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These types of asks are awkward, we get it. We’re not professional fundraisers, we’re film lovers, just like you. But the programs that support Rooftop grantees and alumni filmmakers, like those listed below, depend on your support.
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The upcoming Sundance Film Festival lineup was just announced and there is a lot to look forward to in the 2018 edition: Robert Greene’s Bisbee ’17, Christina Choe’s Nancy, and Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Monsters and Men, to shamelessly plug our grantees.
Enough of that feature talk, Rooftop begins our coverage of the Sundance lineup the same way we kick off our annual Summer Series, with short films!
Here’s a list of some short films, by past grantees and alumni, that we’re looking forward to seeing this January. Did we mention that their short film program that is 51% woman-directed. Take that, Golden Globes.
1. “The Burden” directed by Niki Lindroth von Bahr
Film Description: A dark musical enacted in a modern market place, situated next to a large freeway. The employees of the various commercial venues deal with boredom and existential anxiety by performing cheerful musical turns. The apocalypse is a tempting liberator.
Why we’re excited: Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s existential and melancholic stop motion films have been wowing audiences for years and she is back on the festival circuit with The Burden, racking up awards around the world. The film certainly blew our minds when we gave it a grant in 2015!
2. “Julius Caesar was Buried in a Pet Cemetery” directed by Sam Green
Film Description: A short documentary portrait of the greatest pet cemetery in the world.
Why we’re excited: We’ve been showing Sam’s films for years and even gave a grant to The Great Heart of Humanity in 2013. Sam Green and his collaborator-with-the-same-last-name Brent (he also has a short film at Sundance this year, more on that in a bit) perform amazing live-cinema shows even playing at Rooftop Films first ever Gala in 2016. Any new film by Sam is a cause for excitement, let alone one with a pet cemetery as its subject matter.
3. “Ultraviolet” directed by Marc Johnson
Film Description: A woman named Kanchana and several scorpions explore collaborative survival approaches in a posthuman future in which all living being are considered equal. Ultraviolet invites us to an encounter with other forms of life and experiences involving themes of inter-species sociability, the Anthropocene, the Capitalocene and speculative Fabulations. Inspired by a Chinese poem of the 3rd century BC – written by Zhuangzi – The Butterfly’s Dream, Ultraviolet conveys an allegorical narrative in which the parable and the fable unfold in a futuristic and enchanted world.
Why we’re excited: Seriously? Did you see the image? Marc’s film YúYú played as an installation on closing night of the 2016 Rooftop Films Summer Series and produced a few creepy-crawly cringes as its protagonist stood staring into the camera covered in thousands of bees. Marc returns with another beautiful short sure to creep out a few audience members.
4. “Agua Viva” directed by Alexa Lim Haas
Film Description: A manicurist in Miami attempts to describe her feelings in the little English she knows.
Why we’re excited: Aqua Viva was a 2016 Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund grant recipient. Alexa Lim Haas’ hand-drawn and beautifully colored plates offer a stunning contrast to the isolation of the film’s protagonist, inviting your mind to drift with her’s. Alexa was also recently on the 25 New Faces of Independent Film.
5. “A Brief Spark Bookended by Darkness” directed by Brent Green
Film Description: A hand-drawn animated tale about love in an increasingly dark world.
Why we’re excited: We’ve shown a bunch of Brent’s films over the years and granted Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then, a prize on the Rooftop Films Kickstarter. Brent and Sam Green (no relation) perform amazing live-cinema shows even playing at Rooftop Films first ever Gala in 2016.
6. “LaZercism” directed by Shaka King
Film Description: Ask your doctor if LaZercism is right for you…
Why we’re excited: Another long-time member of the Rooftop community, Shaka King has shown three films on our roofs and received a 2013 grant for Newlyweeds. LaZercism promises to be just as weird and wonderful as his past work. Plus, the description ends in an ellipses…
7. “Jeom” directed by Kangmin Kim
Film Description: A father and a son both have the same big birthmark on their butt. Believing that the two birthmarks are connected, the son scrubs his father’s birthmark to remove it, but he just can’t get rid of his trace.
Why we’re excited: This paper cutout stop motion short film is a sequel to Kangmin’s 38-39°C, a Rooftop 2012 selection. We’re excited to revisit a story we love!
8. “Deer Boy” directed by Katarzyna Gondek
Film Description: Deer Boy is a story about a hunter’s son, who was born with antlers, and about how each man kills the thing he loves.
Why we’re excited: We loved Katar 2016 wordless short film, Figure, about the construction of a giant statue of Paul John Paul and showed it at Storm King Art Center that summer. Deer Boy has produced one of our favorite film stills in a while.
9. “Black” directed by Tomasz Popakul
Film Description: Black (黒) tells a story about a pair of astronauts trapped on an orbital space station because of a nuclear war that erupted unexpectedly on Earth. They lost contact with Earth and all attempts to communicate with their base or anybody else have failed. All they can do now is watch nuclear explosions taking place on the surface of the Earth and try to survive together somehow…
Why we’re excited: Timely and poignant, this short film uses animation to take you to a place eerily too imaginable: a space station above an Earth engaged in a nuclear war. It promises to be a truly dark toon.