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Win a Pair of Tickets to Rooftop Films' showing on August 4th - "Dangerous Docs and Whisker Wars" (Short Films). The showing is at Crown Vic, 60 South 2nd St. in Brooklyn so you obviously have to be local to win. To enter, send an email to mike.brooklynrocks at gmail.com with the subject "Rooftop Films" and I'll draw winners at random on Wednesday night (August 3rd).
THE FILMS
SASQUATCH BIRTH JOURNAL 2 (Zellner Bros. | Austin, TX | 4 min.)
An unprecedented peek at the mysteries of nature.
IRMA (Charles Fairbanks | Lexington, NE | 12 min.)
Irma is an intimate musical portrait of Irma Gonzalez, the former world champion of women’s professional wrestling. Filmed in Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl – a notorious district of Mexico City – Irma contradicts everything we have come to expect from stories reported from Mexico. Featuring original music written and performed by Ms. Gonzalez, Irma’s story surges with love and deceit, masculine strength, feminine charms, and an extraordinary sense of humor.
WHISKER WARS (Thom Beers)
"Whisker Wars" profiles a group of men as they travel the country in search of top honors in a host of competitions, from the National Beard and Mustache Championship in Bend, OR to the World Competition in Norway. With Germany the reigning champion, over 80 local U.S. chapters attempt to come together to form Beard Team USA. - IFC
NEGATIVIPEG (Matthew Rankin | Canada | 15 min.)
Rory Lepine gives a personal account of his fateful and infamous encounter with The Guess Who's legendary lead singer, Burton Cummings, in a Winnipeg 7-Eleven in 1985. [Sundance]
SATAN SINCE 2003 (Calos Puga | New York | 19 min.)
For Emmy Award-winning documentarian Carlos Puga (True Life, MTV), three months' access to The Hell's Satans (Richmond, Virginia's premier moped gang) produced enough material for not only an eye-popping peek into this otherwise reclusive society, but also a satirical jab at the process of documentary film-making. [SXSW]
DECLARATION OF IMMORTALITY (Marcin Koszalka | Poland | 29 min.)
Polish documentary veteran Marcin Koszałka returns to a forgotten genre: the mountain film. The protagonist of his story is Piotr “Mad” Korczak, a legendary mountain climber who revolutionized the art of mountain and rock climbing and figured out how to scale some of the most impossibly steep natural rock structures in the world. Featuring gorgeous and vertigo inducing cinematography and Koszalka’s magnificently stoic observations, Declaration of Immortality is a thrilling trip to the edge of the abyss and a poignant portrait of a man driven by an insatiable desire to live as large and as long as humanly possible.
The schedule for the night is:
8:00PM - Doors Open
8:30PM - Live Music
9:00PM - Films Begin
11:30PM - After Party at the Crown Vic
Links:
Rooftop Films
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Win Tickets for Rooftop Films' "Dangerous Docs & Whisker Wars" (Short Films) on August 4th
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Brooklyn Transformations - Free Rooftop Films Series This Saturday, July 17th
Local filmmakers deal with stolen dogs, dying industries, gentrification and immigration, in fiction and documentaries with that particular Brooklyn flair: sensitive tough guys and boldly smart girls.
-Mark Elijah Rosenberg
This is a free showing that will be held at Fort Greene Park (Myrtle and N. Portland, Brooklyn, NY 11205 -- Enter the park at Myrtle and N. Portland and walk up the path) on Saturday, July 17th. Doors open at 8PM and the films start at 8:30PM.
Here is the list of films that will be shown:
PRINCE/WILLIAM (Keith Miller | Brooklyn, NY | 8 min.)
Prince/William is the true story of a single confrontation over a dog found in a rapidly changing neighborhood. keith-miller.com
SELTZER WORKS (Jessica Edwards | Brooklyn, NY | 7 min.)
In this short and bubbly documentary, the last bottler in Brooklyn fends off the supermarket seltzer take-over and honors this simple drink's place in history. seltzerworks.com
OPEN HOUSE (Diane Nerwen | Brooklyn, NY | 31 min.)
Readily visible under the thin veneer of real estate ads pushing Brooklyn's future as a destination for the moneyed, yet "hip," classes is an urban renewal project on a scale not seen since Robert Moses' "slum" clearance of the 1960's. With images of a neighborhood being literally torn apart by outside developers capitalizing on a frenzied housing market, and locals under pressure to "sell out" while the price is right, this work documents aspects of an incredible drama that has been woefully underreported in the mainstream media. -Peter Scott on dianenerwen.com
NO WARD (Terence Nance | Brooklyn, NY | 11 min.)
A moving documentary about the forced migration of New Orleans residents, who have faced difficulty with remarkable dignity. terrencenance.com
MONROE ST. (Durier Ryan | Brooklyn, NY | 10:10 min.)
A young man from Bed-Stuy keeps his creative aspirations a secret. His camera's lens helps him see the beauty in his neighborhood, but will he be brave enough to share it with the people he loves? A film about finding the courage to open up.
MARIACHI (Elena Greenlee | Brooklyn, NY | 13 min.)
Carlos is a local teen struggling to carve out his identity somewhere between his Mexican-born parents and his Brooklyn-bred peers. An unexpected accident and an ensuing immigration investigation force him into uncharted territory, further from home and closer to finding himself.
LAREDO, TEXAS (Topaz Adizes | Brooklyn, NY | 11 min.)
Rooftop alum and Brooklyn local Adizes returns to Rooftop with this story of tensions among generations of hard-working immigrants. topazadizes.com
Links:
Rooftop Films
Monday, July 05, 2010
"Nyarma" & "Polar Explorer" Make Their NYC Premier on July 8th: Rooftop Films Summer Series
DOWNLOAD: Sunset - "When Perfect Flames Expire"
This Thursday, July 8th, Rooftop Films is showing the NYC premier of films Nyarma and Polar Explorer, two films filled with the howling wilderness of the Russian frontier.
The show is on the roof of Brooklyn Technical High School (29 Fort Greene Place - G to Fulton, C to Lafayette, 2,3,4,5 to Nevins or B,M,Q, R to Dekalb). Doors open at 8PM, Austin roots/folk band Sunset plays at 8:30 and the films begin at 9PM. Tickets are $10.
NYARMA (Edgar Bartenev | Russia | 40 min.) (video trailer)
Having screened Edgar Bartenev's short film Yaptic Hasse at Rooftop in 2008, we are thrilled to welcome him back with this fabulous follow-up film. Once again documenting a family of nomadic Nenets who live in the Siberian tundra, Bartenev's grand cinematography immerses us in the gorgeous and harsh scenery, while the intimacy of his familial inspection introduces us to the minute details of their remote life.
The Nenets make their home on high plains that are covered with a rugged dark soil, surrounded by steep hills and rocky peaks that disappear into the clouds, capped by a low-hanging sky. It's an otherworldly landscape that implicitly imparts a deep and intractable isolation. They travel hundreds of miles around the region, amazingly capturing enormous wild reindeer, feeding them by hand, taming them into work, utilizing their milk, meat and fur for themselves and as sellable commodities. They move across the tundra on handmade "nyarma," reindeer-pulled wooden sleds, living off the land as their people have done for centuries, seemingly untouched by modernity.
But even their isolated lives are changing in the modern world. Railroads and highways are shrinking their grazing grounds. Federal regulations limit how many deer they can herd. 24-year-old family head Gosha Nogo struggles to keep fellow men around the community, a necessity given the need for mutual aid in this harsh realm. An outstandingly-crafted documentary, Nyarma quietly and passionately tells a story that mixes the ethereal feelings of a unique way of life with the gritty facts of survival.
POLAR EXPLORER (Nikolay Volkov | Russia | 39 min.)
Tomash Petrovsky is an arctic explorer, fascinated by the hypnotic power of the shifting ice, drawn to the dynamic wasteland that surrounds the eerie power of the magnetic pole. The basis of his life includes taking a helicopter through a blizzard to a hulking, dazzlingly frozen boat; avoiding giant bears swimming through the black water; coping with sunless days and subfreezing temperatures. His elderly mother, for one, can't fathom why he goes: when she was young, Soviet citizens were sent to places like that as punishment. Certainly life on his summery green farm seems much more pleasurable.
Still, in this exquisite, delicately-constructed film, there are obvious delights to the polar life: watching adorable bear cubs frolic in the floes, creating a bond with the other workers (and work dogs), the important scientific research they are conducting, and, of course, the all-consuming beauty of the white landscape, breaking apart spectacularly under the red-painted jaws of their ship or the immense pressure of unthinkable amounts of ice.
When the huskies begin to fight, like canaries in a coalmine, they indicate to the crew that trouble is afoot. But there's little they can do when those breathtaking ice movements scatter their camp, sinking Petrovsky's own home and nearly killing him. But as Russian polar explorers, Petrovsky and his crew demonstrate the unbelievably stoic determination that is the key emotion explored in this daring documentary.
Links:
Rooftop Films
Monday, May 11, 2009
Rooftop Films Starts Its 13th Season This Friday (May 15th) with Cymbals Eat Guitars and an Open Bar
Rooftop Films kicks off its 13th season this Friday with a series of short films, music by Cymbals Eat Guitars and an open bar after-party at Fontana's.
Friday's film series is entitled “This is What We Mean by Short Films” and these are the movies that "define the short film as a genre—quickly clever but profoundly rich, packed with hard-hitting humor and long-lasting poignancy". Cymbals Eat Guitars are opening the night and the band seems to be popping up everywhere these days. They are playing upcoming shows with White Rabbits at Bowery Ballroom and Art Brut at the Mercury Lounge. Pitchfork just included the band's self-released debut "Why Are There Mountains" in their list of "Best New Music".
FRIDAY, MAY 15, 8pm ALL AGES
"This is What We Mean By Short Films" with Musical Guests Cymbals Eat Guitars
Venue: The Open Road Rooftop Project (above New Design High School)
Address: 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side, Manhattan)
8:00PM: Doors open
8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Cymbals Eat Guitars
9:00PM: Films
11:30PM - 1:00AM: Open Bar Fontana's (105 Eldridge St), courtesy of Radeberger Beer
Tickets: $9 at the door or online at going.com
Links:
Rooftop Films
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Rooftop Films Summer Series Closes Tomorrow Night with Chairlift + Free Beer
Rooftop Films Summer Series closes tomorrow night with a live set by Chairlift, highlights from the 2008 Summer Series films and an After Party at Fontanas with free beer (courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner).
In 2008, Rooftop Films screened 20 feature-length films and over 130 short films. They showed films from 33 different countries, in every imaginable genre—documentaries, narratives, animations, experimental films, music videos, home movies and more.
There were films by first-time filmmakers, and by experienced masters (including rarely-seen works by Salvadore Dali). There was an animation 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.
Prior to the films, Sound Fix presents live music by Brooklyn based trio Chairlift. Having already played with Ariel Pink and MGMT, the band is revving up for an upcoming tour with Yeasayer and will release their first full-length album Does You Inspire You on October 28th. Their single "Bruises" is featured in Apple's new "nano-chromatic" ad.
Venue: on the roof of the Open Road Rooftop
Address: 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side)
Directions: F/J/M/Z to Essex / Delancey
8:00: Doors Open
8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Chairlift
9:00 PM: Films
11:30 PM: Open bar at Fontana's with complimentary beer courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner
Tickets are $9.00 and you can click on the picture to buy advance tickets.