The Rooftop Films 2009 Summer Series

 
Venue: On the roof of El Museo Del Barrio
Address: 1230 Fifth Ave. @ 104th St. (East Harlem)
Directions: 6 to 103rd St. or 2/3 to 110th St.
Rain: In the event of rain, show will be indoors at the same location
8:00PM: Doors open
8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Lázaro Valiente
9:00PM: Film
11:00PM-12:30AM: After-party on the roof: Open bar courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner
Tickets: $9-$25 at door or online

Presented in partnership with: The International Film Festival of Rotterdam, 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.

MAP | SOUND FIX

Los Herederos (Eugenio Polgovsky | Mexico | 1:30:00)
Far from the tourist beaches and urban cultural centers, there’s an aspect of Mexico experienced by millions but rarely seen or recorded by the outside world. There are tiny villages deep in wooded mountains, with people scratching a living from the difficult terrain, and vast plains of farmland tended by hard-working hands. In his striking debut feature-length film, Eugenio Polgovsky witnesses the daily experiences of many such inhabitants, and carves out a film that is both rigorous and playful, delicate and brutal, uplifting and tragic. In Los Herederos, Polgovsky demonstrates an impressive filmic poise, both on location and in the editing room, proving that he will surely bear many stunning films to come.

Striking an artful balance between pure observation and subtle editorial constructions, Polgovsky’s Los Herederos captures minute details and broad themes to illuminate the lives of people who toil manually day in and day out. The film focuses mainly on children—the future, the inheritors of this life, this world. Shockingly young, the children demonstrate impressive strength, skill and savvy. Carrying loads of heavy logs through treacherous terrain, churning gravel into clay and crafting cinderblocks, hopping up to grab a needed extra fruit crate or to pickaxe stones for a building foundation, the kids exhibit a noble will to work.

The film moves briskly from task to task, creating visual motifs that build the curiosity of the audience: What is that boy carving so deftly? These mule and goat herders, smaller than the animals they drive, where will they lead us? Along the way, as Polgovsky intercuts the varying chores, we are reminded of the long full arc of each day’s labor, the endless repetition from one day to the next. Moments of minor anguish—a sliced finger, an imbalanced accounting scale—are borne with near mute resolution, and tempered with moments of playfulness and generosity—a toddler who slips while carrying jugs of water is picked up by his brothers, a group seated beneath a truck happily stuffs themselves so fully with discarded produce they joke that they’ll “shit tomato mash tomorrow.” Finally, the endpoints display a revelatory magic and wonder, an unbridled joy and relief for both audience and actors.

Always helping, always moving, never complaining, the children’s maturity is inspiring. Polgovsky’s occasional juxtapositions between smooth faces of the kids and the deeply-lined faces of the elderly reveal a wide-eyed premonition among the young, who seem to understand that someday their eyes will be wizened and narrow. Amazing, gritty images of working children minding even younger children, a baby laid at the end of a plantation row, a toddler carted in a vegetable bucket, these images are seared into our minds, begging us to see the tragedy in their dutiful efforts. As an indictment of a global economy which allows and even mandates such child labor, the film is notable for a great deal of things that aren’t seen: education, opportunity, rest. But as a celebration of the indomitable human spirit, Los Herederos is delightful for depth and breadth of that which we do see: pride, ingenuity and joy.

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.