Friday, June 2nd, 2006
8:30 - Live Music by The Actual Facts (click for details)
9:00 - Showtime
TRT: 1:41:15
289 Kent Ave, betwen S. 1st and S. 2nd, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
*Trailer music by Aarktica, playing at Rooftop on Saturday July 1.
This Is What We Mean...By ROMANCE
I love you.
Love is an unconditional emotion. You might be angry at someone you love, you might feel betrayed, you might doubt that you love them or they love you. But if you really love someone, the feeling is unshakable. If he loves you, he doesn't care if your belly is too big (Undressing My Mother). If she loves you, she doesn't put you in the movie (Every Boy I've Fucked).
I want you, I need you, I miss you, I'm with someone else.
Romance is a very different thing from love. Romance is fleeting, manipulating, shape-shifting (Fauna Sutra). Romance includes the audacious things you say at parties to impress girls (The Pity Card), and the things you want to believe when you call a stranger on a hotline (Phone Sex Grandma). Romance might be the little spark you need to get through lonely times after your husband of 50 years has passed on (Backseat Bingo). And romance might be the twisted act you use to fill the void left by your abusive father (Solnishka).
On this opening weekend of Rooftop Films, what better topic to explore than the most basic element of our society, our intimate relationships. But romance isn't always romantic. It's dirty, it's vindictive and self-hating, it's weird and hilarious. At Rooftop Films, this is what we mean by romance.
THE FILMS:
Frank and Wendy — Intro
(Kaspar Jancis & Ulo Pikkov | Estonia | 10:00)
Named the best Estonian animated film of 2005, this is the unbelievably weird story of two sexed-up FBI super-super-agents battling evil Latvians in the deadly streets of Estonia. In this episode, Frank and Wendy take on legions of Nazi dwarves intent on turning the citizens of the free world into sausages. Frank makes a sexy schnitzel, but Wendy recruits the malignant mystic Dr. Woo, the reverser of irreversible processes, to turn Frank back into a man. Yup, just another day at the FBI. Come to the roof each week as we present all 8 episodes of Frank and Wendy.
Backseat Bingo (Liz Blazer | Glendale, CA | 5:25)
A hilarious animated documentary that proves that love never dies, and neither does one's sex drive.
Undressing My Mother (Ken Wardrop | Dublin, Ireland | 5:30)
This gorgeous documentary explores a womans unique take on her overweight and aging body, a memory map of her life and love.
Perfect (Sally Arthur | Bristol, UK | 3:00) www.worldofarthurcox.com
You might think your husband is neglecting you, ignoring your old friends, forgetting home improvements, but if he promised you the moon...
Derek and Simon: "The Pity Card"
(Bob Odenkirk | Los Angeles, CA | 12:00)
Everyone loves a good party. Have a drink, meet some girls, wrestle with a guy with feet rot and talk about the Holocaust. This brilliant comedy from "Mr. Show" co-star Bob Odenkirk questions our relationship to history, while also questioning the best ancestral reference to drop when trying to score chicks.
Solnishka (Ruth Shahar | Jerusalem, Israel | 16:00)
Eleven-year-old Pnina, a new immigrant from Russia, tries to recapture the prohibited relationship she had with her father by getting close to her neighbor whom she peeks at every night.
Every Boy I've Fucked (Jennifer Matotek | Oakville, Ontario | 8:00)
On the eve of her bachelorette party, Rooftop alum Jennifer Matotek (Cats and Pants 6/18/04) provides her footnoted sexual history. Funny and sexy, melancholy and honest, Matotek's film operates on multiple levels, revealing the subtexts and nuances of each relationship in a series of charming vignettes.
Brent's Wondrous Balls (Jennifer Matotek | Oakville, Ontario | 1:30)
Now you know why she married him.
Sex and Coffee (Lee Isaac Chung | New York, NY | 13:00)
In a tiny apartment, in a new country, with only hours left before his move to the Big Apple, a young man tries to get his girlfriend to sleep with him one last time. His attempts are funny, frank and downright desperate, and yet one also understands her sadness and reluctance throughout this charming film.
Fauna Sutra (Johan Klungel | Amsterdam, Holland | 4:00)
In case, at this point, you're wondering just how to go about getting it on, here is an animated educational video explaining the various mating processes of mollusks and men.
SloMo Video: Dildo Face (Ian Billet | San Francisco, CA | 1:00) Courtesy of SloMo Video Festival
And here's another way to get off.
No More Sympathy For Bastards And My Lover
(Patrick Tsai | Stockton, CA | 15:00)
In this dark, Jarmuschian comedy, when a young husband tells his wife he wants to get a second spouse, the emotional ramifications will be just as bad for him.
Phone Sex Grandma (Jack Truman | Lamar, MO | 7:00)
Time to spoil your fantasies. Jack Truman's real life mother, a former stripper, plays out all your dirtiest dreams while going through her daily routine.
THE MUSIC: The Actual Facts:Östomping garage-popÖfrom Brooklyn,ÖNY, by way of Essex, England. Think Jonathan Richman meets Neil Young meets Herman's Hermits.
The Actual Facts offer you advice and information you can trust, such as how to end an abusive relationship, how to treat a black eye, or what to wear on your first day of prison. Their dedication to the task of rocking your insides cannot be underestimated.
