Live in New York? Looking for a film to see and none of the big summer noisemakers fit the bill? Want a little live music after your film? The New York Rooftop Films series, now in its 15th year, has a lineup of 23 feature-length films, 183 short films from 26 countries presented as theme nights and screenings often include live music, Q&A sessions, or some other fun thing (like a live wrestling match) afterward. And all of this takes place on rooftops across NYC in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. The series started on May 13th, so here are the remaining dates and films.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Short Film Thrillers: Trapped in the Machine
A selection of heart-racing, breath quickening, edge-of-your-seat films featuring all kinds of people and things struggling to break free.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Romance Short Films
Romance, served up with a twist.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Bad Posture (Malcolm Murray | Brooklyn, NY)
A nuanced, visually inventive vista of young life in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Bad Posture follows Flo as he seeks to make amends - and make a connection - with Marisa, a beautiful girl whose car his best friend has stolen.
Friday, June 3, 2011
The Dish and the Spoon (Open Road Rooftop | New York, NY)
Indie starlet Greta Gerwig and newcomer Olly Alexander put on alternately fierce and delicate performances in this enchantingly offbeat romance ... about an alienated teen and a woman on the run from a troublesome marriage.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
No Matter What (New Design High School | New York, NY)
The story of Nick and Joey, two best friends living in the crumbling landscape of rural Florida, whose lives and friendship are changed by...the journey to find Joey's mother.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
The City Dark (The Old American Can Factory | Brooklyn, NY)
For thousands of years, the night sky was a crucial part of human experience, but due to light pollution, the stars are ... disappearing from our vision and consciousness. Would bringing back the sky make us better humans, or save us from some of the harmful effects of modern city life?
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Battle for Brooklyn (Fort Greene Park | Brooklyn, NY)
A group of people in Rooftop’s beloved Brooklyn come together to fight the Atlantic Yards Project—a massive real estate development that threatens to destroy their homes and neighborhood—in this epic tale of how far people will go to fight for what they believe in.
Friday, June 10, 2011
New York Non-Fiction (Open Road Rooftop | New York, NY)
It’s Your City. Take a Look.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Green (Open Road Rooftop | New York, NY)
An eerily compelling sexual thriller from writer-director Sophia Takal, Green focuses on a young literary couple who encounter an alluring country bumpkin during their weekend getaway.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Northside Shorts - This Point in Time (Indiescreen | Brooklyn, NY)
A collection of New York shorts about people and places, time and forgetting, plus a special presentation of Welcome To Pine Point, an interactive video scrapbook about a town that disappeared.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Friends Like These (Open Road Rooftop | New York, NY)
So off we go: a fox leaving coded notes for the bunny down the hall. A father returning from prison on his best behavior. And an awkward old lady out to the beach to party, in the celebrated US premiere of the complete version of Johannes Nyholm’s drunken baby YouTube sensation Las Palmas, produced in part by the Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund. Nyholm will be at the show in person from Sweden to answer for a Q&A after the film.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
The Catechism Cataclysm (BAM Cinematek Outdoors | Brooklyn, NY)
Rooftop alum Todd Rohal’s The Catechism Cataclysm follows the storyline of your typical road-trip movie. On a boat. With a priest. Who’s obsessed with bad heavy metal music. (He became a priest because of Judas ____. Dig?) Throw in some Japanese tourists with a head-exploding device and a man living inside a concrete highway bunker, and voila, instant classic.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
The Extraordinary Life of Jose Gonzalez (Open Road Rooftop | New York, NY)
Swedish-Argentine singer Jose Gonzalez has played for hundreds of thousands of people across five continents. His cover of the song Heartbeats has graced the soundtracks of countless teen TV dramas. His enchanting, powerfully personal recordings have received nearly unanimous praise from critics and more than a million copies of his albums have sold worldwide--which is particularly impressive given that there are only nine million people in all of Sweden. Despite all this, Jose Gonzalez is not a typical famous musician, and so when Mikel Cee Karlsson and Frederik Egerstrand began to film him as he prepared to record his sophomore album, they knew that they did not want to create a typical rock star biopic. Filmmaker Mikel Cee Karlsson from Sweden will be at the show in person to answer for a Q&A after the film.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Home Movies and Commercial Kings (Crown Vic | Manhattan, NY)
A special collection of short films that let us peak into the lives of strangers, plus a special sneak preview of Commercial Kings, a new series on IFC.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same (Open Road Rooftop | New York, NY)
Called "A hilarious date movie for couples of all orientations" by the Hollywood Reporter, New York playwright and filmmaker Madeleine Olnek's feature-length debut is the joyously campy tale of extraterrestrial lesbians banished to Earth to experience heartbreak and rid themselves of love, a feeling that clouds up the atmosphere on their home planet. Shot in expressive black-and-white, the movie lovingly sends up 1950's-era sci-fi while honestly dealing with the intricacies of contemporary relationships. This screening is copresented with Newfest, New York City's premier LGBT film organization.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
The Redemption of General Butt Naked (Open Road Rooftop | New York, NY)
The man known as General Butt Naked murdered thousands during Liberia’s horrific 14-year civil war. Today he has reinvented himself as evangelist Joshua Milton Blahyi. In a riveting cinema vérité journey that unfolds over the course of five years, filmmakers Eric Strauss and Daniele Anastasion follow his unrelenting crusade to save his own soul by spreading the gospel to the people he once terrorized.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Family Instinct (The Old American Can Factory | Brooklyn, NY)
One part Borat, two parts Eastern Bloc Gothic, and three parts documentary tragicomedy, Andris Gauja’s feature film debut never lets you relax. If you don’t feel a little uncomfortable watching this film, there is something dead inside of you. And yet Family Instinct remains undeniably engaging throughout, making for an unforgettable and surprisingly entertaining movie-watching experience. Filmmaker Andris Gauja from Latvia will be at the show in person to answer for a Q&A after the film.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Winner of the Northside DIY Film Fest (Automotive High School | Brooklyn, NY)
A special outdoor screening of the first annual Northside Film Fest DIY Competition Winner.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Where Soldiers Come From (The Old American Can Factory | Brooklyn, NY)
As we go through our daily lives, consumed by the stresses and joys of work, family, and friends, It is easy to forget that our country is at war. Where Soldiers Come From is a startling reminder of the reality of that war and its ongoing effects on many of our country’s young men and women. Constructed with a masterful combination of tender intimacy and hard-hitting insight, this is a film that every American should see. Director Heather Courtney and young U.S. veterans of the war in Afghanistan will be there in person to answer for a Q&A after the film.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Clermont-Ferrand Short Films (Socrates Sculpture Park | Long Island City, NY)
A collection of extraordinary new short films, all selected from the 2011 Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, the premier short film festival in the world.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Neurotypical (Automotive High School | Brooklyn, NY)
Bridges between the autistic world and the “neurotypical” one are hard to come by and are often tenuous, creaky, and unstable. Sometimes, all we need is a lens into a different way of navigating the same societal questions to ask what, in fact, is “normal,” and whether it is dangerous to define our society on such strict terms. Filmmaker Adam Larsen will be at the show in person to answer for a Q&A after the film.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Bellflower (Automotive High School | Brooklyn, NY)
Rooftop Films, indieWIRE, and Snag Films celebrate our 15 year anniversaries with a special sneak preview of this apocalyptic love story for the Mad Max generation. Evan Glodell’s impressive feature debut paints a classic, yet urgently contemporary, tale of the destructive power of love.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Creation, Construction, Convento (The Old American Can Factory | Brooklyn, NY)
Artists fashion a madcap dance between nature and machine, between past and future, between the living and the dead, featuring robo-animal sculpture installations by Christiaan Zwanikken of Convento.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Hope and Heartbreak (TBA | New York, NY)
Lonely romantics lost in limbo, in a program of comedies, dramas, documentaries and more about the brilliant anguish of new love and the bittersweet taste of love lost.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Falling Overnight (Automotive High School | Brooklyn, NY)
Falling in love with someone is truly an extraordinarily experience. It’s uncontrollable, intoxicating and risky. When you have a real connection with someone, the initial encounter with that person leaves you wanting more. But what happens if the timing is all wrong? What if your future is unknown? Filmmaker Conrad Jackson will be at the show in person to answer for a Q&A after the film.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
Orbit (Film) (The Old American Can Factory | Brooklyn, NY)
An omnibus of short films about our solar system, commissioned and created by Cinemad and Rooftop Films.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Fake It So Real (Crown Vic | Manhattan, NY)
A dynamic documentary about indie wrestling and a live demo of the daring escapades.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Animation Block Party (Automotive High School | Brooklyn, NY)
Some call it punk rock, some call it grass roots, but labels aside, NYC-based Animation Block Party is dedicated to exhibiting the world's best independent, professional and student animation.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Kill Screen Videogame Film Festival (The Old American Can Factory | Brooklyn, NY)
Rooftop Films and Kill Screen present a night of short films, new videogames, and special presentations that showcase the impact that videogames have on our culture and daily lives.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Dangerous Docs and Whisker Wars (Crown Vic | Manhattan, NY)
Female Mexican professional wrestlers! Canadians assaulting rock stars in 7-Eleven! Moped gang wars in Virginia! It is time for some Dangerous Docs, PLUS a special sneak preview of Whisker Wars, the new docu-comedy from IFC about professional beard-growers!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Nothing As It Seems (Automotive High School | Brooklyn, NY)
Nothing is as it seems in a world of dreams, deception, and resurrection. Sometimes breathing comes more easily underwater.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
La Bocca del Lupo (The Old American Can Factory | Brooklyn, NY)
Enzo returns from prison to reunite with his faithful Mary, but all is not as it seems in this one of a kind love story of two outsiders in the underworld of Genoa.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Rural Route 8:00PM (Brooklyn Grange | Long Island City, NY)
The natural world writes our origin myths and spells out our destruction in a fertile program about the decline of the rural life, co-presented as the Closing Night of the Rural Route Film Festival.
Sunday August 7, 2011
Rural Route 10:00PM (Brooklyn Grange | Long Island City, NY)
The natural world writes our origin myths and spells out our destruction in a fertile program about the decline of the rural life, co-presented as the Closing Night of the Rural Route Film Festival.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
At the Edge of Russia (Socrates Sculpture Park | Long Island City, NY)
Bizarre rituals help soldiers develop powerful bonds amidst the tense existence of one of the Russian army's last existing frozen outposts.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Public Places, Private Spaces (The Old American Can Factory | Brooklyn, NY)
An intricate exploration of the emotions that fill the places we inhabit.
Friday August 19, 2011
World's Best Dad (The Old American Can Factory | Brooklyn, NY)
World Premiere! Miles hasn't seen Matt since their father passed away. Now, they're going to blast him into space. Once they steal his ashes. And figure out how to launch the rocket. And get him to Nevada...
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Rooftop Shots (The Old American Can Factory | Brooklyn, NY)
Closing Night! Short films fired from the roof one last time, with fiction, documentary, comedy and animations so sharp we call them shots.
