Rooftop Films presents New York Non-Fiction
Friday, July 18th, 2003
8:00 Live music by U.S. Patent Office [details below]
9:00 Nine films about real lives lived in New York.
New York Non-Fiction
Maybe one night you hop on the train to Bushwick and get lost in your own head and tune out the racket and the crowd. You don't notice the girl crying, or you do but you don't. You don't recognize the living legend staring off into space; he's the greatest athlete of his time but maybe only in his mind. You notice the white kid from the sticks fronting so hard it's funny, but you don't even bother to get to the joke. Someone is complaining loudly about the mayor, so you walk to the front of the train and stand next to a girl whose shirt doesn't seem to fit right. You can't really tell why. She catches you staring, so you look the other way and gaze out the window, but you don't even pay attention to the tracks and the walls as the train makes its way through the tunnel.
Finally off the train, you walk past the handball courts on McKibbin Street and over to Thames, walk up 4 flights of stairs, buy a beer and sit down, only to find that some of the people on the subway somehow got here before you, and they are all here telling there stories. You could have asked them on the train and they probably would have told you everything, but who has time to think about them? Who has got the energy to ask?
On this night you are fortunate, because someone else asked for you.
It's New York and it's not fiction, and that's not just something that happens. It's something that we spend our lives trying to find. Don't miss it.
THE FILMS: Chill Mark Elijah Rosenberg / IMNY (6:00)
Given an opportunity to learn to snowboard, 13-year-old New York City native Julio Rivera, who'd never before left the confines of the city, shows an aptitude for getting up after hard falls.
E. 96th St. (excerpt) Molly Hein (12:00)
All New Yorkers know that there's an imaginary border at 96th Street which divides its neighbors on opposite sides of the socio-economic spectrum. But just how imaginary is that line? Through interviews with long-time residents on either side of the border, Molly Hein examines the geography, politics and social structures which divide our society.
Drum Devin Clarke (1:00)
A video as makeshift as the bucket drums played in the subway, Drums nevertheless evokes perfectly the rapid, frantic rhythm of a subterranean rush hour ride home.
Billie Jo Joe Quinn (13:00)
Some would say that New York is the sort of place where people can neglect their neighbors and still sleep well at night. Joe Quinn reminds us that such neglect has its consequences in a dispatch from upstate that is somehow simultaneously jarringly awkward and reassuringly lyrical.
Big Blue (excerpt) Justin Sullivan (8:00)
On your way to work today you may have walked past one of the most dominant athletes in the world playing his ass off for 15 bucks. Welcome to the semi-surreal world of semi-professional Big Blue handball. Whether you realize it or not, you've been living in it all along.
Taped Off the Air (Somewhere) Williams Cole (15:00)
Even the most skeptical anarchist New Yorkers would have to admit that at some point in the last ten years they found themselves buying into some aspect of the Giuliani legend; if you hear enough good things you'll give anyone a chance. Williams Cole imagines an alternate cable television universe in which corporate stooges would commission a work that asks us all "Where's your buddy Giuliani now?"
A Good Uplift Faye Lederman, Cheryl Furjanic, Eve Lederman (13:00)
Just about everyone has an aunt or grandmother who sizes everyone up within a minute of being introduced and tells them exactly what she thinks of them. Here is a portrait of a woman who is so exceptionally comfortable behaving in this manner that she has become a certifiable New York institution and an invaluable resource to women with problems, both large and small.
Represent Bushwick Sam Goetz (1:30) sag247@nyu.edu
Represent, represent.
Shadows and Reflections-7 Train Ann Johnston Miller (15:13)
The 7 train was built in order to get workers back and forth from their jobs near Times Square and their homes in Northeast Queens. Fortunately, the train has an immaterial impact on the borough as well.
Big in the Mind Noah Lerner & Mike Novak (18:30) noah_lerner@yahoo.com
You might not be cognizant of the handball superstars sparring all about New York, but if you ever saw Joe Hammond play street basketball you would probably take notice.
THE MUSIC:
8pm: All the way from Brooklyn, the indie-rock stylings of U.S. Patent Office. Featuring members of local fallen giants Conquistidor, Lucy, and The Nines, and playing their hit single "Oops, I did it again," get here early for a great show.
