This beautiful and quiet shadow puppet animation encompasses our joys and fears - love, death, and the dark and stormy night. johannesnyholm.se
A young woman embarks on a road trip with her boyfriend to a place he promises will be beautiful and peaceful. But a series of strange events occur on their journey,...
How do you decide when it's time to let go? For young Jorgis, the star voice of the Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir, the moment is upon him. Just a few weeks before an...
In the early days of NYC beatniks and free love, one man can't come to terms with the new scene's role for him and his lover. Years later, this animated film recalls...
Life is good as long as you're living. A tragedy inspires a mother toward action, in the hopes of stopping deaths of the innocent by gun violence. A reason to get...
This physical recreation of 3D computer graphic simulations reminds us of the transfixing beauty of the real world and the importance of actual objects and people....
Anders and Harri are best friends. They share an interest in music. Anders is also very fond of trains. They decide to go to Geta, where the biggest train-accident...
A boy's best friend is his mother--or is it a bat? The delightfully strange 50-year-old Lubos lives with his mother and has a passion for bat photography. Bravely...
A glimpse into the world of competitive birdwatching, as three friends attempt to see as many species as possible in 24 hours.
A disturbing family portrait in which toys and disembodied chicken heads have special powers.
Before Jason Bourne insisted that action cinema start taking itself seriously, there was a time when muscle-bound macho men would break arms, sever limbs and spit...
A drifter with ambitions of grift has his ill-conceived schemes in a computer repair shop derailed by a beautiful woman.
An East African MC, Balozi Dola, wanders into a Bronx barbershop on his pilgrimage to find "the real hip-hop." The barber, Flash's original partner DJ Easy Mike,...
Charity organizations dug new wells to provide drinking water for the residents of a remote village in Cambodia, but the water from those wells contained arsenic and...
Bronx Princess follows headstrong 17-year-old Rocky's journey as she leaves behind her mother in New York City to reunite with her father, a chief in Ghana, West...
Set in the Bronx home of two MC's from The Fantastic Five from Wild Style, Master Rob and Waterbed Kevie Kev. Rob has recently returned home from a six year stretch...
Who says the fun stops just because you get older? Not 73-year-old Lina Merceis, who leisurely strolls the beaches of Rio De Janeiro by day and entertains scores of...
Down the Vistula River outside Warsaw, a 19th century kind of life unfolds among the thickets that grow along the frozen banks of the modern waterway.
An artist of visual wonder, Grecu returns to Rooftop with a film about the mysteriously barren Altiplano region of Chile, finding mythical creatures who might once...
Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund Grantee! A melancholy comedy about two fathers, two sons, and the cocaine sale that brings them all together for an everyday adventure. Far...
Cranes dominate our skylines, yet few people ever notice them, nor do they notice the men and women who operate them. Spending most of their time alone up in the...
Filmmaker Aaron Katz is best know for the charming and deeply sensitive dramas Dance Party, USA and Quiet City (which we screened in 2008), and his latest film, Cold...
An exploration of life and death underneath Manhattan, traveling through a 50 block-long train tunnel which was once an underground homeless city.
For a period of time, while we believe it to be perfectly still, lifeless flesh responds, stirs and contorts in a final macabre ballet. Are these spasms merely...
A soundman descends into an isolated cave. Only when it may be too late does he begin to suspect that he might not be alone.
A sensual experimental film-hand-drawn animation on 3770 frames of vintage pornographic found footage-about the vanishing of an image, a naked body, the most...
On the eve of his wife's debut on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, a young man considers the ways his family might benefit from some extra cash. rossbros.net
An animated documentary that celebrates the greatest athletic achievement ever by a man on a psychedelic journey. If our evaluation of the records of athletes like...
This beautiful and quiet shadow puppet animation encompasses our joys and fears - love, death, and the dark and stormy night. johannesnyholm.se
On January 7th, Duncan Trussell drank a six pack of beer...then a half a bottle of absinthe...and then he discussed an historical event: the battle over electricity...
An informative re-telling of the famous duel. By a really, really wasted dude. Featuring Michael Cera as Alexander Burr. I mean Hamilton.
One night in November, Eric Falconer drank 8 vodka cranberries and then discussed a historical event.
Late one night, Jen Kirkman drank a bottle and a half of wine and then discussed an historical event: the backhanded way of our first president (played by Danny...
US Premiere. Engwentro ("Clash") begins with a chase, and never stops moving. Next to the title, we see a young man running in the dark. Minutes later, he's panting...
It was the summer the gas stations closed. The summer they played music in the old mill. The summer they left. Flood Tide tells the story of four musicians who craft...
Cultural miscommunication gets out of hand, on many levels.
A peek into the secret nightlife of a strange, squashy suburb. Four stop motion vignettes portray relationships that develop romantically and sexually, with a touch...
An encounter with artist Shuvinai Ashoona in her natural habitat, Marcia Connolly's film adopts the Inuit woman's poetic artistry, which draws its inspiration from...
Mary collected wild eggs and made bird houses. Leonard worked in a hardware store and ranted free-form gospel. Their first date was in a car crash. Their second date...
An amiable animation about a lovelorn singing cowboy and his posse of yodeling birds. Music by the Dezurik Sisters. animalcolm.com
An experimental documentary about the changing cityscape of Helsinki and the final moments of a coal-fired power plant. The old industrial milieu is being destroyed...
On April 3, 2009, the Iowa Supreme Court unanimously upheld the ruling that there was no governmental interest in denying citizens marriage licenses based on their...
The story of two stop-motion figures made from string that fall in love; their love is represented by a red string that connects them at the heart.
Set in Williamsburg's Hasidic enclave, first-time director Kevin Asch's Holy Rollers offers a unique coming-of-age portrait while simultaneously pulling back the...
Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry is a feature length documentary exploring the roots of American tattooing through the life of its most iconoclastic figure, Norman "Sailor...
Arcella returns to Rooftop with an artful film about a European soccer player's treacherous experience with match fixing. christopherarcella.com
Russian Roulette with the iRevolver app goes tragically amiss.
Two uniquely discarded lovers live out lives of sensual decay, in a literally bittersweet animated film.
A detailed and darkly amusing account of a failed bank robbery, recreated in a single highly-choreographed take in which over 96 people perform a meticulous...
Tomas is a little bit too old to still be living with his parents, but his dream of becoming a magician leaves him with no other option.
Rooftop veterans the Internets Celbrities head to the Bronx for a very special sneak preview of their latest project.
Powerful. Precise. Poetic. The traditional Inuit sport of high kick requires incredible physical strength and concentration, rendered in this minimalist documentary...
Dreamlike images depict a saloon car, covered in a thick layer of snow and ice, driving through a post-apocalyptic summer landscape. Something inexplicable has...
Eight-year-old Bruno finds it interesting that his father, Daan, routinely wants to shave his beard and head before he leaves on a dangerous military mission in a...
Rooftop alum and Brooklyn local Adizes returns to Rooftop with this story of tensions among generations of hard-working immigrants. topazadizes.com
A meditation on New York City buildings - both familiar and anonymous - that once housed artists who helped shape the cultural fabric of New York City. All of these...
Last Train Home will be released by Zeitgeist Films in September, so check out their website for details. "Stunningly photographed and expertly constructed,...
The and scientist/filmmaker Nieto brings his magic to the United States to perform a shocking new scientific experiment LIVE on the roof. He will attempt to...
What exactly do video game characters do when we're not around? What if they chat and bicker like we do, wonder and dream like we do, feel boredom and dread like we...
In 2008, 37 death-row inmates were executed. None of their organs were donated. Considering that there are currently 2,775 people on the waiting list for heart...
Let Your Feet Do The Talkin' tells the story of buck dancing legend Thomas Maupin, who, at the age of 70, remains one of the greatest old time dancers in America....
Nathan never imagined he would see Little Face again. Little Face always hoped. Rooftop alum Matthew Walker uses his striking animation skills to draw the...
Sibling rivalry can be alternately tragic and funny, but in Bryan Poyser's Lovers of Hate, it's both. The Austin-based director's savage comedy centers on...
Every day, Maria Teodora Mediavilla sits at an old desk under two umbrellas along the Way of St. James, greeting the pilgrims and tourists walking or biking to...
A young woman embarks on a road trip with her boyfriend to a place he promises will be beautiful and peaceful. But a series of strange events occur on their journey,...
The painfully shy Tomas isn't sure he wants an imaginary friend, but maybe his parents know best.
Set during a sweltering holiday weekend in Rome, this utterly charming comedy is about a middle-aged man living with his mother who suddenly finds himself caring for...
An elegiac excursion across a magnificent landscape deeply scarred by man documenting what was once the largest mining region in the United States, now contaminated...
A young man from Bed-Stuy keeps his creative aspirations a secret. His camera's lens helps him see the beauty in his neighborhood, but will he be brave enough to...
Michael is a young boy in an adult's world. He resides in the projects of Worcester, Massachusetts with his mother Mary, a good intentioned but somewhat absent force...
Dr. Ron Dante has had a colorful career as a grifter, stage hypnotist and infamous conman. As 'Mr. Hypnotism' he became a hit, selling out venues nationwide....
A haunting home movie in which a man looks at his parents' relationship in the wake of his own failed marriage. A partly fictional biography, told through the lens...
Another day, another drug deal gone wrong in this NC-17 bit of ultraviolence set in an 8-bit isometric metropolis. logan.tv
Why bother going to the zoo? You want danger? Visit Florence Lazar's closet. njlady.tv
The filmmaker's grandmother is one tough broad, surviving life with a deadly sense of humor. njlady.tv
"There was a big fat guy named Pauly got shot in Brooklyn."
Unlikely connections between Ernest Hemingway and a man passed out in the gutter, between flocks of Hemingway look-alikes in Florida and a shop owner in Pamplona....
A lonely manufacturer of ridiculous lawn-ornaments realizes the emptiness of his life when a foreign refugee joins the workforce and unintentionally enchants him...
A romantic comedy about an unplanned pregnancy, an abortion, and a great first date in an unlikely location. gillianrobespierre.com
At a happening night spot somewhere in the animal kingdom during the 1970s, a cast of curious characters flirts, fights, fools around and looks for love in this...
Readily visible under the thin veneer of real estate ads pushing Brooklyn's future as a destination for the moneyed, yet "hip," classes is an urban renewal project...
Three time periods, one connection: blood. The central characters are a woman and her car. The film follows her in a strange ritual that climaxes in a collision...
Prince/William is the true story of a single confrontation over a dog found in a rapidly changing neighborhood. keith-miller.com
Seeking: Parking lot attendant! Term: Indefinite Location: The Corner Parking Lot, Charlottesville, VA Salary: Low Major Duties: Ability to sit for long...
An animated watercolor history of Dresden, one of the most beautiful cities of the world.
Feeling lost in a world overpowered by 1s and 0s, Peter finds solace in the warmth of his bed and the familiar sound of analog radios. Johanna Wagner creates a...
Remake of the classic Pinball Number 12 animation from Sesame Street.
This short film by American director Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart; Goodbye Solo) traces the epic, existential journey of a plastic bag (voiced by Werner Herzog)...
Tomash Petrovsky is an arctic explorer, fascinated by the hypnotic power of the shifting ice, drawn to the dynamic wasteland that surrounds the eerie power of the...
Quadrangle is an unconventional documentary about two "conventional" couples that swapped partners and lived in a group marriage in the early 1970s....
A girl who lives in a room at the bottom of the ocean considers stepping outside.
A Journey to the Forest is a cinematic piece of poetry, a search for landscape and nature in a world in which vast forests, which once covered the land, do not exist...
While on a mission to locate three missing soldiers, a team of reconnaissance marines encounter a blood-spattered Iraqi stumbling through the desert. After following...
A confused American travels with his long-lost Ukrainian cousin to the Highlands of Scotland and misconstrues her emotional signals. A nuanced dark comedy that...
Everyone's seen Star Wars, right? Well, not quite everyone. Rooftop 2010 kicks off with a fresh take on the most well known blockbuster of all time.
An orientalist kaleidoscope that constitutes a geographically complex yet cinematic whole. From Egypt to Las Vegas: the old and the new world are reflected and...
Life is just like a big, tasty hot dog, so cook it, season it, and enjoy it. Before it enjoys you.
Middle-aged couple Rolf and Eva live in a passionless relationship. They wear and tear at each other and Eva begins to feel sexually frustrated. One night she tries...
In this short and bubbly documentary, the last bottler in Brooklyn fends off the supermarket seltzer take-over and honors this simple drink's place in history....
This acclaimed independent animated feature depicts the personal narrative of the filmmaker's marital breakup through a reinvention and modernization of the Indian...
Rozel Point, Great Salt Lake, Utah. April 1970. Mud, precipitated salt crystals, rocks, water coil. 1500' long and 15' wide
In the lush jungles of Borneo, an Iban father on the cusp of old age begins a river journey to seek medical help for his sick child. Along the way, the boy is...
In this uninhibited, inebriated comedy, Drake (TJ Miller) and Lindsay (Lizzy Caplan) are pushing their successful lives and undying love to the blackout brink of...
95% of toilet paper used in US homes is made mostly of "virgin" fiber from newly cut trees.
Telgraph 21 is a video magazine featuring the best documentary films and art videos from around the world. Rooftop is proud to present their Grand Prize Winning...
Eleven-year-old Aaron plays a game of hide and seek in which his friend Tony is never found. The mystery of their relationship-and of their queer attachment to the...
In the dark atmosphere of his observatory, a young man tries to follow his father's steps.
A portrait of one man's ritual escape into the cold waters of the San Francisco Bay and the art that is influenced by his meditative experience.
Perhaps nothing communicates the off-beat world of Soviet-era Estonian television quite as well as the commercials of Harry Egipt, so brace yourself for a...
In 1890, a wealthy eccentric named Eugene Schieffelin collected every bird ever mentioned by Shakespeare and released them into Central Park. The only one to survive...
In this rockabilly romance of elegance, decadence and passionate dedication, a burlesque stripper and her punk rock husband are living in their own fascinating...
During the Age of Argus, Professor Weston and his companion Howell the Owl journey throughout the Focal Kingdom, searching for dinner.
A black-and-white sketch of three Californians who are more curious, and honest, about death than most.
Apocalyptic invasion or temporary inconvenience? The annual life cycle of the shadfly and its effects on the inhabited shores of North Bay show a civilization in...
With a deadpan comedic style in the vein of Jim Jarmusch and zany characters reminiscent of Napoleon Dynamite, Paul Gordon's offbeat story of shy slacker Bill...
Eyelashes are meant to protect the eye from undesired external elements. In an extreme close-up, we see how one such lash can become a hostile object. A distant echo...
The dragon spirit is reincarnated in a doll's body trapped in a box for 35 years, and sets out to discover the oversize world outside. vivement-lundi.com
As an outdoor urban festival that skitters across the tops of various buildings, Rooftop is a film organization particularly concerned with architecture. We...
A humble citrus fruit is granted absolute power over the universe. From a story by Benjamin Rosenbaum.
In this intimate portrait of destiny, passion, and loss, Irina Markova, a solitary Russian poodle trainer, reveals her transcendent relationship with her dogs, the...
The bizarre sexual acts you conduct in the comfort of your own room might endanger you (or your vehicle), but this humorous animated cautionary tale addresses the...
A surprise Oscar nominee for Best Animated Film, The Secret of Kells follows the adventures of 12-year old Brendan on a dangerous mission to help complete a magical...
Alan Bissett recalls the intense experience of growing up next to one of Europe's largest petrochemical plants and the harrowing experience of an explosion that...
We're going to make mistakes, act with negligence, and, of course, die someday. The question remains, can we control our own destiny, even in a small way?...
A space bounty hunter travels to a lonely planet to kill a terrible monster. jakehatesyou.blogspot.com
Inspired by the opening credits of To Kill a Mockingbird, the film is a visual survey of the things we keep, the things that become the constants, objects invested...
Professor White is on the trail of the uncrackable Thomas Beale cipher--a century old riddle hiding the location of a fortune in gold.
A pink poodle leaps on the back of a horse--or tries to over and over. A trapeze artist literally scrapes his shoulders against the stars--the fabric of the big top...
"Documentary filmmaking at its finest" -- Steve Zeitchik, LOS ANGELES TIMES When Pat Tillman gave up his professional football career to join the Army Rangers...
The Time Machine tells the story of Wilfredo Alvarez, a Honduran man who immigrated to America 11 years ago who works in a small watch shop in Grand Central...
A retired musician and his initially unwelcome teenage companion go on a journey across Northern Colombia to return a cursed accordion. Filled with heartfelt...
A zombie and an alien in love.
From the first few scenes of Tiny Furniture, it becomes clear that Aura (writer-director Lena Dunham) is not an altogether unfamiliar character: fresh out of college...
Eye-popping images of the world disassembling and restructuring. goshiman.com
A young Ugandan shepherd struggles to reconcile his longing to read and write with the traditions of his tribe, which 40 years ago put a curse on the pen.
Wall Street through a metaphorical lens comes alive on a sheet of notebook paper. twinkleland.com
When a filmmaker and amateur astronomer moves into his apartment in New York, he climbs atop his Brooklyn rooftop to survey the night sky. But bathed in its glow of...
Enchanting operators, covert government plots, Cold War paranoia and ordinary telephones forever changed how we got in touch with one another. It's all explained in...
Recalling the Bronx in the early 1980's, this documentary explores the old-school days of hip-hop and the dangerous underworld at the legendary Disco Fever....
Lucy Walker's stellar documentary Waste Land, which has won awards at Sundance and Full Frame, follows Muniz on this daring project. Arriving at the landfill, Muniz...
To compose is to remember things that have entered us. Memories travel through our minds and bodies. When you hear a sound of any nature, I think that you remember...
A classic story of lost love, told with vintage pulp characters, with music is by The Shangri-Las.
In the new animated film from Academy Award nominee and Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund recipient Don Hertzfeldt, Nigel has his delicate wisdom teeth surgery checked on by...
Rooftop Films is a New York based non-profit whose mission is to engage diverse communities by showing independent movies in outdoor locations, producing new films, coordinating youth media education, and renting equipment at low cost to artists.
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