Rooftop Films not only exhibits films from around the world, we also collaborate with the filmmakers whose work we screen to make new movies through the Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund and Production Collective. At our annual festival, one dollar of every ticket sold is set aside for the future productions of filmmakers whose work we've screened. We also grant production services and mentorship by working with local partners Edgeworx Studios, Eastern Effects, and The Adrienne Shelly Foundation, DCTV, plus a new grant from our presenting sponsor, AT&T. 

So often, filmmakers spend so much of their resources making one film that it's hard for them to produce another. But unlike festivals which give away awards for filmmakers' past work, the Rooftop Filmmakers Fund is an opportunity to help deserving filmmakers make their next movie. We've been screening films since 1997, and every filmmaker who has ever shown a film with Rooftop is eligible for our grants—now over 1,800 artists. Past grantees have included Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, Benh Zeitlin's Beasts of the Southern Wild and Glory at Sea, Johannes Nyholm’s Las Palmas, Lucy Walker's The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom, and dozens more.

Rooftop Films has seven grants available—four for feature-length films and three for short films. In 2012, Rooftop Films will give away over $23,000 in cash grants, and over $50,000 in equipment and services.

READ MORE ABOUT PAST GRANTEES.

The winner of this year's grants offered by the Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund are: 

ROOFTOP FILMS / AT&T FEATURE FILM GRANT
AT&T is the presenting sponsor of Rooftop Films 2012 Summer Series, and will be sponsoring the AT&T Feature Film Grant. “AT&T is thrilled to support independent artists with this Rooftop filmmaker grant,” said Marissa Shorenstein, President, AT&T New York. “Filmmaking is important to New York both culturally and economically and our commitment has extended even further by presenting Rooftop's 2012 Summer Series which builds audiences for the independent and emerging artists who are essential to making New York the culturally rich place that it is.” For this grant, AT&T will award one filmmaker $10,000 cash for their feature film, at a critical stage of production. The 2012 recipient is:

Bill and Turner Ross | untitled Texas / Mexico film
Bill and Turner Ross' third feature film will be documentary portrait of the modern frontier. Augmented by the lives of a cross-section of residents in and around Eagle Pass, Texas, we will get a sense of the symbiosis inherent in a border community. The stories, experiences and daily trials of these people will provide a real glimpse at life along the U.S.-Mexico border. Viewers will be given the chance to explore the world behind the curtain of sensational news coverage and stereotyping. Rooftop screened the Ross brothers award-winning documentary 45365 in 2009.

THE ROOFTOP FILMS & DCTV COLOR CORRECTION GRANT
Founded in 1972, DCTV is an established media arts resource for NYC’s independent filmmaking community. DCTV provides affordable workshops, production equipment rentals, post-production facilities, a signature screening series, renowned youth programming, and more – all under the same roof as its award-winning documentary production house. DCTV Post provides independent filmmakers edit, color correction, and mastering suites with the highest quality service at the lowest possible cost. For this grant, DCTV will provide our color correction/mastering suite for one feature film for up to 12 days. The 2012 recipient is:

Tony Gerber and Maxim Pozdorovkin | Citizen Bout
On March 6, 2008, four men meet in a Bangkok hotel to discuss a $25 million arms deal. But two of them are undercover agents, and the conversation is secretly recorded. When officers raid the conference room, Viktor Bout, the world's most famous arms dealer, is handcuffed and put up against the wall. He famously mouths the words, "game over." That's where this documentary begins, with unprecedented behind-the-scenes footage from officials and Bout himself. Rooftop screened Gerber's documentary Full Battle Rattle in 2009.

ROOFTOP FILMS & EASTERN EFFECTS EQUIPMENT GRANT
Since 1999, Brooklyn-based Eastern Effects has been providing Lighting & Grip Equipment rentals for Independent Feature Films, Television Productions, Corporate & Industrial Videos, Student Filmmakers, and Live Broadcast. In 2012, they opened Eastern Effects Studios and now offer NYS Level 2 Qualified sound stages, production offices, and support services to the film community. For this grant, Eastern Effects will award 30 days of lighting and grip equipment to one feature-length film. Past recipients included Benh Zeitlin's Beasts of the Southern Wild, Andrew Semans' Nancy, Please, and Lee Isaac Chung's Lucky Life. The 2012 recipient is:

Allison Bagnall | Funny Bunny

In this off-beat comedy, a compulsive do-gooder (Kentucker Audley) and a trust fund man-child (Olly Alexander) embark on a slipshod quest to vie for the heart of an afflicted but beautiful factory-farming activist (Kate Lyn Sheil) whom they have never actually met. Rooftop screened Bagnall's film The Dish and the Spoon in 2011.

ROOFTOP FILMS & EDGEWORX POST-PRODUCTION GRANT
Edgeworx Studios is a post-production house based in Manhattan. With a sixteen-year track record, Edgeworx provides full service production and post-production. Their areas of expertise include motion graphic design, animation, VFX, editorial and finishing. For this grant, Edgeworx will provide 1-2 weeks of post-production services to one feature-length film. Past recipents included Ian Cheney’s The City Dark, Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, and David Lowery's Ain't Them Bodies Saints. The 2012 recipient is:


Shaka King | Newlyweeds
Lyle is a repo-man, an often perilous and/or heart breaking enterprise. His sole companion is his girlfriend Nina, an unemployed, capricious, dreamer. To dull the stress of their daily lives, they self-medicate with marijuana. But what should be a match made in stoner heaven turns into a love triangle gone awry in this black comedy about addiction. Rooftop screened two of King's previous films, Clockwork (2006) and Herkimer DuFrayne, 7th Grade Guidance Counselor (2011).

ROOFTOP FILMS EQUIPMENT GRANT

Rooftop Films strives to support as many filmmakers as possible. This year, one film had a particular need for generators for nighttime shooting. Through the Rooftop Equipment Rental program, we are pleased to be able to help one additional film through a special grant. The 2012 recipient is:


Jeremy Saulnier | Blue Ruin

In this realistic horror / thriller, when a reclusive vagrant returns to his childhood home to carry out an act of revenge, he uncovers a terrible truth about his past and finds himself in a desperate fight to protect his estranged family. Rooftop screened Saulnier's Goldfarb (1999) and Murder Party (2007).

ROOFTOP FILMS AND ADRIENNE SHELLY FOUNDATION SHORT FILM GRANT FOR WOMEN
The Adrienne Shelly Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated in loving memory to the uniquely gifted actor and filmmaker Adrienne Shelly, whose highly accomplished life was tragically cut short November 1, 2006. ASF supports the artistic achievements of female actors, writers and directors through a series of scholarships and grants, providing recipients with financial support and consultative access to the Foundation's advisory board of actors, directors, producers, composers, law, publicity, academic and trade professionals. Reflecting Adrienne's spirit, generosity, courage and whimsy, its goal is to recognize the tremendous passion and commitment of women artists in creating their own work, and provide them with support and guidance particularly during periods of transition and struggle. For this grant, we will award one $3,000 grant to a female director.The 2012 recipient is:

Talibah Newman | Sweet Honey Chile'

Sweet Honey Chile' is a film about a young boy who is larger than life, but is trapped within the confines of an absurd, suffocating world. Though weighed down by the trappings of poverty, Honey tries to help his short-fused and short-sighted mother deal with her grief. Newman's previous film, Busted on Brigham Lane, played at Rooftop Films in 2012.

ROOFTOP FILMS / DCTV EQUIPMENT & SERVICES SHORT FILM GRANT
DCTV Equipment Rentals is one of the only rental houses that does not require production insurance and is open 7 days a week, striving to make otherwise expensive pro camera, lighting and audio gear accessible. DCTV Workshops provide over 200 hands-on workshops in video production, post-production, producing, and graphic & web design each year, taught by working industry professionals in an intimate and interactive environment. For this grant, DCTV will provide 2-3 weeks of production equipment and workshop enrollment to two filmmakers making short films. The 2012 recipients are:

Jesse Moss | Reality Party 
A documentary about a group of Southern California teenagers who get together and have a party. Then the parents show up. And the cops too. But this party is different. It's a "fake" party, to show parents what actually happens at teenage parties. But for Jace, the "director," the experience is a kind of existential nightmare, forcing him to revisit his own painfully awkward teenage years again and again. Rooftop showed Moss' documentary Full Battle Rattle in 2009.

Julia Pott | Neighbors "Diamonds"
In this endearing narrative music video, a trapped little boy and a wounded girl flee to the ocean as their bodies splinter into brightly colored glitter, in a parable about the brevity of life and the need for adventure. Rooftop previously screened Pott's animated films Howard (2011) and Belly (2012).

ROOFTOP FILMMAKERS' FUND SHORT FILM GRANT 
We believe that short films do not receive the attention they deserve in the world of film, and that all too often even a festival which prominently includes short films does little for the filmmaker in the long run. For the short film grants, Rooftop Films earmarks one dollar from every regularly-priced ticket sold and every submission fee received for the Filmmakers' Fund. Every year, filmmakers whose movies have screened at Rooftop Films are eligible to apply for grants for their future productions. We believe that instead of giving each filmmaker ten dollars, giving away a few larger sums (up to $3,000) toward specific projects is a better way to help the filmmakers and the independent filmmaking community in general. Past recipients have included Johannes Nyholm's Las Palmas, Kelly Sears' Once It Started It Could Not End Otherwise, Emily Carmichael's Ledo and Ix Battle Epically, Sara Zia Ebrahimi's Norman Schwartzkopf Made Me Gay, Moon Molson's Crazy Beats Strong Every Time, James M. Johnston's Knife, Dustin Guy Defa's Family Nightmare, Don Hertzfeldt's I Am So Proud of You, and many others. The 2012 recipients are:

Mauricio Arango | We Won't Always Be Hyenas
Set in El Salado, Colombia, a town that underwent one of the most vicious massacres in recent Colombian history, this film will mix fictional and documentary elements showing how these peoples' lives have been impacted by such an event. Scripted in a non-linear fashion, the film explores the ways in which violence permeates and shatters every aspect of one's life. Rooftop showed Arango's film The Night of the Moon Has Many Hours (2012).

Stephen Irwin | The Obvious Child
The Obvious Child is an animated film about the complicated relationship between a pet rabbit and his troubled young owner. The film explores childhood delusions and the confusion that religion can cause in a developing mind. Irwin's previous film, Moxie, played at Rooftop Films in 2012.

Nellie Kluz | Gold Party
Gold is a commodity that thrives in uncertain economic climates; rising gold prices over the past few years have created a boom industry around precious metal scrap. Gold Party watches two gold scrap dealers at work: Kate, an entrepreneur and bodybuilder who buys gold from women at home parties, and Roy, who works long hours processing metal in a small Boston office. Kluz's previous film, Young Bird Season, played at Rooftop Films in 2012.

Edwin Martinez | The Last Doo Wop
Set in El Salado, Colombia, a town that underwent one of the most vicious massacres in recent Colombian history, this film will mix fictional and documentary elements showing how these peoples' lives have been impacted by such an event. Scripted in a non-linear fashion, the film explores the ways in which violence permeates and shatters every aspect of one's life. Rooftop showed Arango's film The Night of the Moon Has Many Hours (2012).

David and Nathan Zellner | Part-Time Jobs
Part-Time Jobs is a short film amalgamation involving a parallel dimension the filmmakers discovered as children. Rooftop has screened numerous Zellner films, including Kid-Thing (2012), Sasquatch Birth Journal 2 (2011), Quasar Hernandez (2007) and more.

READ MORE ABOUT PAST GRANTEES.