The Rooftop Films 2009 Summer Series

Special Advance Screening
Pre-teen peer pressure, high school heartbreak and adult disillusionment on the football fields, factories, and fair grounds of small town America. A luscious and gritty verite film that captures the mood and melody of Midwest life.

 
Venue: On the roof of the Old American Can Factory
Address: 232 3RD St. @ 3rd Ave. (Gowanus/ Park Slope, Brooklyn)
Directions: F/G to Carroll St. or M/R to Union Ave.
Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location
8:00PM: Doors open
8:30PM:  Sound Fix Records presents live music by Like Bells
9:00PM: Film

10:30: Filmmaker Q and A

11:00PM–12:30AM: Reception in courtyard including free sangria courtesy of Carlo Rossi sangria
Tickets: $9-$25 at the door or online

Presented in partnership with: Cinereach, New York magazine, & XØ Projects

No refunds. In the event of rain, the show will be indoors at the same locations. Seating is first come, first served. Physical seats are limited. This means you may not get a chair. You are welcome to bring a blanket and picnic.
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45365

(Bill Ross IV & Turner Ross | 91 min.)

Pre-teen peer pressure, high school heartbreak and adult disillusionment on the football fields, factories, and fair grounds of small town America. A luscious and gritty verite film that captures the mood and melody of Midwest life. Artfully directed by brothers Bill Ross IV & Turner Ross, native sons to Sidney, OH, this amusing and revelatory documentary won the award for Best Documentary at SXSW 2009.

One of the enjoyable challenges of 45365 (a documentary portrait of Sidney, Ohio, made by brothers Bill Ross IV & Turner Ross, native sons) is just how difficult it is to write about. Like the old joke about the dancer asked to explain her dance, to which she replies, “If I could explain it, I wouldn’t go to all the trouble of dancing it.” With a free-form verite film like 45365, the only way to explain it: to describe every luscious and gritty shot, football fields, factories, fist fights and fair grounds; to perform all the flatly fantastic dialogue, pre-teen peer pressure, high school heartbreak, adult disillusionment; to replicate all the parade noise broadcast on local radio, the train rumble that rattles the windows, the melody of Midwest life = to go to all the trouble of making it.

Over nine months, the Ross brothers floated through their home town with ghostly freedom and access. There is no voice over, no interviews, no overt story lines. But dramatic scenes coalesce from the quiver between banality and beauty. A table of old ladies dotter on about the home shopping network, unfurling an unexpected vivaciousness. Characters are crafted in chitchat. A cop who cares enough about a convict to leave a note for the guy’s wife. And storylines pop like fireworks, that is, in spontaneous but recurring motifs. A teen who can’t bring herself to break up with the boyfriend who is always on the other end of a cell phone. A guy who can’t bring himself to stay honest, even with his own mother. A high school football team whose best moments are in practice, in the locker room, at video game parties.

45365 captures the plain pathos of a single place like few other films ever do. It is amusing and informative, exciting and realistic, tragic and eternal. But as I said, this synopsis is inadequate. To get at these emotions and ideas, you could live all your life in Sidney, Ohio, or you could see this film.

Winner of the award for Best Documentary at SXSW 2009.

Part of Rooftop Films and XO Projects’ INDUSTRIANCE Series: films, discussions, installations and more about the changing landscape in industry, architecture, agriculture, labor and related fields, and the way these changes affect individuals around the world.

Rooftop Films is a non-profit organization whose mission is to engage and inspire the diverse communities of New York City by showcasing the work of emerging filmmakers and musicians. In addition to our Summer Series – which takes place in unique outdoor venues every weekend throughout the summer – Rooftop provides grants to filmmakers, teaches media literacy and filmmaking to young people, rents low-cost equipment to artists and non-profits, and produces new independent films. At Rooftop Films, we bring the underground outdoors. For more information and updates please visit our website at www.rooftopfilms.com.