ROOFTOP FILMS PRESENTS “FILMS FOR THE OCCUPATION” SERIES

Four nights of activist films screening for free in Manhattan and Brooklyn, Dec. 13-16!

We have exciting news. Next week, December 13-16, in conjunction with several of New York City’s finest film venues, we’ll be bringing you a series of four film programs that continue the conversation that was started at Zuccotti Park.

The series is curated by Rooftop Films with NewFest Director of Programming and Indiewire contributor Bryce J. Renninger.

“As the situation in Zuccotti Park unfolded the last few months, Rooftop Films received countless emails and phone calls from filmmakers, activists, and organizations who felt that it was important to put together screenings of films that focus on the issues that instigated the protests. We were never able to do a screening in the park, unfortunately, but we believe strongly that the discussion must continue, and we think these screenings can help to sustain that conversation,” said our Program Director Dan Nuxoll.

Renninger added, “As the Occupy encampments are being dismantled across the country and as mainstream media and politics threaten to go on with business as usual, ignoring the economic and social issues that have energized the Occupy movements, consuming media and having conversations that question our economic and political system is all the more important.  Films for the Occupation intends to showcase film and multimedia works that provoke or continue conversations that challenge old ways of thinking and encourage new ones.”

Thanks to the generosity of all filmmakers, distributors, and venues, all screenings will be free for all audience members.  Seating for all screenings is limited, audiences are encouraged to arrive early.

The schedule for the December 13-16 screening series follows:

Tuesday, December 13 – Sneak Preview of Just Do It:  A Tale of Modern-Day Outlaws
Director: Emily James
reRun Gastropub Theater in DUMBO in Brooklyn at 7PM
Before Occupy Wall Street, a group of climate activists in the UK organized themselves and engaged in direct action campaigns using the same methods that OWS took on a few months later.  Watch as cameras embedded within the group expose how their actions were executed and how they deal with a new approach from the UK’s police.

Wednesday, December 14 – Screening of Battle for Brooklyn (2012 Oscar shortlist)
Directors: Michael Galinsky & Suki Hawley (directors present for Q&A)
Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture in Park Slope at 7:30PM
Just as the new home for the New Jersey Nets (soon to be the Brooklyn Nets) is rising up into the Downtown Brooklyn skyline, Galinsky & Hawley released their film Battle for Brooklyn, which documents the shady business dealings that uprooted families and local businesses from their longtime homes.  Films for the Occupation will screen the film, which was just shortlisted for the Best Documentary Oscar, just blocks from the Atlantic Yards site.

Thursday, December 15 – Screening of The Flaw (Sundance 2011)
Director: David Sington
Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center at 7:30PM
With The Flaw, Sington launches an investigation into what or who caused the recent financial crisis.  Using interviews with economists, brokers, and bankers and archival cartoons explaining free market economics, Sington argues that the system of capitalism developed over the past thirty years is to blame for getting us into the mess we are in.
Screens with Matthew Modine’s Jesus Was a Commie

Friday, December 16 – Screening of OWS Shorts
Various Directors (many present for Q&A)
UnionDocs in South Williamsburg in Brooklyn at 7:30PM
Brooklyn documentary collective UnionDocs is opening its doors to a series of short films and multimedia projects from activists and filmmakers who documented the Occupy Wall Street movement or other activist actions.