Friday, September 16th, 2005
8:30 - Live music
9:00 - Some of the best short films from the 2005 Summer Series!
11:00-12:00 - Free Pabst Blue Ribbon at Matchless (557 Manhattan Ave at Driggs)
12:00 on - After-party rages on at Matchless!
Outdoors at Automotive High School
50 Bedford Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Dress warmly (it's cooler sitting still than in the streets).
In the event of rain the show is indoors at the same location.
Rooftop Shots
Rooftop Films closes out the summer with an incredible collection of short films that represent the best of the 2005 Summer Series! We received more than 1,500 submissions this year, from which we picked some 190 films and spread them out over 27 screenings that took place upon the roofs, grassy fields and waterways of New York City. Of course we love all the films that we screened this summer, but on this night we present to you a bunch of our favorites.
The films are various in theme and structure: we've got animations about depressed French crabs, about the love lives of lighting fixtures, about vessels manned by monkeys, and about extremely troubled teenage boys; we've got documentaries about booty experts, about bread factory disasters, and about extremely unorthodox families; and we've got a bunch of other films that nearly defy description, including found footage from Arnold Schwarzenegger's wild and debaucherous trip to Carnival in 1983. No two films are alike and they all are guaranteed to amaze. The 2005 Summer Series has certainly been our best festival to date, so come see what the buzz is all about and enjoy a night under the stars before the summer fades away...
THE FILMS:
Max By Chance (Max Kestner / 28:00)
Danish Director Max Kestner tells the story of himself, playfully animated within the realms of documentary. Max's story traces back several generations of his family to sailors, industrialists and Summer of Love hippies—everyone depicted with wholehearted love and equal amounts of irony. But there is more at stake here than the biographical filmic note of a single man. The film playfully embraces life's many coincidences and grapples with questions such as genetics, destiny and family patterns of behavior.
Return I Will to Old Brazil (Alex Budovsky / 4:00)
A mellow and fun flash animation starring a boatload of pirate monkeys, from one of New York's top pop animators, Alex Budkovsky (Bathtime in Clerkenwell, Rooftop 7/23/04). One sure way to get lost at sea is to let the monkey steer the ship. Courtesy of Square Footage Films
Son of Satan (JJ Villard / 10:00)
A terrifying tale of childhood brutality adapted from a Charles Buckowski short story in which a group of 12-year-old boys try and nearly execute an insecure neighbor for lying. Villard masterfully animates the story, radically changing the visages of the boys and the backgrounds as they boorishly mock him, then viciously beat him, then move toward something resembling existential contemplation.
La Revolution des Crabes (Arthur de Pins / 4:50)
A charming French animation about a race of shellfish that have collectively internalized the concept of being trapped in a shell and who have doomed themselves to walk forever in the same direction. "We live in the browny waters of the Gironde estuary, between the rocks repainted with fuel and the muddy sand that provides a home for the best oysters in the world. No one is aware of the tragedy that has pervaded us for the last one hundred and twenty million years. We are the Pachygrapsus Marmoratus, commonly known as 'depressed crabs.'"
The Fan and the Flower (Bill Plympton / 7:00)
The newest animated short from 'toon master Bill Plympton tells the tale of an unconsummated romance between two unlikely partners, featuring a magic fairy tale ending and the sympathetic voice of Paul Giamatti (Sideways, American Splendor).
Carnival in Rio (Brazilian Travel Board / 8:00)
Find out what happens when a producer hires a couple of Brazilian escorts for a young and frisky Arnold Schwarzenegger and lets him go nuts in Rio de Janeiro. This travel video was found at a Salvation Army in New York. Courtesy of the Found Footage Festival
The Storyboard of My Life: The Bread Mess (Robert Castillo / 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 selection he tells the story of a completely catastrophic mishap in a bread factory. Courtesy of Shooting People
Something Other Than Other (Jerry Henry & Andrea Chia / 7:05)
A beautiful personal portrait of the birth of a young multiracial couple's first child. Funded in part by the Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund.
Wet Dreams and False Images (Jesse Epstein / 11:18)
Brooklyn barber and self-confessed "booty expert," Dee Dee was only too happy to show documentary-maker Jesse Epstein the collection of tits-n-ass pin-up pictures that he salivates over. Convinced that their flawless, big-butt beauty is the "real deal," he and his posse get a rude awakening when she brings a digital retouching expert in to show the boys how their "perfect" women are re-proportioned by computers, and how cellulite, stretch marks and spots are airbrushed away.
Small Town Secrets (Katherine Leggett / 9:00)
A lyrical and sweetly personal film and video scrapbook about growing up in a small town with two closeted gay parents.
Financial Advice (Fritz Donnelly / 5:00) The Wall Street Journal never tells it like it is. But alone in his apartment, Fritz breaks down all you need to know about taking stock of your assets, inventorying your friends, and hiding your cash in your closet.
