10th Anniversary Special Presentation:
Best of New York Non-Fiction - Brooklyn
It's your city—take a look. PRESS RELEASE
Saturday, August 26th, 2006 7:00-9:00 PM: Live music by the Stephane Wrembel Trio (click for details) 9:00-11:00 PM: Films Tickets: Free!
PLEASE NOTE: There is no smoking or alcohol allowed on the roof. You may smoke downstairs at the venue.
This screening is part of the Fort Greene Film Festival
Sponsored by City Council Member Letitia James
On the rooftop of the Brooklyn Navy Yard | CLICK for DIRECTIONS
Audience members will need to take a shuttle bus from the entrance of the Navy Yard to the roof.
Please allow time to get on and off the buses.
Board buses at Flushing Ave @ Clinton Ave, Brooklyn.
Rain Date: Sun., August 27 (check this site or call 718-417-7362 for updates)
Best of New York Non-Fiction - Brooklyn
Have you ever wondered what was behind the giant, mysterious wall on Flushing Ave? Have you ever glimpsed the ivy-covered Admiral's Row through a chink in that wall and wondered what, exactly, it's like inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard? Well, here is your chance to find out. Follow us through the Navy Yard to a rooftop with a view you have definitely never seen before.
In 10 years of screening new, independent short movies, Rooftop Films has always sought out one thing: movies that show us where you live and how you live. And every year brings a new New York Non-Fiction Program. We leave the politicians to TV, the celebrities to Hollywood. We don't want history, and we don't want fiction. We want to see real people, as they are. We want to see New York as New Yorkers see it, walking down the street each day, working at their diners, in their workshops, hidden deep in their private corners. Raising kids, raising hell, scraping the surface of the city to see what lies underneath. We come together on these nights as to a secret society, sharing the clandestine treasures of the city and its inhabitants, spilling our booty, the moments we have captured in our long drifts through the streets, along the waterways, on the subways of this, the capital of the world.
On August 26, in honor of our 10th anniversary season and a very special collaboration with City Council Member Letitia James of Brooklyn's district 35, we present you with a breathtaking night of Brooklyn films by Brooklyn filmmakers. We at Rooftop Films have been clawing our way to the rooftops of Brooklyn since our inception—and before—constantly seeking a new audience, and new perspective, a new breeze, a new view. We present you with some of our most moving, astonishing, tragic, and personal stories from all our years of New York Non-Fiction. Please join us in this new secret space, deep inside the hidden fortress of the Navy Yard, to explore and share in these uniquely New York Non-Fiction moments.
TH FILMS: Storyboard of My Life: Coming To New York
(Robert Castillo | New York, NY | 3:00)
Professional storyboard artist Robert Castillo tells the story of his life in clips of sped-up video that capture his drawing process. In this chapter he tells of first meeting his mother and father in Queens at the age of 7 after having been raised by his grandmother in the Dominican Republic.
Stockholm Street (Mans Mansson | Bushwick, Brooklyn | 6:00)
Born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, veteran Rooftop director Mans Mansson (Clyde: A Tough Guy, 07/16/02) finds another Stockholm in his adoptive home in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Sunlight spills through each shot, highlighting the beauty of Rooftop Films' former neighborhood, an area of New York which has been ravaged by highway construction, blackout riots, and economic injustice. In these portraits, local residents speak of the difficulties and pleasures of living where they do.
Bullets in the Hood (Terrence Fisher & Daniel Howard |
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn | 25:00) Courtesy of Downtown Community Television.
As a teen living in a housing project in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Terrence had seven of his friends shot and killed by a gun. Terrence is not a gang member or a drug dealer—he is just a normal teenager who likes making hip-hop music with his friends. In an attempt to stop gun violence in Bed-Stuy before losing another friend or even his own life, he picked up a camera to tell his story. Ironically, soon after that Terrence's best friend Timothy Stansbury was shot and killed by a police officer right in front of Terrence's face.
Pay Roll (Noah Klersfeld | Fort Greene, Brooklyn | 13:00)
The intersection of Broadway and Fulton in downtown Manhattan may seem chaotic, but this ingenious film shows the amazing coordination of the public movement. Produced by a Fort Greene filmmaker.
The Kings of Christmas (David Katz | Brooklyn, NY | 10:27)
The flashy yet underground outer borough phenomenon of elaborate, ornate Christmas exterior house decorations is given a human face in this documentary short. You'll meet the obsessed, quirky people behind the biggest, brightest, and most over-the-top holiday decorated houses in New York City, including Steve Pancini who owns 600 animated dolls for his lawn and takes an entire month off from work to maintain his display.
Under the Roller Coaster
(Lila Place | Coney Island, Brooklyn | 15:00)
The Thunderbolt Roller Coaster was a Coney Island icon, but, for Mae Timpano, it was home. This film looks beyond the enchantment of the famous playground to examine the true-life experience of one woman who had a unique relationship to Coney Island: she lived under the famed Thunderbolt Roller Coaster.
Eggs and Hamburgers
(Diana Logriera | Greenpoint, Brooklyn | 5:00)
Not long ago, Greenpoint was dominated by small manufacturers, and supported by dozens of family-run businesses. At least one such business, the luncheonette on the corner of Nassau and N. Henry, is still run by the family that founded it. Of course, there's a down side of the "good old" days ë the 6am to 10pm shift, 7 days a week, slinging the same meals year after year.
Pursesnatcher 2000 (Jonatan Kaye | Fort Greene, Brooklyn | 2:43)
Jonny Kaye tracks down a fleeing purse-snatcher with his one-chip camera and gets a brief glimpse into the mind of an unambitious thief who is something less than a criminal mastermind. Bon apetit, indeed!
THE MUSIC:
French-born, Brooklyn-based guitarist Stephane Wrembel may not be a gypsy by definition, but his music has all the nostalgia, joy and jangle of a true gypsy musician. His dynamic trio will perform a wild and enjoyable set before and after the films.
