to shoot his second feature film\, Lucky Life. The film will begin production in Sep tember. Read more about the grant and Lucky Life here. \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Narrative Feature LOCATION:Roof @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/munyurangabo_rooftopfilms200 8 UID:157756113-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080829T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080829T203000 SUMMARY:Tricks DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n\n \n An award-winning\, pitch-perfect new comedy about a six-year-old boy and his sister playing games with fate and searching for their destinies in a sleepy little Polish town. \n \n Venue: On the lawn of Automotive High School \n Address : 50 Bedford Ave (Williamsburg\, Brooklyn) \n Directions: L to Bed ford or G to Nassau \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be h eld indoors at the same location \n 8:00 \n PM: Doors Open \n 8 :30 PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Trio Zeybek . \n 9:00 PM: Films \n 11:30PM - 1:00AM: After Party at Sound Fix Bar (110 Bedfo rd Ave\, at N11th)\, with free drinks courtesy of Bison Grass Vodka. \ n Tickets: $9 at going.com Presented in Partnership with:\n \n IFC.com \, New York Magazine \, Automotive High School \, and Lenka New York . \n \n \n “Andrzej Jakimowski's take on chi ldhood summers is a fresh yet classic addition to a timeless genre. Anch ored by an award-winning performance from Damien Ul\, Jakimowski's secon d film unfolds with warmth and a knowing humor\, sprinkled with a dash o f magic realism. “ \n--Alissa Simon\, Variety \n\n\n\n Tricks (Sztuc ki) (Andrzej Jakimowski | Poland | 1:35:00) \nSix-year-old Stefek is cl early not a typical little boy. Uninterested in the other kids his age i n his little Polish town\, he spends much of his time playing by himself with toy soldiers\, hanging about the train station and learning the se crets of raising pigeons from the elderly locals. Most of all\, he loves the company of his older sister Elka and her patient boyfriend Jerzy. H is mother is distant—nearly absent—from their daily lives\, and it is pl ain that Stefek and Elka yearn for something—or someone. \n\nStefek’s beloved sister Elka is an ambitious and increasingly impatient young wom an\, and she is desperate to learn Italian so that she can get a good jo b so that she can leave her melancholy village behind. Frustrated by th e perfidies of small town life\, she invents semi-magical games that she plays with fate\, making little wagers with the world and using the out comes to convince herself that her decisions are sculpted by some power higher than her own whims. \n\nOne warm summer\, Stefek notices a man w ho transfers regularly from one train to the next at the railway station nearby. Convinced that this man may be his long-lost father\, Stefek ta kes a cue from his playful sister and begins to toy with fate\, convinci ng himself that each small coincidence is further proof that he has actu ally found his dad and that destiny is slowly conspiring to bring his br oken family back together. He decides that with each imaginary wager he wins\, it becomes more and more likely that his family will be reunited \, and he sets out on a mission to bribe fate with small sacrifices in o rder to bring his father back home. \n\nThe second feature by Polish director Andrzej Jakimowski\, Tricks is an amusing\, engaging\, and wond erfully poetic film grounded by the charming minutiae of contemporary sm all- town polish life. It won the Europa Cinemas Label prize for best Eu ropean film in the independently programmed Venice Days sidebar and has been received warmly by audiences in Europe\, and we are proud to presen t it for the first time here on the lawn of Automotive High School in Gr eenpoint\, right on the edge of New York’s largest Polish community. \n \n\n \n \n CATEGORIES:Narrative Feature LOCATION:Lawn @ Automotive HS URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/tricks_rooftopfilms2008 UID:158691135-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080830T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080830T203000 SUMMARY:Romantic Short Films: Looking For Love DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n Romantic short films about finding love in all the wrong places. \n \n \n Venue: On th e lawn along the Gowanus Canal at The Yard \n Address: 400 Carro ll Street (btw. Bond / Nevins - Carroll Gardens) \n Directions: F / G to Carroll at Smith\, walk 3 blocks east (downhill) on Carroll or M / R to Union\, walk 2 blocks south to a left on Carroll \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors nearby at The Old Am erican Can Factory\, 232 3rd Street (corner of 3rd Avenue) \n 8:00P M: Doors open \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix Presents Live Music by Hologram \n 9:00PM: Films \n 11:00PM – 12:30AM: Reception including free wine courtesy of Brooklyn Oenology \n Tickets: $9 at the d oor or online at going.com \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, Brooklyn Oenology \, MeanRed Productions and The Yard \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \n You can’t plan for love. It will lurk in abandoned buildings (Cave Flo wer) or hide in the bushes (Roman Postcards). It will sneak in the kitch en door (The European Kid) and hide behind a bathrobe (Kaveri). And love will betray you (Cheat Neutral)\, and mislead you (Polvo). This program of romantic short films is all about how love is wily\, weird and wonde rful. \n \nRooftop Films is a great place for a date. If you’re l ooking for love at Rooftop\, post a Rooftop Personal Ad\, Missed Connect ion\, or Romantic Message to newyork.craigslist.org with the words "Ro oftop Films" in the subject header. \n \nIn the weeks leading up to the show\, we'll be linking all the Rooftop Films personal ads to our websi te\, so you can find who you're looking for\, or send sweet thoughts to your date that night. At the show\, we'll play the personals and display live text messages on screen—we'll help you find your mate! \n \nIf yo u find someone that night\, we’ll give the two of you free tickets to an other Rooftop show.\n THE FILMS Baby Cakes: Coffee Line (Brad Neely | Austin\, TX | 4:00) \nA comical series about the lives of wizards\, gods and various creatures\, as Baby Cakes demonstrates his unusual mann er of flirting. \n \n Cave Flower (Sam Fleischner | Brooklyn\, NY | 1 9:00) \nBetween two caves - an abandoned building and a freight elevato r - Cable finds inspiration in someone who appears to represent the very things that drove him into the margins of society.\n \n Scoring (Ken Wardop | Ireland | 3:00) \nFollowing an accident\, a young man has been left with no sensation from his shoulder blades down\, and now expresse s his sensuality through a kiss. Another delicate and lovely film from R ooftop alum Ken Wardrop. \n \n The European Kid (Ian Martin | Elmhurst \, IL | 22:00) \nOne night\, the European kid turns up unexpectedly and wrecks havoc on all the relationships in the house. \n \nINTERMISSION\ n \n Polvo (Dust) (Ylva Forner | Spain | 12:45) \nA young woman about to get married works cleaning houses for elderly people. One day an old man offers to pay her a large amount of money if she just undresses and sits in a chair over by the window for him. Neither of the two knows wh at the other gains from the deal\, but the audience gets the full pictur e. A story about memories and missing someone long gone.\n \n Kaveri (B uddy) (Teemu Nikki | Finland | 7:10) \nTwo middle aged pals who want t o experiment a little bit. \n \n Cheat Neutral (Beth Stratford | Engla nd | 8:00) \nWhen you cheat on your partner you add to the heartbreak\, pain and jealousy in the atmosphere. Cheatneutral offsets your cheating by funding someone else to be faithful and NOT cheat. This neutralises the pain and unhappy emotion and leaves you with a clear conscience. www .cheatneutral.com\n \n Roman Postcards (Silvia Gigliodoro | Italy | 21 :00) \nA low-key documentary about a park that lies in the shadow of th e Vatican and is a common place for homosexual hook-ups. \n CATEGORIES:Short Film Program LOCATION:The Yard URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/romanceshortslookingforlove_ rooftopfilms2008 UID:157756696-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080904T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080904T203000 SUMMARY:Burning the Future: Coal in America DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n Untitled Document \n \n \n \n \n\n \n David No vack examines the explosive forces that have set in motion a groundswell of conflict between the coal industry and residents of West Virginia. \ n *Venue: Along the water at Solar One \n *Address: East 23rd Str eet and the East River in Manhattan \n *Directions: 6 Train to 23rd s treet and walk East to the river . MAP \n *8:00: Doors Open \n *8:3 0: The Films \n *Admission: FREE! \n \n FILM WEBSITE | SOLAR ONE | REVIEWS \n \n Quick Facts: \n \n\n36% of US global warming emissi ons comes from the approximately 501 coal-burning power plants that prov ide the nation with over half its electricity - more than all other sour ces combined. \n \n\nEvery eleven and one-half days\, the explosive equi valent of the Hiroshima atomic bomb is unleashed upon the mountains of s outhern West Virginia and eastern Kentucky - for coal. \n \n\n Short Syn opsis: \n\nIn Burning the Future: Coal in America\, writer/director Dav id Novack examines the explosive forces that have set in motion a ground swell of conflict between the coal industry and residents of West Virgin ia. Confronted by an emerging coal-based US energy policy\, local activi sts watch the nation praise coal without regard to the devastation cause d by its extraction. Faced with toxic ground water\, the obliteration of 1.4 million acres of mountains\, and a government that appeases industr y\, our heroes demonstrate a strength of purpose and character in their improbable fight to arouse the nation's help in protecting their mountai ns\, saving their families\, and preserving their way of life.\n \n \n R eviews: \n \n"This compelling and timely film burns through the 'clean coal' rhetoric of industry front groups\, showing the harsh truth of the coal story and urging us all to curb our energy use and rely more on cl ean energy to power our society."\n \n Bruce Nilles\, Director\, Natio nal Coal Campaign\nSierra Club \n \n"Burning the Future is a powerful and stirring account of the cultural and ecological impacts of an indust ry on its last legs - a testimony from the front-lines of resistance to coal." \n Rebecca Tarbotton\, Global Campaign Director\nRainforest Acti on Network \n \n"...This moving and disturbing story adds the human el ement to a sanitized political debate by telling the dirty truth about c oal in America. Burning the Future just might help us move politicians t o solve global warming and our country's energy needs through clean powe r now." \n Pam Solo\, Founder and President\nCivil Society Institute \n \n"Think your electricity usage doesn't matter? Think again! Novak's film enlivens the phrase 'think globally\, act locally' as you journey w ith West Virginia residents in their courageous efforts to save their be loved mountains\, communities and ultimately life on earth as we know it ." \n Janet Keating\, Co-Director\nOhio Valley Environmental Coalition \n \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Feature Documentary LOCATION:Solar One URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/burningthefuturecoalinameric a_rooftopfilms2008 UID:161738941-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080905T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080905T203000 SUMMARY:La Frontera Infinita (The Endless Border) DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n  \; \n As millions of immigrants stream into the US every year\, this beautifully photographed documentary inti mately follows small groups as they travel through Mexico\, detailing th eir rarely-seen hardships and hopes. Venue: on the roo f of El Museo Del Barrio Address: 1230 Fifth Avenue @ 104th Street (East Harlem) Directions: 6 to 103rd St. or 2/3 to 110th St. Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location 8:00PM: Doors open 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Na cotheque 9:00PM: Films \n 11:00PM: After party with FREE Radeberge r Pilsner Presented in partnership with: The Morelia International F ilm Festival \, IFC.com \, New York magazine \, and El Museo del Barr io \n On Friday\, September 5\, Rooftop Films and The Morelia Interna tional Film Festival present La Frontera Infinita (The Infinite Bord er) (Juan Manuel Sepulveda | Mexico | 1:30:00). There will be live music by Nacoteque before the film and an after party with complimentary Radeberger Pilsner after the film. \n \nEach year\, hundreds of thousan ds of Central Americans enter Mexico clandestinely en route to the Unite d States. La Frontera Infinita is a story about their determination an d hope\, about men and women who travel in search of better living condi tions\, faced with a voyage that for many becomes seemingly endless. \n \nRooftop Films is proud to present this selection from the Morelia Inte rnational Film Festival\, Mexico&rsquo\;s premiere showcase of new and e merging Mexican filmmaking talent. From its location in Morelia\, one of the country&rsquo\;s most beautiful and vibrant colonial cities\, the f estival (now in its fifth year) serves as a unique point of intersection between Mexican and international filmmakers\, audiences\, film profess ionals and members of the press. It also introduces visitors to the cult ural riches and natural splendor of the State of Michoacá\;n\, fam ed for its musical\, literary\, theatrical\, artisanal and culinary trad itions\, and now an emergent center of world film culture. The festival& rsquo\;s competitive sections of Mexican short films\, documentaries\, s hort films from Michoacá\;n and Mexican features\, combine with fo reign film premieres\, curated programs\, tributes to Mexican film pione ers\, and retrospectives of major world cinema artists to offer an exper ience of Mexican cinema in a rare\, international context. \n \nIndepen dent and student films from Mexico City and other urban centers\, and in dependent videos from points as varied as Tijuana\, Merida\, Guerrero an d Oaxaca\, render a comprehensive portrait of media culture\, social lif e\, and artistic imagination within Mexico. These works explore such var ied themes as transnational identities\, globalization\, and indigenous lives\, in formats ranging from fiction to documentary to animated film and video. Supported by the City of Morelia\, the State of Michoac&aacut e\;n\, and Cinepolis\, Latin America&rsquo\;s largest theater chain\, am ong other corporate sponsors\, the Morelia International Film Festival s trives to contribute to Mexico&rsquo\;s growth and progress as a contrib utor to world cinema\, to establish Michoacá\;n and its capital\, Morelia\, as vibrant focal points of world cinema culture\, and to promo te the talents and expand the opportunities of the country&rsquo\;s most promising artists in film and independent media. CATEGORIES:Feature Documentary LOCATION:On The Roof @ El Museo Del Barrio URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/selectionsfromthemoreliainte rnationalfilmfestival_rooftopfilms2008 UID:158702850-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080907T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080907T230000 SUMMARY:Arusi: Persian Wedding DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n \n \n Iranian-American film maker Marjan Tehrani chronicles her brother's return to Iran as he trave ls with his American wife to have a Persian wedding ceremony and explore his lost heritage. \n Special Note: The event has bee n rescheduled for this Sunday\, Sept. 7\, starting at 8 PM. \n *Ven ue: on the lawn at Firefighter's Field on Roosevelt Island \n *Direc tions: F train or the tram to Roosevelt Island. Please note this MTA a dvisory : if coming from Manhattan\, you must take either the Tram or t ake the F train to Roosevelt Avenue and then come back 3 stops to Roosev elt Island. Once on the island\, walk South (if coming from subway) or N orth (if coming from Tram) to East Rd. Walk East on East Rd to the field and you will see our screen set up. MAP \n Rain: In the event of r ain the show will be held the next day\, September 7th\, at the same loc ation. \n 8:30PM: Live Music \n 9:00PM: Films \n Admission: FREE! \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.c om \n Presented in partnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \ , City Council Member Jessica Lappin &\; The New York City Council M anhattan Delegation &\; the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation \ n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \n Arusi: Persian Wedding (Marjan Tehrani | New Y ork\, Iran | 1:02:00) \nIranian-American filmmaker Marjan Tehrani chron icles her brother's return to Iran as he travels with his American wife to have a Persian wedding ceremony and explore his lost heritage.\n\nUsi ng dynamic historical footage and weaving it with the couple's personal story\, Arusi Persian Wedding explores the history and impact of the br oken relationship between Iran and America. Behind the curtain of polit ical tension\, the film offers rare glimpses of both modern and traditio nal Iran\, displaying a vibrant and complex country that is sealed off t o much of the West.\n \n \nBrooklyn filmmaker Marjan Tehrani and her bro ther Alex were born in America to Iranian parents in the mid 1970’s. The y grew up in the U.S. during the Iranian Islamic Revolution\, when the S hah was expelled and anti-American sentiment exploded to the surface\, r esulting in the infamous hostage crisis of 1979 and setting in motion de cades of miscommunication\, threats and vitriol between Americans and Ir anians. Some of their earliest memories of “being Iranian-Americans” inv olve their classmates and schoolyard bullies acting out the aggressions of their angry and misinformed parents.\n \nMarjan and Alex’s father ha d a deep love for his country but had emigrated to the U.S. in the 1970’ s to find his fortune. But following the revolution\, complications with visas prevented him from bringing his children with him on his frequent return trips to Iran. But in 2005\, in the midst of the Iraq war\, Alex and his American wife Heather announced that they were going to journey to Iran to have a traditional Persian wedding--an Arusi. Marjan immedia tely knew it was time for her to return to her native country to documen t this very relevant and personal story. Her father had hoped his whole life that his children would return to Iran as adults and experience the country as it really is—poetic\, complex\, beautiful and dramatic—and n ow they would all return together for a huge family reunion and a tradit ional celebration in their home town. \n \nOf course\, it would not be so simple as that. Heather’s parents are born again Christians\, very p atriotic\, and deeply mistrustful of Muslim culture in general\, so much so that her father fails to make a distinction between Iran and Iraq\, despite the fact that the two nations have been in a perpetual state of conflict for decades. The matter was made that much more complicated whe n Heather’s parents realized that she would have to convert to Islam in order to get a visa to travel with her new husband to Iran. Alex and Hea ther’s young union consists of some strange trials\, including quite voc al conflicts between the couple’s families\, the nearly surreal obligato ry marriage negotiations they must perform in the company of an imam in the U.S.\, and the complications involved in traveling to a Muslim natio n in the middle of the war. \n \nTehrani’s film is many things at once\ , simultaneously telling the story of a couple in love\, of a family bei ng reunited\, and of a country at odds with itself and the world. Iran i tself is a character in the story\, a proud figure looming over every sc ene\, but once the Tehrani’s make it to Iran\, the shadow this character casts is a surprisingly soothing shade against the glare of inflammator y rhetoric and prejudice. After seeing dozens of Iranians encircle Alex and Heather in a Park in Tehran to wish the young couple good luck\, it is impossible to think of the conflict in the region in the same way aga in. \n \n \nPreceded by: \n The Tourists (Malcolm Sutherland | Montreal | 3:00) \nAnother transient day at the beach. \n \n A l’ombre du voile (The Shadow of the Veil) (Arnaud Demuynck | Belgium | 9:00) \nAn elega ntly animated alternative view of life as it is seen from behind the vei l. \n \n A Different Color Blue (Melanie Levy | Palo Alto\, CA | 4:00) \nMeet Charles Curtis Blackwell -- poet\, artist and activist who\, at the age of 20\, lost his eyesight. Despite being unable to see fully\, h e continues to work through visual medium\, creating pieces of beauty an d remarkable spirit. www.adifferentcolorblue.com \n \n Click on the film s below to read descriptions\, rate them\, add them to your calendar\, a nd more. CATEGORIES:Feature Documentary LOCATION:Firefighter’s Field on Roosevelt Island URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/arusipersianwedding_rooftopf ilms2008 UID:158695134-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080912T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080912T203000 SUMMARY:New York Non-Fiction DESCRIPTION: It’s your city. Take a look. \n \n Venue: on the roo f of the Open Road Rooftop \n Address: 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Low er East Side\, Manhattan) \n Directions: F/J/M/Z to Essex / Delancey \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location \n 8:00PM: Doors open \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live m usic \n 9:00PM: Films \n 11:30PM - 1:00AM: Open Bar After Party at Fontana&rsquo\;s (105 Eldridge St @ Grand) Courtesy of Radeberger be er \n Tickets: $9 at going.com \n \n Preview: See short films fro m this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partnershi p with: IFC.com \, New York magazine \, Open Road New York &\; New Design High School \n \n Program Notes: \nAlways one of our most p opular programs\, Rooftop Films’ annual New York Non-Fiction show has se rved as a showcase for new documentaries about the extraordinary lives o f “ordinary” New Yorkers for nearly a decade. This year’s films explore the magic in little metropolitan moments and the poetry of the odd job\, find humor in exploitative urban institutions and capture the melanchol y beauty of the dilapidated underground. Above all\, they express in par ticular what all of us who live in New York know intuitively: in this gr eat city there is always an amazing story waiting around the corner. \n \n\n The Films: \n \n\n 6 a.m. (Carmen Vidal Balanzat | New York | 8:33) \nThe city may not sleep\, but it certainly seems a little quie ter before 6 A.M. \n \n\n Bird Strikes (Chris Cassidy | New York | 7:00 ) \nWhen technology and nature collide\, Bob Leporati uses the ancient a rt of falconry to clear the runways of JFK. \n \n\n The Last Butcher in Little Italy (Laura Terruso | New York | 5:45) \nUnlike most Italian Am ericans\, Moe Albanese never left Little Italy. Born on Elizabeth Street in 1925\, Moe grew up on this street and helped his parents run their s mall butcher shop. Today\, this shop is the last that remains of Elizabe th Street's Italian American history. At eighty two\, Moe is the shops o nly employee. \n \n\n Native New Yorker (Steve Bilich | New York | 13: 00) \nShot before\, during and after 9/11 and filmed with a 1924 hand-cr ank Cine-Kodak camera\, Native New Yorker follows Shaman Trail Scout 'Co yote' as he takes a journey which transcends time\, from Inwood Park (wh ere the island was traded for beads and booze)\, down a native trail (no w 'Broadway')\, into lower Manhattan (then and now a sacred burial groun d). \n \n\n Dimmer (Talmage Cooley | Buffalo\, NY | 12:20) \nTalmage C ooley's award-winning documentary short film presents a poignant and mem orable snapshot of life within a gang of sight-impaired teenage boys who create their own world among the abandoned factories of Buffalo's rust belt. \n \n\n Intermission \n P-Star's Redemption (Excerpt) (Gariel No ble | New York | 7:00) \nGabriel Noble has been following P-Star since she was an 11 year old rapper in the underground Harlem Hip-Hop scene. \ nShe is now a star of the new version of the Electric Company television show\, but Noble followed her through some of her family's most trying days. His feature doc is still a work in progress\, but it will surely b e one of the most interesting docs of 2009. For the time being\, Rooftop audiences can get a glimpse of this great New York story by checking ou t this excerpt. Find out more on his website . \n\n New York Minute (Tim O'Grady | New York | 1:00) \nOne minute in a New York commute cont ains a collection of lasting impressions. \n \n\n Checkmate (Casimir N ozkowski\, Dallas Penn and Rafi Kam | New York | 8:00) \nWhy are there a lways jewelry stores next to check-cashing spots? Why is there only 1 ba nk per 50\,000 people living in Bushwick? Is it actually fun to make it rain on the streets of Brooklyn with real dollar bills? Dallas and Rafi take us around check-cashing joints in Brooklyn to answer these and oth er questions. Says Dallas: “You know you’ve made it when you go from ch eck-cashing fees to ATM fees.” \n \n\n A Hood Full of Stores (Gina Tel aroli\, Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective | New York | 2:00) \nAs real es tate close to Manhattan becomes increasingly more valuable\, many people are being forced out of their neighborhoods. In response to these chang ing demographics Gina\, CJ and a friend discuss what lies ahead for the Queensbridge Housing Projects. Gina and CJ met at the Jacob A. Riis Neig hborhood Settlement House where they made lego robots and movies. \n \ n\n Covered Tracks (Nathan Kensinger | New York | 12:00) \nAn explorati on of life and death underneath Manhattan\, travelling through a 50 bloc k-long train tunnel which was once an underground homeless city. \n \n\n Umbrellas (Eric Phillips-Horst\, Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective | N ew York | 2:20) \nWe might imagine that New York is a city full of uniqu e characters\, but we all look the same when we pop open our umbrellas o n a rainy day. \n \n \n Charge for That (Chris Cassidy | New York | 7: 00) \nThe streets of New York City have been an endless palette for arti st Nilsen\, and dog piss\, manhole covers and passersby all make their w ay into his very urban art.\n \n \n Buttons (excerpts) (Josh Safdie\, A lex Kalman\, Benny Safdie | Boston\, New York | 4:00) \nJosh\, Benny and Alex roam the world with video cameras in hand\, capturing loose\, magi cal moments. They collect these instances like they are little buttons\, so that is what they call them. Red Bucket's first feature film\, The P leasure of Being Robbed was selected for the 2008 Cannes Directors Fortn ight and will be playing September 19th at Rooftop Films. \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Shorts Block LOCATION:Roof @ Open Road Rooftop URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/newyorknonfiction_rooftopfil ms2008 UID:159687846-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080913T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080913T213000 SUMMARY:Dark Toons DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n Enjoyably evil animation. \n \n V enue: On the roof of The Old American Can Factory \n Address: 23 2 3rd Street at the corner of 3rd Avenue (Gowanus\, Brooklyn) \n Dir ections: F\, G to Carroll Street or M\, R to Union Street and read here for directions from the train| Map \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by RISD alumnus Marissa Nadler \n 9:00PM: Films \n 11:00PM: Open bar after party in the courtyar d courtesy of Brooklyn Oenology \n Tickets: $9 at going.com \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.c om \n Presented in partnership with: XØ\; Projects \, Rho de Island School of Design \, IFC.com \, and New York magazine . \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \n Animation. Sweet\, simple\, innocen t. Makes you think of cute little animals&mdash\;that are either dead (D og) or deadly (Princess). Fantasy romances&mdash\;with torture dungeons (JoJo in the Stars) and vengeful\, headless fuck-toys (Berni&rsquo\;s Do ll). Peaceful\, playful dreamworlds&mdash\;where angels and devils battl e (Recto Verso) and lonely ephemeral characters wander aimlessly\, trapp ed by a confoundingly empty expanse of nothingness. It&rsquo\;s fun! \n \n But really\, it is fun. Because in this program\, hard-boiled\, m isogynist crimefighters will battle outer space out-of-towners in a hila rious b-movie spoof (Rocket Science!)\, abusive dust-ups with local thug s will be set to catchy melodies with loquacious lyrics (I Have Seen the Future)\, and a lovable loser will save the day (Hot Dog). That&rsquo\; 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 fr om comic to calamitous\, from heartbreaking to hilarious\, all with a un ique agility available only in animation. \n \n \n THE FILMS \n Selections of RISD Animation: \n The 2008 RISD biennial is being ho sted at our home base out here in the Old American Can Factory and so pr ior to the main program of films we are proud to present a selection of new animation by RISD filmmakers\, including work by Fran Kraus e\, Wyeth Hansen \, and Meghan Petras \n \n I Have Seen the Future ( Cam Christiansen | Calgary | 6:00) \nA boy is competing in a tennis mat ch with his father when three young men approach and start to accost the m rudely. \n \n Rocket Science! (Sam Morrison | England | 14:00) \nWh en mystery comes calling at Grime City captain Jack Hersey is forced to confront his darkest fear&mdash\;people from out of town. \n \n Hot Dog (Bill Plympton | New York\, NY | 6:00) \nMultiple Academy Award nomine e Plympton returns to Rooftop with the third in the &ldquo\;Dog&rdquo\; series\, and in this episode our plucky hero joins the fire company to s ave the world from house fires and gain his affection he so richly deser ves. Typically\, the results never turn out the way he planned. \n \n Do g (Hermann Karlsson | Iceland | 1:00) \nRemembering the death of a dog and the guilt of a boy that soon followed. \n \n Princess (Ethan Clark e | San Francisco\, CA | 7:00) \nA likely story of an unbreakable frien dship between a woman and her cat. We need them. Do they really need us? \n \n Kleit (The Dress) (Jelena Girlin &\; Mari-Liis Bassovskaja | Estonia | 6:30) \nA woman tried to remember the highlights of her life\ , or maybe dreams about them. Her phantom dress predicts beginnings and endings\, through guillotine and kitchen knife. \n \n INTERMISSION \n \ n Weiss (White) (Florian Grolig | Germany | 5:00) \nA serene monochrom atic world turns into a trap. \n \n Recto Verso (Gabriel Jacquel | Fra nce | 8:00) \nA classic comic animation pitting dark against light\, go od against evil\, refigerator lights vs. magic broomsticks. Two characte rs battle each other and the physical laws of their universe in ways tha t are hilariously inventive and supremely significant. \n \n JoJo in th e Stars (Marc Caste | England | 12:00) \nJoJo in the Stars has all the elements needed for a classic romantic tearjerker\; freak shows\, under ground dungeons\, pointy bras. This is a haunting tale set in a stark la ndscape where faceless crowds come to witness the freaks and wonders of Madame Pica&rsquo\;s Carnival. When a beautiful trapeze artist charms a carnival devotee\, both must face the consequences of Madame Pica&rsquo\ ;s wrath. \n \n Berni&rsquo\;s Doll (Yann Jouette | France | 11:30) \n Berni buys a doll\, part by part. The relation between Berni and his dol l evolves while parts are added to the body. But is love for sale? \n \n A Letter to Colleen (Carolyn &\; Andy London | New York\, NY | 8:30 ) \nAndy London has been haunted by the events of his 18th birthday for years. In this short animated film set in the early 90?s\, he writes a letter to Colleen in an attempt to put his demons to rest. \n \n Never L ike the First Time (Jonas Odell | Sweden | 15:00) \nAn gorgeously anim ated film based on documentary interviews in which four people each tell the story of their first time\, in stories that range from comedy to tr agedy\, stories from last year or from the 1920's\, stories that are rem embered with nostalgia\, embarrassment or even horror. \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Shorts Program LOCATION:Roof @ Old American Can Factory URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/darktoons_rooftopfilms2008 UID:156069307-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080916T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080916T212600 SUMMARY:Trinidad DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n  \; \n \n \n 40 years ago\, Dr. Stanley Biber transformed a sleepy mining town in Colorado into The Sex Change Capital of The World. \n PLEASE NOTE THE VENUE FOR THIS EVENT IS N OW SOLAR ONE . WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE THE VENUE CHANGE MAY HAVE CAUSED. \n Venue: Along the water at Solar One \n Addre ss: East 23rd Street and the East River in Manhattan \n Directions: 6 Train to 23rd street and walk East to the river. MAP \n 8:00: D oors Open \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Frances \ n 9:00PM: Films \n 10:30PM: Free open bar after party courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner \n Admission: FREE \n Preview: See short film s from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented in partn ership with: The Independent Feature Project \, IFC.com \, New York magazine . \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \n Dr. Stanley Bibe r began conducting genital-reassignment surgeries in Trinidad\, Colorado in the 1960’s. Since then\, thousands of patients have passed through T rinidad\, and the once prosperous—and still socially conservative-- town is now commonly known as the “Sex Change Capital of the World.” Accompl ished cinematographer and longtime Rooftop alumnus PJ Raval returns with this charming debut feature documentary about a tiny town dealing whose identity is now permanently in flux. The film was partially supported b y the Rooftop Filmmakers Fund\, and was part of the IFP Documentary Lab in 2006 (details about both programs below). \n \n Biber\, a veteran surgeon returning from Korea\, decided to move to Trinidad because he h ad heard that the town needed a surgeon. In 1969 a local social worker a sked him if he would perform the surgery for her\, and he taught himself to do it by following hand-drawn sketches from other surgeons experimen ting with the process. Biber attained a reputation as a good surgeon at a time when very few doctors performed the operations\, and over time wo rd spread throughout the gay and transgender community all across the co untry. At his peak\, Biber was performing roughly four sex change operat ions a day\, and the term "taking a trip to Trinidad" became a euphemism for some seeking the procedures he offered. \n \nTrinidad's reputati on as the sex change capital has been uncomfortable for some residents\, as it is otherwise a socially conservative small town. However\, the re venue brought in by Biber was important to keeping the local hospital ru nning\, and Biber was himself a respected community leader. \n \n \nAfte r Biber's death\, his practice was handed over to Dr. Marci Bowers\, who has enhanced the procedure to near perfection. This compassionate and c ompelling documentary follows Bowers and two of her patients\, both at d ifferent stages of their sexual transformation from male to female\, as they struggle with the intolerance of small-town morals and the challeng e of reconciling their new personas with the expectations of their spous es and children. It's a delicate transition for everyone involved—the wo men themselves\, their families\, and their adopted community\, which is still struggling to accept the fact that the economic growth from this new industry is the only thing keeping Trinidad on the map. \n \n Scree ns With: \n One Skin (Gudrun Cram-Drach | Los Angeles | 10:16) \nMary is confronted by different options for her future— independence at a co st or the confinement of traditional roles. In her efforts to rise abov e these limiting scenarios\, Mary is offered a glimpse of freedom in the bird she seeks as well as a potential solution in the actions of a rebe llious little girl. \n \n About the Rooftop Filmmakers Fund: \nRoofto p Films commits $1 of every ticket sold and every film submission fee to fund new productions\, an innovative approach to the exhibition/product ion cycle which uses the support of our community to produce dynamic fil ms. This year\, we will be screening a number of films we co-funded\, in cluding Trinidad\, Benh Zeitlin's award-winning short film "Glory at Sea " (June 12)\, a post-Katrina shipwreck epic\; and an excerpt from Fabio Wuytack's upcoming feature "Persona Non Grata" (June 14)\, about his fat her\, a radical left-wing missionary working in Venezuela in the 1970s. \n \nIn 2007-8\, Rooftop Films will give 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. \n \n \n About the IFP Documentary Lab \nIFP is the nation's oldest and largest organization o f independent filmmakers. Since its founding in 1979\, IFP has facilitat ed the development\, financing or distribution of 7\,000 independent fil ms\, while more than 20\,000 filmmakers have participated in its program s. \n \nIFP’s Independent Filmmaker Lab is a national program connectin g mentors and projects before they are submitted to festivals. The Labs aim to identify high-quality\, independently produced narrative and docu mentary features in the rough assembly stage that can benefit from the m entorship of experienced professionals. The program challenges filmmaker s to realize the full potential of their footage and stories prior to in dustry exposure\, providing dynamic advice on technical\, creative and p ost-production issues. \n \n CATEGORIES:Documentary, Feature LOCATION:Solar One URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/trinidad_rooftopfilms2008 UID:159354540-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080917T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080917T213000 SUMMARY:Selections from the IFP Narrative and Documentary Labs DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n Untitled Document \n \n \n \n \n\n \n A sneak peek at trailers and scenes from independent narrative and documentary f ilms that will be next year's hot festival and indie releases. PResented in partnership with IFP and Indie GoGo \n PLEASE NOTE THE VENUE F OR THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLAR ONE . WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE INCONVENIENCE THE VENUE CHANGE MAY HAVE CAUSED. \n Venue: Along the water at Solar On e \n Address: East 23rd Street and the East River in Manhattan \n Directions: 6 Train to 23rd street and walk East to the river. MAP \ n *8:00: Doors Open \n *8:30: Soundfix presents live music \n *9:00: IFP selections \n *10:30: Open Bar\, with free beer courtesy of Rade berger Pilsner \n *Admission: FREE! \n \n IFP | SOLAR ONE | INDIE GOGO \n \nRooftop Films is proud to be partnering with IFP to support emerging filmmakers. IFP is the nation's oldest and larg est organization of independent filmmakers. Since its founding in 1979\, IFP has facilitated the development\, financing or distribution of 7\,0 00 independent films\, while more than 20\,000 filmmakers have participa ted in its programs. \n\nIFP’s Independent Filmmaker Lab is a national program connecting mentors and projects before they are submitted to fe stivals. The Labs aim to identify high-quality\, independently produced narrative and documentary features in the rough assembly stage that can benefit from the mentorship of experienced professionals. The program ch allenges filmmakers to realize the full potential of their footage and s tories prior to industry exposure\, providing dynamic advice on technica l\, creative and post-production issues. \n \n“All of this year’s Lab participants share a fierce determination to share their vision with aud iences\, even if it requires slinging coffee by day and editing at night \,” said Amy Dotson\, Producer and Managing Director of Programming and supervisor of the Narrative Lab. “These filmmakers are truly independent \, working well outside of the mainstream\, and we’re looking forward to helping them on their journey to find their voices and make them heard. ”\n \nIn the Documentary Lab\, the selected films reflect the breadth o f documentary film today\, ranging from explorations of pressing social issues (artistic freedom in Tibet\; Hurricane Katrina recovery\, immigra tion) to history and biography (Up with People\; theater director Joseph Chaikin) to highly-personal journeys (a Chilean-American comes to terms with her father's politics\; a filmmaker rediscovers himself in his nat ive rural Spain). Accepted projects hail from across the country with fi lmmakers from New York\, California\, Arizona and Mississippi\, and incl ude projects by recent immigrants to the U.S.\, with filmmakers native t o Chile\, Spain\, Tibet and Turkey.\n \n"The strong projects selected t his year are a microcosm of the range in diversity in American non-ficti on work today\, encompassing the personal\, political\, and cultural. De spite the variety of style and subject\, these filmmakers are all at a s imilar place - having worked largely in isolation within their own creat ive cocoons for months and sometimes years. The Lab affords them the opp ortunity for input and inspiration from both their peers and mentors as they begin that final push toward completion" says Milton Tabbot\, IFP S enior Director of Programming and supervisor of the Documentary Lab.\n \n"IFP's Labs exemplify what we are all about: concentrating on works in progress and the creative process rather than on just the finished prod uct\," said Michelle Byrd\, executive director of IFP.\n \n PARTNERSHI P - SUPPORTING INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS \nThis event is presented in par tnership with IndieGoGo\, an online social marketplace connecting filmma kers and fans to make independent film happen. The platform provides fil mmakers the tools for project funding\, recruiting\, and promotion\, whi le enabling the audience to discover and connect directly with filmmaker s and the causes they support. IndieGoGo is proud to be collaborating wi th filmmakers from Rooftop and the IFP Labs. \n\n NARRATIVE LAB FILM S \n At The Foot Of A Tree – Alfie\, a freckle faced eleven year old boy\, seeks heartfelt and poetic revenge for the beating of his father. Ricky Shane (Director\, Writer)\; Kelly Jo Reid (Producer\, Actress)\; Gregory Singer (Editor)\n \n Good Intentions – Meet Etta Milford: Lov ing Wife…Doting Mother….Armed Robber. Jim Issa (Director)\; Pamela Peaco ck\,Richard Sampson (Producers)\n \n How Would You Feel? Vol. 1-7 – C entering on the story of a young man and woman\, friends whose relations hip is perpetually teetering on the edge of romantic\, this experimental narrative explores the ambiguity of their rapport and is consistently f ed by the inhibiting melodrama of their romantic pasts. Terence Nance (D irector\, Producer\, Writer\, Editor)\; Yvonne Shirley (Editor)\; Vincen t Wheeler (Sound Designer)\n \n The Mountain Thief – A father and son escape their war-torn village in the Philippines to seek refuge in a to wn called Little Hope\, a community of scavengers. Gerry Balasta (Direct or\, Writer)\; Desireena Almoradie (Producer)\; Francisco Diaz (Editor)\ n \n Mr. Sadman – In 1990\, before the First Gulf War\, a Saddam Huss ein body-double loses his job and moves to Los Angeles in search of a ne w start. Patrick Epino (Director\, Writer)\; Cindy Fang (Producer)\n \n Periphery – Four college-bound kids take a road trip to Mexico and fin d themselves caught up in a pharmaceutical drug smuggling operation that goes wrong. Duane Allen Humeyestewa (Director\, Producer\, Writer)\; De epa Donde (Producer\, Writer)\n \n Sorry\, Thanks – Kira has no attac hments. Max has a girlfriend. Sometimes love is a happy accident\, some times pure disaster. Mostly: love means having to say you’re sorry. Dia Sokol\, (Director\, Writer)\; Lauren Veloski (Producer\, Writer)\; Jenni fer Lilly (Editor)\n \n St. Nick – A brother and sister run away from home and try to start a new life\, free from adults\, all on their own. David Lowery (Director\, Writer\, Editor)\; James M. Johnston (Producer) \; Adam Donaghey (Executive Producer)\n \n A Thing As Big As The Ocean – Two Hurricane Katrina survivors leave New Orleans and travel west int o the desert\, where their mutual quietness is overwhelmed by a world of possibilities. Joseph Cashiola (Director\, Producer\, Writer)\; Jeff Ha rms (Producer\, Actor)\; Nathan Duncan (Editor)\n \n We Are The Mods – High school loner\, Sadie\, befriends the wild new girl\, Nico\, and to gether they explore sex\, drugs and rock and roll by embracing 1960’s Br itish Mod culture in present day California. E.E. Cassidy (Director\, Wr iter\, Producer)\; Robert Poswall (Producer\, DP)\; Daniel Gabbe (Editor )\n \n Zero Bridge – In occupied Kashmir\, where every day is about s urvival\, a petty criminal’s last chance at escape is threatened when he faces a moral crisis. Tariq Tapa (Director\, Writer\, DP\, Editor)\n \ n DOCUMENTARY LAB FILMS \n Burning in the Sun - A young entrepreneu r starts producing and selling homemade solar panels to rural Malians wi thout power\, but the harsh realities of doing business there threaten t o overpower his good intentions. Cambria Matlow\, Morgan Robinson (Direc tors\, Producers\, Writers\, DPs)\; Claire Weingarten (Executive Produce r)\n \n The Hand of Fatima - The daughter of late NY Times music criti c Robert Palmer investigates her estranged father's transformative encou nter with an ancient Sufi band when she journeys to the remote village o f Jajouka\, experiences its sacred musical rituals\, and comes to terms with her father's legacy. Augusta Palmer (Director\, Writer)\; Chris Arn old (Producer\, Editor)\n \n Mine: Taken by Katrina - Hundreds of thou sands of people lost their pets in Hurricane Katrina\, but 15\,000 were heroically rescued and sent to shelters and adoptive homes around the co untry. When the original owners want their pets back\, rescuers and anim al lovers are divided over what is right for the animals and what is fai r to the families who love them. Geralyn Pezanoski (Director\, Producer\ , Writer)\; Erin Essenmacher (Producer)\n \n The Presence of Joseph Cha ikin - The story of the most innovative late-century American theater d irector in his own words\, and those of his collaborators. Chaikin's car eer as actor\, director\, writer\, and leading light in new theater of t he 1960's\, belies his lifelong struggle with rheumatic heart disease\, an ever-present harbinger of death. Troy Word (Director\, Producer\, Wri ter\, DPs)\; Encke King (Writer\, Editor)\n \n The Stranger's Land - A n observational portrait of the filmmaker's return\, after a long absenc e\, to rural Spain\, where he grew up - rediscovering a place lost to ti me and memory. Xavier Marrades Orga (Director\, Producer\, Writer\, DP\, Editor)\n \n Tibet In Song - Ngawang Choephel tells the story of Tibe tan folk music\, and how Chinese policies have systematically destroyed it since the takeover of Tibet - and his own story of filmmaker turned p olitical prisoner. Ngawang Choephel (Director\, Producer\, Writer)\; Tim Bartlett (Editor)\n \n Tijuana\, Nada Más - A story of visible and in visible borders faced by four homeless children in the busiest frontier city in the world. Yolanda Pividal (Director\, Producer\, Writer)\; Carm en Vidal (DP)\; Sara Booth (Editor)\n \n Ulises' Odyssey - The story o f the filmmaker's struggle as a Chilean-American woman to mend a 30-year rift between her father and uncle who were on opposite sides in the 197 3 military coup that brought General Pinochet to power in Chile. Lorena Manriquez (Director\, Producer\, Writer)\; Miguel Picker (Director\, Pro ducer\, DP\, Editor)\n \n Smile ‘Til It Hurts - The story of the sacri fices and secrets of clean-cut ”Up With People” who believed they could change the world. Music is their weapon of choice to attract minds to th e American values of Freedom and Democracy in the riotous 1960s. Lee Sto rey (Director\, Writer)\; Bari Pearlman (Producer)\n \n The Visitors - A documentary about the passengers of a charter bus that leaves New Yor k City every weekend for visits to prisons in upstate New York\, reflect ing the struggles of a unique culture living at the intersection of conf inement and the free world. Melis Birder (Director\, Producer\, Writer\, DP\, Editor)\n \n* * * \n \n Lead support for the Independent Filmmak er Labs is provided by The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation \, with additional funding from Hollywood Foreign Press Association\, Ne w York State Council for the Arts and SAGIndie. \n\n \n CATEGORIES:Short Films LOCATION:Solar One URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/selectionsfromtheifpnarrativ eanddocumentarylabs_rooftopfilms2008 UID:162000767-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080918T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080918T203000 SUMMARY:October Country DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n A beautifully filmed portrait of an American family struggling for stability while haunted b y the ghosts of war\, teen pregnancy\, foster care and child abuse. This vibrant and intimate documentary examines the forces that unsettle the working poor and the violence that lurks beneath the surface of American life. \n \n Venue: On the roof of the Open Road Roo ftop \n Address: 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side\, Manh attan) \n Directions: F/J/M/Z to Essex / Delancey \n Rain: I n the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music \n 9:00PM: Films \n 11:00 PM: After Party--Open Bar at Fontana’s (105 Eldridge St @ Grand) Courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner Party Co-Presented with True/ False Film Fest . \nAdmission: $9 on going.com \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presente d in partnership with: IFC Films \, The Independent Feature Project \ , IFC.com \, New York magazine\, Open Road New York and New Design High School \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \n October Country (Micha el Palmieri & Donal Mosher | Mohawk Valley\, NY | 1:20:00) \n Work-In- Progress Sneak Preview \n\n \n\nEvery family is haunted by ghosts—som e metaphorical\, some literal. The Mosher family has more than most. Bas ed on the essays and photographs of Donal Mosher (the family’s eldest so n)\, and shot and edited by acclaimed director Michael Palmieri (Garry T rudeau's Duke2000\; videos for Beck\, Belle and Sebastian and The Stroke s)\, the filmmakers have crafted a deeply personal documentary with broa d social significance. Shot over a year from one Halloween to the next\, October Country hums with rich visual metaphors—distinct but subtle mot ifs illuminate each character like a revealing costume. The film paints a realistic portrait of a unique family that is sadly representative of the struggles of America’s working class.\n \nDottie married Don when t hey were teenagers\, but he was shipped off to Vietnam at age 19\, and c ame back\, in his own words\, “an asshole\,” plagued by visions of dead friends and nightmares he can’t bear to describe\, which burst and linge r like 4th of July fireworks\, resonating through generations. Still\, w ith his dry wit\, strong moral character\, and tough love\, combined wit h Dottie’s caring advice and eternal hopefulness in the face of inevitab le despair\, the two of them form the precarious source of stability for the family. “Family is the one thing\," Dottie says\, "the government\, or a bill collector\, can’t come and take away from you.” \n \nDon’s s ister Denise\, a practicing witch and lifelong outsider\, has been painf ully estranged from Don ever since he went to war. Her favorite place is the cemetery: “Some of my best friends are ghosts.” In this family\, wh ere the government and bill collectors are working to split the kin\, re latives are sometimes eerily similar to distant and anxious spirits. \n \nDon and Dottie’s child Donna also grew up too fast\, and as a teenage r she gave birth to Daneal\, who was raised essentially without a father . Daneal weeps when she learns a sad new truth about her father\, beggin g to be lied to. She’d rather live with her fantasy of a father than dea l with the real thing. And so the cycle continues\, as teenage Daneal is already a divorced mother\, falling into yet another violent relationsh ip with a man who thinks it’s funny when she’s mad. Still just a kid her self\, Daneal wonders\, “If you can’t take care of yourself\, how can yo u take care of a baby?” She fights to keep her child from becoming yet a nother ghost\, but you can see her drifting like the concrete river she stares at\, sinking like the shots of liquor she downs all too often. \ n \nThe last hope to break the cycle could be Donna’s whip-smart pre-te en daughter Desi. “Ain’t I a sweetheart\,” she croons. “Not really. I wa sn’t raised by the perfect family.” Standoffish but as sweet as Hallowee n candy\, Desi seems poised to transcend the mistakes made by the older women in her family\, despite a horrific revelation about her own histor y which has her ready to disappear at the count of one-two-three. \n \n Struggling to hold it all together\, Dottie organizes a Halloween party\ , because at least then folks can come in costume and pretend to be some one else. But everyone in the family knows you can only hide behind an a pparition for so long. “Sometimes you wonder is this the real me\, or is this something that’s been created\,” Don says. “And you’ll never know. ” \n \n* * * \n \nRooftop Films is proud to support independent filmma kers in a variety of ways. This Sneak Preview of a Work-In-Progress will connect the filmmakers with investors and funders to help them secure c rucial finishing funds for the film. \n \nView trailers at: http://ww w.wishbonefilms.com/ \nGet more info at: http://www.michaelpalmieri.co m/ & http://dmoctobercountry.blogspot.com \n * * * \n \n About Party Co-Presenters\, True/False: \nCalled "The Telluride of documentaries" b y IndieWIRE\, The True/False Film Festival has wowed audiences\, bot h local and international\, with its cutting-edge programming and infect ious spirit. Directors flock to this Midwest fest with films fresh from Sundance\, Toronto\, and other major international festivals. Others mov ies appear mysteriously before their official premieres elsewhere. In be tween the nonstop\nmovies\, we'll eat\, drink and dance\, host parties\, panels and concerts\, and challenge filmmakers to re-imagine the possib ilities of\nnonfiction filmmaking. \nFEBRUARY 26 - MARCH 1\, 2009\n \n \ n \n \n CATEGORIES:Documentary Feature LOCATION:Roof @ Open Road Rooftop URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/octobercountry_rooftopfilms2 008 UID:159358627-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080919T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080919T203000 SUMMARY:The Pleasure of Being Robbed DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n  \; \n \n \n A curious and lost Eleonor e looks for something everywhere\, even in the bags of strangers who fin d themselves sadly smiling only after she's left their lives. \n \n Venue: On the roof of the Open Road Rooftop \n Address: 3 50 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side\, Manhattan) \n Directions: F/J/M/Z to Essex / Delancey \n Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix p resents live music by The Beets \n 9:00PM: Films \n 11:00 PM: Af ter Party--Open Bar at Fontana’s (105 Eldridge St @ Grand) Courtesy of R adeberger Pilsner \nAdmission: $9 on going.com \n Preview: See sho rt films from this and other programs at www.IFC.com \n Presented i n partnership with: IFC Films \, The Independent Feature Project \, IFC.com \, New York magazine\, Open Road New York and New Design Hi gh School \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \n The Pleasure of Being Robbe d (Josh Safdie | New York\, NY | 1:11:00) \nThe pleasure of The Pleasu re of Being Robbed is the joy of discovering a bag full of kittens (and watching them playfully flip through the air)\; the bliss of an unexpect ed overnight road trip with a friend\; the warmth of a frolic with a pol ar bear. Josh Safdie's film is filled with a carefree awkwardness\, a li ghtness of touch with melancholy and humor\, and a whole host of unexpec ted stolen delights. Rooftop screened Safdie's short film The Back of He r Head in August of 2007\, and selections from Red Bucket Films' Buttons on June 27 and August 2\, 2008\; his debut feature carries the emotions \, ideas and spirit of his short films to a brilliant pinnacle.\n \n Th e film follows a young lady (co-writer Eleonore Hendricks) as she drifts through life with the naïve charm of curious puppy\, who takes whatever she wants\, and with the detachment of an adorable kitten\, who cares n ot a fig what you think of her. But Eleonore is neither greedy nor simpl e. She is constantly stealing\, but does so exuding a joy in sharing obj ects\, stories\, lives. She steals with a hug\, with a shared joke\, wit h a helping hand. The real world does intrude on her beatific kleptomani a\, and one doesn't get the sense that people always understand and appr eciate what she does\, but as Safdie says\, the people from whom she ste als "owe her their thanks." Safdie\, who also gives a delightfully quirk y performance in the film\, compares the feeling he got as a kid when he would steal to that of being in love\, and being compelled to do irrati onal\, illicit things for your lover. \n \nAmazingly\, the film itself was somewhat stolen. The filmmakers were commissioned to make a commerci al\, but instead used the equipment to make this gorgeous film\, reminis cent of the best of the free-wheeling late-60s / early-70s American cine ma. And like those films\, the power of Pleasure doesn't come from a tig htly twisting plot or singularly-focused characters. The film's drama fl ips from moment to moment\, as Eleonore's interactions dash from ping-po ng players to bar-hoppers to police officers\, each interaction providin g its own arc of anticipation and transformation in consistently unexpec ted ways. Although no one scene has the feeling of a climax\, where ever ything is on the line\, the entire film has the carnival-esque tension o f a circus act\, where at any moment the easy-going juggling and balanci ng and dancing with bears could come crashing down. \n \nIt's tempting to psychoanalyze Eleonore's character\, to attempt to explain her compul sions by way of a mental disorder. Her performance has enough nuance—fro m giddy exuberance to bitter frustration to dreamy abandon—that the mate rial is there for a diagnosis. But one of the great liberating thrills o f The Pleasure of Being Robbed is the sense of weightlessness displayed by the main characters themselves—the willingness to drift from bicycle to stolen car\, from New York to Boston—without clear motivations. That Josh takes Eleonore to a bed where he has rigged the sheets to fly away on a pulley is an apt metaphor for the fluttering nature of their flirta tion. "If mental illness is doing whatever you want all the time\," Safd ie said\, "then yes\, I'll celebrate that."\n \n* * * \n \nThe filmmak ers and cast will be in attendance.\n \n Debuting to much praise at thi s year's Cannes Film Festival\, The Pleasure of Being Robbed will open a t the IFC Center on October 3rd and will be available On Demand via I FC Films as well. Support independent film and spread the word about th is unique and very unique film. \n \n CATEGORIES:Narrative Feature LOCATION:Roof @ Open Road Rooftop URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/thepleasureofbeingrobbed_roo ftopfilms2008 UID:159356649-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20091122T082933Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20080926T200000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20080926T203000 SUMMARY:Rooftop Shots DESCRIPTION: \n \n \n \n\n \n \n \n \n The sharpest shor t films fired from the roof. Highlights from Rooftop Films' 2008 Summer Series. \n \n Venue: On the roof of the Open Road Roo ftop \n Address: 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side\, Manh attan) \n Directions: F/J/M/Z to Essex / Delancey \n Rain: I n the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location \n 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music \n 9:00PM: Films \n 11:00 PM: After Party--Open Bar at Fontana’s (105 Eldridge St @ Grand) Courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner \nAdmission: $9 on going.com \n Preview: See short films from this and other programs at www.IFC.co m \n Presented in partnership with: IFC.com \, New York magazine\, Open Road New York and New Design High School \n \n PROGRAM NOTES: \n In 2008\, Rooftop Films received over 2\,000 film submissio ns\, and screened 20 feature-length films and over 130 short films. We s howed films from 33 different countries\, in every imaginable genre—docu mentaries\, narratives\, animations\, experimental films\, music videos\ , home movies and more.\n \nThere were films by first-time filmmakers\, and by experienced masters (including rarely-seen works by Salvadore Da li\, for which we commissioned an original live score). There was an ani mation about a fire-fighting dog and a documentary about birds who make the skies safe for airplanes. There was a film about a Nobel Peace Prize nominee\, and a film about a furtive kleptomaniac. We began the year wi th a wordless film about kids in Turkey relishing the magic of cinema\, and conclude with a program that celebrates the most magical short films of 2008. \n \nThe films in this show will be selected from the hidden gems\, big hits and fan favorites. If you loved a certain film and want to see it again\, or heard great things about a film you want a second c hance to see\, visit www.rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films and vote for the films you want see in this program. \n \nThanks for coming out to R ooftop Films 2008 Summer Series. We'll see you on the roof in 2009!\n\n \n \n \n CATEGORIES:Shorts Program LOCATION:Roof @ Open Road Rooftop URL:http://rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008/films/rooftopshots_rooftopfilms200 8 UID:159359712-rooftopfilms.bside.com/2008 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR