The Rooftop Films 2009 Summer Series

This beautiful and atmospheric short focuses on daily life in the Chungking Guesthouse in Hong Kong. With 10,000 people, immigrants from around the globe, squeezed into fourteen stories spanning five blocks, Chungking is a small and fascinating world unto itself.

Detroit is a city that has lost a million people since the 1960s. Today, less than a million people remain. We know a lot of bad things happen when a city clears out. But is there anything good about it? This personal documentary from a life-long Detroiter looks at the plus side of having a city to yourself.

Coagulate presents “a world where liquids don't follow physical laws, where air and water are unstable. I wanted to place characters in this world—man and fish—and imagine them reacting to this modified state of being. . . . A world where water itself is breathing.” –Grecu. mihaigrecu.org

Halftone City, USA. A peaceful metropolis of family values and space-age dreams. Mild-mannered blonde Dorothy Gayne secretly protects its citizens from harm. But dangerous new technologies abound. What happens when a powerful device falls into the hands of scientist-turned-villain Doctor Moire? Who will rescue Halftone City from this oversized creep? runwrake.com

“So, what do you want to watch?” I don’t know. What do YOU want to watch?

This seemingly otherworldly footage is in fact the New York Fire Department taming a ten-alarm fire that destroyed most of the Greenpoint Terminal Market located along the East River in Brooklyn.

A moving portrait of the bustle and permanence of a city, "Dahlia" juxtaposes the stable forms and patterns of life with the frenetic behavior of humanity, set to a driving score of vocal percussion.

SATURDAY MAY 23 DANGEROUS DOCS You can't make this stuff up.   Venue: on the roof of the Brooklyn Tech Address: 29 Fort Greene Place (Fort Greene, Brooklyn) MAP 8:00PM: Doors open 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music 9:00PM: Films Tickets: $9-$25 Presented in partnership with: Crunch , Cinereach , New York magazine & Brooklyn Technical High School 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 There is no denying the simple pleasure provided by a film that captures some bizarre and extreme phenomenon from some distant corner of the world, and Rooftop’s Dangerous Docs program brings together 6 such gems. Teenagers in Soweto dance atop moving trains, Australian preservationists rescue bizarre endangered chickens, a sideshow performer turns amputation into a spectator sport, and men travel from all across the world to compete in the World Beard and Mustache Championships. Of course, a good non-fiction film does more than merely document a spectacle, and each of these films also delves into the motivations of the subjects. We find out how an African teenager justifies risking his life for a fleeting moment of local fame; we hear about the exhilaration the artist feels as he turns his own body into a shredded canvas; we witness the love one troubled man feels for a flock of squawking birds; we get a glimpse of the quirky vanity that drives someone to grow a mustache that protrudes 16 inches off the side of his face. Even after all this, it’s not likely that we will all be able to fully relate to these individuals—they often make decisions that most of us would never even consider. But we do, hopefully, come to understand some of the forces that drive them to such extremes of behavior. And, whatever their motivations, it is certainly fun to watch. 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 .

  Animated short films that bring the still to life. FREE OPEN BAR AFTER THE SHOW   Venue: on the roof of the Open Road Rooftop Address: 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side, Manhattan) 8:00PM: Doors open 8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Javelin 9:00PM: Films 11:30PM - 1:00AM: Open Bar at Fontana’s (105 Eldridge St), courtesy of Radeberger beer Tickets: $9-$25 No refunds. In the event of rain, the show will go on indoors at the same location . 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 | JAVELIN | SOUND FIX Dark ‘Toons: Optical Illusions The infirm will walk, the dead will dance, cities will rise up from the earth, and the trees themselves will rebel. Walls will crawl and heads will roll…and then rejoin their host bodies. Anything can happen in a cartoon, and this exhilarating collection of short animated films from all over the world displays all that can be done with the form. Independent animators have all the freedom that a filmmaker could ever hope for—if an animator has the talent and the time, then she can take any image that dances through her dreams and bring it to life. These films defy expectations and bring us images that have never been seen before--kinetic visions that defy logic yet seem to make sense to some dark corner of our subconscious. Before the films, Sound Fix presents Javelin . And after the films, everyone in attendance is invited to the Rooftop Films after party at Fontana's where we will be serving complimentary Radeberger Pilsner until 1 AM and hanging out with the filmmakers and the band. FILMS: Orgesticulanismus (Mathieu Labaye | Belgium | 9:00) A tribute to his father, who suffered from Multiple Sclerosis from the age of 29, Mathieu Labaye’s Orgesticulanismus explores the very nature of human motion. Beginning with a study of rudimentary human movement, the film eventually explodes into a kinetic orgy and an existential dance party starring everyone in the world. Dahlia (Michael Langan | San Francisco | 5:00) A moving portrait of the bustle and permanence of a city, "Dahlia" juxtaposes the stable forms and patterns of life with the frenetic behavior of humanity, set to a driving score of vocal percussion. Mandrake (Andy Cahill | 4:00) A subterranean mineral aficionado is tantalized by a mysterious and alluring rock on a rope. Varmints (Marc Craste | London | 24:00) Marc Craste ( Jo Jo in the Stars , Rooftop Films 2008) returns to the roof with this Academy Awards short-listed and BAFTA nominated gem. Adapted from an award-winning book of the same name, the Varmints tells the story of one small creature’s struggle to preserve a world in danger of being lost forever through recklessness and indifference. Forestry (Woodpecker | Japan | 4:00) A tale of a man and woman tormented by the mischievous spirits of the woods. Hobo Clown (Allison Schulnik | California | 3:50) A masterful claymation exploration of blended colors and conflicting emotions. Undone (Hayley Morris | New York | 6:00) A drifting man struggles to pull objects from the roiling sea below him and scrambles to keep the objects from slipping through his fingers. A stop-motion animation using textured and tactile materials, as well as personal imagery, that represents the progression of the Alzheimer’s disease in a poetic and visual way. Kodomo No Keijijogaku (A Children’s Metaphysics) (Koji Yamamura | Japan | 5:00) Ecology and philosophy of children with sadness and humor. Western Spaghetti (PES | New York | 2:00) Everyday objects become delicious ingredients as we learn how to cook spaghetti through stop-motion photography. Muto (Blu | Brazil | 6:00) A painstakingly crafted masterpiece created from thousands of pieces of graffiti art drawn upon the walls of Buenos Aires. www.blublu.org/ Naiade (Nadia Micault and Lorenzo Nanni | France | 12:00) Ava rules over on a swamp filled with fantastical creatures and animated fauna. But a strange boy secretly observes her flourishing kingdom and believes that perhaps she can help him to save the life of his sick twin brother… The Royal Nightmare (Alex Budovsky | New York | 3:30) This animated short tells a story of an Evil King whose life is turned into a nightmare by a troublesome pilgrim who constantly reappears by the Royal Tower and totally ignores The King…and the basic rules of physics and biology. 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 .