Friday, July 4th, 2003 The Un-American Film Festival
8pm: Live Music by Funkface
8:30: More live music by The Weigh Down
9:00: A great view of the Macy's fireworks display over the East River.
9:30: Hazardous and explosive films about the U.S. and the effects of our foreign policy.
11:00: Live music by The Gramercy Riffs [details below]
The Un-American Film Festival
This show is a very special event for Rooftop Films. We've always believed that what we do is inherently political. Showing short, independent films, uncorrupted by the mass marketing and the mainstream media; screened at a venue that has more to do with community than consumerism; making and sharing personal visions -- whether fiction, documentary or some combination; all these factors stake out Rooftop Films as a blow to the controlling powers in entertainment. Since 1997, when we first starting showing movies on a roof, we knew that it was not only fun but important to show films you couldn't see elsewhere -- an experimental comedy, a silent drama, a work of pure visual abstraction, a scathing critique of a social injustice. But perhaps it wasn't until October 5th, 2001, that we truly came to understand the political significance of Rooftop Films.
Three weeks after we watched from our roof as the World Trade Center collapsed, Rooftop Films hosted 9/11-Present, a special benefit show of films pertaining to those events. We showed films made before the attacks about relevant issues, as well as films made since the attacks. We also produced and screened two works of our own. The event raised $1,200 for related local and international charities, but, perhaps more importantly, the 300 people in attendance were able to see some ideas, opinions, and facts not necessarily presented elsewhere.
Now, a year and a half later, we live in changed society, one that is sharply divided. The 4th of July is clearly no longer just another holiday for barbecue, beer and harmless explosions—not in a country where they play "God Bless America" during the 7th inning stretch at a baseball game and where protesters burn the American flag outside a police seminar. In these charged times, we are all clearly aware that the 4th of July is a day on which to think about what this country stands for, what it means to live here, and what it means to be an American.
On this night, while chow down on hamburgers, hot dogs and beer, while we play rock n roll, show funny films and ooh and ahh at the fireworks, we also present to you this collection of movies as an opening, a window into varied ways of thinking. Many of these films are lighthearted -- they make fun, they incite, they entertain. Some of these films raise questions, and attempt to answer them. They present facts and opinions. We at Rooftop Films agree with most of the opinions, believe most of the facts, but mainly present these films to you as a reminder that there are many ways to think about America.
Rather than tuning in to one source, one film, by showing a collection of short movies Rooftop Films is able to present many viewpoints in one night. We encourage you to seek out even more perspectives, to continue thinking critically about the news which is presented to you. If something you see in this show interests you, follow up on it, do your own research, make your own movie. Now is the time to participate. Now is the time for the Un-American Film Festival.
FILMS (DURING THE FIREWORKS): Throwing Stones at the Sun Aaron Valdez (18:00, silent)
A travelogue of the run-down, strange, obscure beautiful parts of America.
Beloved Andrea Leuteneker (10:00, silent)
7,000 roses exploding on the screen.
(AFTER THE FIREWORKS): Revolutions Per Minute Alex Roper (3:00) State of the Union Speech Edo Noe (2:00) Eye of the Storm Raphael Lyon and Andres Igoglia (14:00) G.I. Joe at the Carnival Fensler Film Academy (:30) The Fellowship of the Rings of Free TradeLordRings@riseup.net (6:00) Umatilla (Trailer) RJ McHatton (5:00) Standing with Palestine Paper Tiger TV (12:00) G.I. Joe Teaches About Electricity Fensler Film Academy (:30) Race Juice: An Elixer for the Soul Narcel Reedus (6:30)
INTERMISSION
God Bless America Scott Moore (1:00) Flag TV Susie Lee (9:00) Bush/Blair Love Duet Johan Soderberg (1:30) Digression on Triangles Ed Montgomery (6:00) Nostalgia Iggy Scam (6:00) G.I. Joe Wants to Stop the Downloading Fensler Film Academy (:30) Life or Liberty (Trailer) Konrad Aderer (7:00) The War Conspiracy Anthony Lappe (Guerrilla News Network, (5:00) G.I. Joe Soccer Report on Fair Play Fensler Film Academy (:30) Message to Bin Laden Monroe Bardot (1:20) AC130 Gunship Anonymous (8:00) Lady Jane Has Lost Her Purse Fensler Film Academy (:30) Sunset Strip Pete Bergeron (2:00) Revolutions Per Minute Alex Roper (3:00)
There are many ways to celebrate the 4th of July. Packing a record player full of fireworks is just one of them.
State of the Union Speech contact Esther Bell (2:00)
What Bush really said, before the right-wing media conglomerate network edit.
Eye of the Storm Raphael Lyon and Andres Igoglia (14:00)
How the Northern hemisphere-dominated corporate stranglehold on the media produced the world's first non-partisan, non-bias, participatory news source—The Independent Media Center, and how that has affected the current uprisings in Argentina, an example of how free media could effect change here.
G.I. Joe at the Carnival Fensler Film Academy (:30)
G.I. Joe, a real American hero, gives public service announcements to our youth.
The Fellowship of the Rings of Free Trade (6:00) LordRings@riseup.net
Tolkien always denied that his books were about the rise of European fascism. Peter Jackson mostly dodged the issue. But in this eye-opening and hilarious film the political allegory is unmistakable.
Umatilla (Trailer) RJ McHatton (5:00)
Weapons of mass destruction in a small town in Oregon.
G.I. Joe Teaches About Electricity Fensler Film Academy (:30)
Race Juice: An Elixer for the Soul Narcel Reedus (6:30)
A humorous take on racism in the suburbs.
INTERMISSION
God Bless America Scott Moore (1:00)
Just that.
Flag TV Susie Lee (9:00)
This documentary questions the way the media, the government and the public at large equate the symbol of the flag with sympathy for the victims of September 11th and support for national leadership's views.
Bush/Blair Love Duet Johan Soderberg (1:30)
The leaders of the "free world" express their true feelings for each other.
Digression on Triangles (6:00) ed@contextnyc.com
If only an MTV video could be this informative, we might have a democracy.
Nostalgia Iggy Scam (6:00)
Fidel Castro was once offered a tryout for a Major League baseball team, and baseball has always been a game which America and Cuba share a love for. The director was there, along with Castro and Bill Gates, when the Baltimore Orioles breached years of separation for a game in Havana.
G.I. Joe Wants to Stop the Downloading Fensler Film Academy (:30)
Life or Liberty (Trailer) Konrad Aderer (7:00)
A documentary about Middle Eastern-American citizens being detained and deported after 9/11.
The War Conspiracy contact Esther Bell (5:00)
An interview with Peter Dale Cook, author of "The War Conspiracy," a book that is more than an intellectual treatise on the virtues of disarmament. It's a riveting investigation of the CIA, the oil companies and their manipulation of US foreign policy in order to escalate the Vietnam War. Sounds familiar.
G.I. Joe Soccer Report on Fair Play Fensler Film Academy (:30)
Message to Bin Laden Monroe Bardot (1:20)
One American man's pledge to personally do to Osama bin Laden what the U.S. Military has wanted to do for years.
AC-130 Gunship Anonymous (8:00)
According to the US Air Force, the AC-130 Gunship, a war plane known as Spectre, "uses video cameras, infrared and radar sensors to find and track targets on the ground and distinguish them from friendly forces." In this anonymous video posted to the web, it's the pilots themselves who seem to have trouble distinguishing between a mosque and a military target.
Lady Jane Has Lost Her Purse Fensler Film Academy (:30)
Sunset Strip (2:00)
"There's something happening here. What it is ain't exactly clear." Now it is.
MUSIC
8:00: Funkface—These NYC FunkRock gangstas play stankalicious way-back-in-the-deep-swamp, raw ultra-funk.
8:30: The Weigh Down—"This is like walking through a familiar room with your eyes closed. Here, punk and hardcore influences are shamelessly flaunted; precise layers of rhythm and melody give way to reckless abandon." Check out their beautiful site at theweighdown.com.
11:30: The Gramercy Riffs play exciting and atmospheric instrumentals,
featuring an eclectic blend of instruments. The group is: Ben Herson—drums and percussion; Rob Jost—bass and French horn; Kevin Micka—guitar, vibraphone, and electronics; Jon Natchez—saxophones, ukulele, and other stuff.
