ROOFTOP FILMS

This is what we mean by short films
Friday, June 18th, 2004
8:30 - Live music by Honeychild (details below)
9:00 - Transformative short films at the Hudson River.

At the River Project, Pier 26 on the Hudson.
Dress warmly (it's cooler by the river than in the streets).
In the event of rain the show is indoors at the same location.

Tricks and transmogrifications
As Rooftop Films begins our 8th year of short films outdoors in New York, we prepare for a summer of change. For the first time since 1997, the Summer Series will appear on this isle of re-invention, Manhattan. (It's good to be back, if a bit hard to recognize.) We'll also have shows on the even more mysterious Governor's Island, which will be going through its own redevelopment soon. Our show there will celebrate borders, space and movement in the last days of a historic island few New Yorkers have ever had the opportunity to visit. And, of course, we'll do shows in our traditional home: on a roof in Brooklyn. So we'll be traveling around the city this summer, shape-shifting from a rooftop festival to a pier festival to a parking lot and historic fort film festival.

One thing won't change: short films that will shake you up, spin you around, leave you grasping after fleeting objects of uncertain properties. With these films, you won't believe your eyes, and that's for the best. Because tonight we're out to warp your perceptions. With this show at the River Project, you might see a seal out of the corner of your eye (really, ask our hosts about it!), but it might just be an old car tire. That very distinction will be blurred in the first movie of the year, Marvelous Creatures. You will have to rely on other forces of perception, other ways to interpret the information you are presented. Listen closely, think back on what you saw, and what you thought you saw. All summer long, Rooftop Films will provide new perspectives. So what better way for a film festival to begin than to tell you that your eyes will fail you, and we hope you appreciate it.

THE FILMS:

Marvelous Creatures (Wago Kreider, 4:00)
In this dazzling display of dislocating editing, Elvis grows horns, Marilyn Monroe is bear-ied and a guy crashes a kiss into a woman's fence.

Spin (Eunhee Cho, 11:00)
In this hairy fairy tale, a man's wound spawns its own woven cover, and becomes the catalyst for a woman's cocoon. The spinning loom crafts a cycle of turning inward and out, as two people chase each other through their various metamorphoses.

Cats and Pants (Jennifer Matotek, 1:00)
Sure, it seems simple. But which is which?

The Men of Club Casanova (Aralis Bloise, 13:00)
"Instead of being an angry woman, I'm a funny man." Drag kings, on tour.

Losing Your Cherry: A Young Man's Guide to Sexual Awakening (Jay Barba / Brian Farelly, 10:00)*
What at first appears to be crude joke about Twinkies and "winkies," in fact turns out to be a catchy advertisement for our snack bar.

Silent Picture (Jae Roberto, 2:30)**
A beautiful series of transformations, from woman to man, together twisting through and turning into and over each other.

A Thing of Wonder (Excerpt) (Rob Tyler / Ady Leverette / Eric Schopmeyer, 10:00)
Sometimes you need to think outside the box, because maybe there isn't a box there at all. Jerry Andrus is an 84-year old magician / inventor (wizard?) who has committed his life to battling "the curse of contentment" by constantly seeking to complicate the perceptions of the human mind.

INTERMISSION

Eric The Secret (Joe Quinn, 3:50)
Lonely and bored, two friends mess with their head (the one hidden behind the couch). A story of pathos, perversion and secret playpals.

Ingrid (Paul Gordon, 24:00) A lonely bike messenger yearns to recreate herself. The office workers who disdain her are no model. An attempted new look leads to crude harassment. And her inner meditations just make her flake on work. But when she's offered a genuine chance at a new emotional connection, does she take it, or fall for another easy answer?

Sui Generis (Alexandre Nothis, 8:00) Alone in a pit, a man alchemizes a partner. The rich close-ups, soft focus, shadows, grain and hiss combine to forge a hypnotic, illusory world.

Afterlifers (Halflifers, 16:00) An existential debate, in color, about the distinctions between the Undead and the Unliving.

Found Artists: Gary Crom (Curtis Craven, 8:30) There's no existential zombie debate here: Gary Crom sculpts the clearly dead into the visually vibrant.

Fantasy Tales of Friendship (Colin Hargraves, 3:30) An ogre joins a gang, and turns into a hot dancer . . . at least according to the unicorn. (Based on a true story.)

THE MUSIC:
Honeychild will perform a solo, semi-electric set. Described by Greg Tate as "Miriam Makeba meets Bjork in the Sex Pistols' basement," Honeychild is the lead singer of Audio Dyslexia, Badawi, Spectre and WE.