Entries tagged with “Rooftop Alums” from Rooftop Films Blog

U.S. Premiere! 

Prosecuted as a rebel. Banned as a priest. Committed as an artist. Loved as a father.

An inspiring and important documentary co-funded by Rooftop Films.

Venue: On the roof of the Old American Can Factory 

Address: 232 3rd St. @ 3rd Ave. (Gowanus/ Park Slope, Brooklyn) 

Directions: F/G to Carroll St. or M/R to Union Ave. 

Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location 

5:00PM: Panel discussion: "Message Vs. Craft," outside in courtyard 

6:30PM: Panel discussion: "Filmmaking Strategy," outside in courtyard 

7:30-9:00PM: Reception in the courtyard including free sangria courtesy of Carlo Rossi 

8:30PM: Live music presented by Sound Fix Records 

9:00PM: Film + Filmmaker Q & A

Tickets: $9-$25 at the door or online 

Presented in partnership with: Cinereach, New York magazine, IndiePix, Shooting People & XØ Projects.

PROGRAM NOTE & DETAILS

____________________________________________________________________________________

Rooftop Films
& Court 13 present
"Glory at Sea!"
As a fundraiser for injured director Benh Zeitlin

Sat., April 26, 10:30pm
Walter Reade Theater
at Lincoln Center, NYC

SOLD OUT!
We raised over $5,000!

"Glory at Sea!" will be screening at Rooftop Films' 2008 Summer Series on June 12. So if you haven't already, join our email list (left) to receive updates about the schedule.

Tremendous thanks to everyone who bought tickets!



If you can't make it to the screening, you can still support the cause by going to www.court13.com and clicking DONATE.

* * *

In 2005, the Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund awarded a grant to Benh Zeitlin and Court 13 Pictures for their 25-minute film "Glory at Sea," an inspiring and astonishing epic re-telling of the Orpheus myth, set in post-Katrina New Orleans. You can read about the film here.

Unfortunately, while on the way to the premiere of the film at SXSW, a driver (without car insurance) rear-ended the vehicle Benh was in, putting Benh in bed for the next several months with a dislocated hip, a shattered pelvis and two sprained ankles.

Not having health insurance at the time of the accident, Benh and the future of Court 13 are in dire financial trouble, and we are reaching out to the community for financial support. All proceeds from this fundraiser will go toward the arduous and expensive process of getting Benh walking, and soon charging toward making another epic down in New Orleans, this time a feature film.

On Saturday, April 26, we will host the New York Premiere of this amazing film, and also screen the world premiere of Benh's adorable short film, "I Get Wet." Tickets are pay what you can at a set, sliding scale (there's no difference in seating or other options, you just choose to donate more or less). If you would like to make a larger donation, or if you can't make it, but would like to donate, please visit www.court13.com and click DONATE.

If you want to support the cause but do NOT plan to attend, please do NOT buy a ticket. Make a donation through the link above so we can save that seat for someone who can come.

"GLORY AT SEA" Fundraiser
Saturday, April 26, 10:30pm
at The Walter Reade Theater
at Lincoln Center
North side of West 65th St.,
btwn. Broadway and Amsterdam Avenues, one flight up on the upper level.
Buy Tickets -- SOLD OUT!

And don't just take our word for it that the film is amazing. It won the Wholphin Award for best short film at SXSW, and the following people have all written glowingly about it:

+ Michael Tully at Hammer to Nail & IndieWire
+ Spencer Parsons at Austin Chronicle
+ David Lowery at Spout Blog

Come see an amazing film, and help an artist in need!

New York Underground Film Festival
April 2-8, 2008
@ Anthology Film Archives
www.nyuff.com
Tickets

March 27 @ 9:45pm
Selections from the 2007 NYUFF
@ IFC Center
Tickets



The New York Underground Film Festival, a venerable anti-establishmentarian institution, the godfather of all "Underground" film festivals, will be hosting its 15th and Final installation in April, and then doing what any good punk rocker should do: dying young and . . . re-establishing itself as year-round programming consortium called "Migrating Forms."

The NYUFF has always been a haven for strange and beautiful, shocking and revealing avant garde cinema, and is definitely a big inspiration for Rooftop. I'll certainly be out for many screenings, including films by the following Rooftop alums: Jim Finn, Jacqueline Goss, Patrick Jolley, Jeanne Liotta, Jennifer Matotek, Seth Price, Robert Todd, Keith Wilson, Bryan Boyce, Lyn Elliot, Kent Lambert, Darrin Martin, Eileen Maxson, Kelly Oliver, Keary Rosen, Shelly Silver, Jim Trainor, Cory Arcangel, Skizz Cyzyk, Joe Nanashe, Moira Tierney, and Aaron Valdez (film pictured).

Check back here to the Rooftop Films blog for some write-ups and reviews of films, and I hope to see you there!

A quick update in the ongoing saga of Benh Zeitlin and "Glory at Sea!" You can read the backstory here, here, and here. Very nice posts were also written by The Austin Chronicle, Slamdance, and Spout.

As I wrote earlier, Benh was unable to make it to very much at the festival, because of his car accident. But he did make it to the final screening of his film, and told me "I started weeping about 10 minutes into the film and didn't really stop, barely managed to answer any questions afterwards so the crew came up and filled in for me. It was a real release, a great feeling of closure on all this insanity and trauma."

Benh is now back in New York, and would still love it if any SXSW filmmakers wanted to send DVDs of their films for him to see, because he wasn't able to make the rounds at the festival. Please address them to:

Benh Zeitlin
43 South Calumet
Hastings NY 10706

News about Benh's insurance needs and a possible benefit screening are still to come. Stay tuned here.

A few days ago, I posted below about "Glory at Sea!" a short film directed by Benh Zeitlin of Court 13 Productions. It's a movie that Rooftop Films partially funded, and which is an amazing, uplifting, collaborative project, a mythical narrative about a community (set in post-Katrina New Orleans) coming together to build a raft to join their loved ones after a fatal flood.  

Please take a moment to read what I wrote when I attended the cast and crew screening in New Orleans last week:

www.rooftopfilms.com/blog/2008/03/bleeding-rust-glory-at-sea-in.html

On the way to his SXSW premiere, Benh's car was rear-ended at a stoplight. Benh has shattered his hip and broken his pelvis. Three other people in the car with him also had minor injuries. Benh was in surgery all day, and it appears that he will recover. I visited him in the hospital and his spirits are remarkably high, but he's facing a long, painful, expensive recovery process. And he could use your help.

There are a few things you could do, if you're a friend, a supporter, a SXSW filmmaker.

+ SEE THE FILM!
+ SIGN THE FILM GUESTBOOK
+ SEND A DVD OF YOUR FILM
+ DONATE TO HELP COVER HIS MEDICAL EXPENSES


SEE THE FILM
I was hyping this film long before Benh's accident, but now more than ever go see his truly inspiring and uplifting film. Michael Tully, who writes for IndieWire and Hammer to Nail, saw the film and said he wanted to stand up and shout hallelujah. You'll feel the same, and the rest of the cast and crew will really appreciate your support. "Glory at Sea!" screens:

Shorts Program 3
Tuesday, March 11, 12pm, Alamo Lamar 2
& Friday, March 14, 2:30pm, Alamo Lamar 2  

There are so many amazing, inspiring films here at SXSW, and this is such a supportive community, I have no doubt that the outpouring of kindness will be tremendous.  


SIGN THE GUESTBOOK
We'll have a guest book at the screening so that Benh can receive some of the feedback he'll be missing by not being there. Please take a moment to tell him your thoughts about the film.

If you already saw the film, or can't make a screening, you can also send an email to Benh at <benh AT court13 DOT com>.


SEND YOUR FILM
One of the unfortunate results of this accident is that Benh, who has made such a beautifully collaborative project, is sadly missing the festival experience here at SXSW. (The SXSW staff has been very supportive, but of course there's nothing to be done to get him out of the hospital right now.) He would love to see films and meet people. On top of that, he's going to be laid up in a hospital bed with no entertainment for some time.

We're asking that SXSW filmmakers please donate a DVD of your film to Benh.

We understand of course that some of you may not be comfortable having DVDs of your film floating around at this time, so if you can't lend a DVD, that's okay. But if you don't mind passing on a copy of the film to a trusted filmmaker, it would be a sweet gesture. You can drop off your film:

Convention Center
(near the screening room)
Tuesday, March 11, 4-6pm

I along with some of the crew from the film will be hanging out at at a table, so drop by and donate a DVD to Benh. (We'll try to set up a small sign. Otherwise look for me, a guy with a shaved head. And I'll wear a colorful tie.) Other forms of entertainment, support, get well cards, etc., are also welcome. If you can't come then, drop me a line at mark AT rooftopfilms DOT com and we'll try to arrange something else.


DONATE
Benh does not have health insurance and is facing tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills and lost income while he's laid up. It may be that the car insurance will cover his expenses, but unfortunately, it's not clear if that's the case (issues surrounding the driver of the other vehicle are sketchy). I will keep you posted if and when financial support becomes necessary (and promise not to send a glut of emails). You can check www.rooftopfilms.com/blog and www.court13.com for updates.

I know that Rooftop, SXSW and others are also discussing benefit screenings, so stay tuned.  

Thank you all in advance for your support. I know that Court 13 and Rooftop Films and SXSW have a really strong community here and that we'll be able to support a filmmaker and a friend in need.

The pleasure of "The Pleasure of Being Robbed" is the joy of discovering a bag full of kittens (and watching them playfully flip through the air); the bliss of an unexpected overnight road trip with a friend; the warmth of a frolic with a polar bear. Josh Safdie's film is filled with a carefree awkwardness, a lightness of touch with melancholy and humor, and a whole host of unexpected stolen delights. I am a big fan of Josh's short film "The Back of Her Head," which we screened at Rooftop in August of 2007, and his debut feature carries the emotions, ideas and spirit of his short films to a brilliant pinnacle.

The film follows a young lady as she drifts through life with the naïve charm of curious puppy, who takes whatever she wants, and with the detachment of an adorable kitten, who cares not a fig what you think of her. But Eleonore is neither greedy nor simple. She is constantly stealing, but does so exuding a joy in sharing objects, stories, lives. She steals with a hug, with a shared joke, with a helping hand. The real world does intrude on her beatific kleptomania, and one doesn't get the sense that people do always understand and appreciate what she does, but as the description of the film says, the people from whom she steals "owe her their thanks."

Certainly we all owe a tremendous thanks to Safdie, actress Eleonore Hendricks, and the entire crew of the utterly dazzling Red Bucket Films team for creating this magical piece of cinema.

Amazingly, the film itself was somewhat stolen. The filmmakers had been commissioned to make a commercial, but instead used the money to make this gorgeous film, reminiscent of the best of the free-wheeling late-60s / early-70s American cinema.

When asked at the World Premiere Q & A why Josh was so interested in the idea of stealing, Safdie compared the feeling he got when he would steal as a kid to that of being in love, and being compelled to do irrational, illicit things for your lover. Might the creation of this character be seen as celebrating mental illness, one viewer asked. "Well, if mental illness is doing whatever you want all the time, then yes, I'll celebrate that."

Rooftop Films has announced the recipients of the 2007-08 Filmmakers' Fund Short Film Grant. See below!

Rooftop Films is more than a film festival--we are a collaborative community of filmmakers, audience, venues and neighborhoods. One of our most innovative programs is The Rooftop Filmmakers' Fund, a slate of grants given to selected filmmakers whose work has screened at the festival. We have a number of grants available:

+ The Rooftop Films & Eastern Effects Equipment Grant.
Rooftop is working with the excellent Brooklyn rental house Eastern Effects to award one feature film a full lighting & grip package. The recipient will be announced in March 2008.

+ The Short Film Grant.
Rooftop earmarks $1 from every ticket sold and from every film submission fee received to give to select new projects which our filmmakers are working on. You can read about past grants here. In 2007-08, Rooftop Films will give out almost $12,000 in cash grants--the most recent recipients are announced below.

+ Rooftop Films will be announcing new grant partnerships and awards in the near future, so stay posted!

2007-08 ROOFTOP FILMMAKERS' FUND RECIPIENTS
(listed alphabetically - read full details here)

+ Heidi Brandenburg & Matt Orzel, "untitled Peruvian Rainforest doc."
+ Bill Brown, "Cumberland."
+ Don Hertzfeldt, "Everything Will Be OK (part 2)."
+ Melanie Shatzky & Brian M. Cassidy, "The Blessing of the Animals."
+ Spencer Parsons, "Chainsaw Found Jesus."


+ Heidi Brandenburg & Matt Orzel, "untitled Peruvian Rainforest documentary."
Heidi and Matt are spending time with the indigenous peoples and watching as their lives are changed by the increasing pace of oil and gas mining, with links to global warming and the world's dependency on oil.
www.yachaywasifilms.co.uk


+ Bill Brown, "Cumberland."
Utilizing his unique and fascinating first-person experimental documentary style, Bill will be reconstructing the lives of the 7 members of the 372 Military Police Company who were convicted of abusing detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.




+ Don Hertzfeldt, "Everything Will Be OK (part 2)."
The 2nd part of Don's Sundance-Award winning film which follows a stick-figure named Bill as he grapples with depression and madness. The new chapter will find Bill struggling with the death of a loved one, the ever-present question of his health, and the apparent unraveling of time.
www.bitterfilms.com



+ Melanie Shatzky & Brian M. Cassidy, "The Blessing of the Animals."
Melanie and Brian's new film will be a "portrait of love, death and devotion, as witnessed on the day of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals."
 www.pigeonprojects.com.



+ Spencer Parsons, "Chainsaw Found Jesus."
Spencer's film is "a melancholy comedy about two fathers, two sons, and the cocaine sale that brings them all together for an everyday adventure."









Read more about the projects at www.rooftopfilms.com/produce.html.

Rooftop Films received a record number of applicants this year, and we are thrilled to see so many of our alumnae filmmakers working on exciting new projects. Good luck to all the filmmakers.

Look for their films at the 2008 Summer Series!

Third Ward, TX
a documentary about art, life and real estate
Directed by Andrew Garrison
Produced by Nancy Bless & Noland Walker
Friday, Feb 1, 6:30pm
@ Center for Architecture
536 LaGuardia Place, NYC
RSVP: www.aiany.com/calendar
FREE

Project Row Houses is the unlikely home of cutting-edge art and visionary thinking about inner-city renewal. Third Ward, TX introduces artists and neighbors who are breathing new life into their historically black community in Houston. But art, life and real estate collide when deep-pocketed developers arrive. Project Row Houses' unexpected response offers new, creative solutions.

In 2007, Rooftop Films was proud to screen Third Ward, TX as part of our INDUSTRIANCE series -- films about the changing landscape in industry, architecture, agriculture, and about the way individual lives are affected by these shifts. This film is everything we're looking to say in that series: it's a great story, told with charm and dexterity, and really has universal appeal, addressing are issues facing every city in America, including Brooklyn. Our country needs more innovative ideas like Project Row Houses. A first step is for people to see Third Ward, TX, so if you missed it on the roof, go check it out this week.

There is no film I'm more pleased and proud to see here at Sundance than "Trouble the Water," directed by Rooftop's neighbors and friends Carl Deal and Tia Lessin. Dan and I first saw a rough cut of this film about a year ago and the material was so powerful and the story so compelling we would've shown it right then. But after a year of hard work editing, the film has truly become a masterpiece.

Kimberly Rivers Roberts and her husband Scott (pictured above) had just gotten a video camera a few weeks before Hurricane Katrina, and "Trouble the Water" includes their astonishing footage documenting the experience in their neighborhood, New Orleans' 9th Ward. The incredible power of the film comes directly from Kim and Scott's strength, insight, charm, and from the potent symbolism of their story, representing the story of so many people in America today--those whose lives were ruined (or lost) to Katrina, and those across the country who are being left behind by an uncaring government.

Kim and Scott are somewhat cavalier about the impending storm, and in a subtle but striking moment, we hear that Kim is a drug dealer, and that she's raising prices because she expects a shortage soon. At the same time, though, we see the early signs that Kim is a remarkably thoughtful and caring person. As she wakes her uncle Nat from a drunken stupor and tries to send him home to safety, she also turns to some nearby kids and tries to convince them not to be like Nat.

Kim's narration of these sections is both biting and poetic. "If I had wheels [a car] I'd be gone, too," Kim says to some neighbors, a direct articulation of a point later made by critics of the government's initial failure to help evacuate the city. When the rains come, and the water begins to rise, she points the camera at the wind-lashed streets while her off-camera monologue mixes prayers and bravado, fear, resignation and hope.

The flooding forces Kim and Scott into their attic, along with neighbors and children they rescue into their taller house. In an absolutely heartbreaking sequence, we see the family trapped by the water, and hear desperate 9-1-1 callers being told, point blank, that no rescue teams are coming until the flooding recedes, leaving thousands to die. But when the police and the coast guard can't or won't help, locals do: Kim and Scott's neighbor, a rival dealer named Larry Simms, swims from house to house with a large punching bag, floating women and children to safety.

Larry's astounding heroism is contrasted, later, with the actions of the men at the local Navy base. The gated base was on the highest ground in the neighborhood, was running emergency generators for power, and, because of government cutbacks, had some 500 empty apartments. But when Scott and others approached the base, they were greeted with automatic weapons, and told to leave. "What good is it to have a military if they can't serve us," Scott says ruefully. Yet in spite of this harsh treatment, Scott thanks the individual National Guardsmen he encounters who have come to help rebuild New Orleans after the storm. "I hope you don't have to go back to Iraq," Scott's friend says, "Because that ain't our war. Our war is here."

The film follows Kim and Scott for over a year as they try to rebuild their lives, and, quite literally, their city. The battle FEMA for their pitifully small relief assistance checks, struggle to start a new life in a new city, and are still looked-down upon by the very authorities meant to serve them. Rooftop alum PJ Raval shot the post-hurricane footage, and he has done a brilliant job showing the destruction of the city without fetishizing the ruins, as so many films do. His intelligent cinematography highlights the heartfelt compassion the filmmakers feel for their subjects, creating a perfect balance between Kim's footage and the "professional" footage shot later, drawing the audience into the story.

There are moments of poignant heroism and tragedy throughout, and the climax of the film is the final reveal of Kim's talents and spirit: a hip-hop song about her life that she belts out directly at the camera. She has a dynamic gift for rhythm and rhyme, and the insightful and intimate lyrics that lay her emotions bare are extraordinary. I've seen this film four times, and I still don't think I've ever been able to take a breath when Kim performs. It may be the most magnificent piece of music I've ever seen in a film.

The raw footage which the filmmakers were given to work with is incredibly compelling, but what really makes "Trouble the Water" such a significant movie is the way Deal, Lessin and editor T. Woody Richman have been able to cull from the material parallels and contradictions--the heroism and ingenuity of supposedly "bad" people; the cowardice and incompetence of those supposed to protect us--which tell a grand socio-political story through a tragic personal narrative. I've seen quite a few excellent Katrina documentaries and narratives, but none so perfectly encapsulates the human tragedy in New Orleans and across the country. I hope everyone in America can see this film. Maybe Rooftop can start by screening it on the White House lawn.

I almost never agree with the Academy Awards (hey, if I did, what would be the point of Rooftop Films anyway?), but I'm certainly thrilled that three films that played at Rooftop in 2007 have been nominated for awards. The films are "Freeheld" (directed by Cynthia Wade), "Salim Baba" (directed by Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello), and "Sari's Mother" (directed by James Longley).

I was on the Short Film Jury at Sundance in 2007, and we awarded "Freeheld" a "Special Jury Prize," so I've been a big supporter of this film for a while. The documentary covers the inspiring tale of New Jersey Detective Lieutenant Laurel Hester, who is dying of cancer, and her battle to win the right to pass her pension on to her domestic partner. We showed the film at our Romance program on June 22, 2007, a daring programming choice that greatly pleased the film's director, who was glad to see the film reach a wide audience who might not otherwise go to see such a tragic story.

"Salim Baba" is a stunningly beautiful film about a man in India who operates a home made "Cinema Cart," a box on wheels which houses a modified 35mm projector and room for three kids to duck their heads under a curtain to see a two-foot wide image. He uses found and appropriated objects, and we screened the film July 26th on the roof of the Westbeth Artists Community, in conjunction with the Friends of the High Line, in a program about people who find meaning and value in the pieces and places that others have left behind.

"Sari's Mother" is directed by the Academy-Award nominated director of "Iraq in Fragments," and it tells the story of a mother in Iraq who tries to find medical care for her 10-year-old son Sari. He contracted AIDS during a blood transfusion and is tormented by pain and fatigue. The labyrinth of Iraqi health care is unfathomable, and Sari's mother gets sent around in circles. The war and the terror make it hard to determine who she can and cannot trust. But Sari's mother is convinced that her son deserves the best possible care, so she persists. Screened in our July 20th program "The Way We Get By" --deeply philosophical, desperately inspiring short films about the illogical lives we lead--that Sari's mother commits so much of her soul to his care represents the antithesis of logic, and the definition of love.

Those films make up three of the four nominees for the award for Best Documentary Short, so Rooftop has a 75% chance of having an alum take home an Oscar this year. Good luck to all of them!

Rooftop showed Chris Waitt's humorous narrative short "Dupe" a couple years ago, so I was very eager to check out his debut feature. The slick short starred Chris as an extremely lazy hipster who orders off the internet a cloning machine (that looks like an crappy old photocopier) so he can send his dupes off to work for him. (We actually showed that film in a program, about labor and industry; indicative of Rooftop's attempt to mix serious and silly films in themed programs.)

"A Complete History of My Sexual Failures" is a hysterical and inventive personal documentary which reveals that Chris is every bit the extremely lazy hipster he appeared to be in "Dupe." After realizing that he'd been dumped by every woman he'd ever dated, Chris decides to try to make a film of self-discovery: why do ladies drop him as easily as he drops his dirty clothes on the floor?

The first handful of exes he contacts dismiss him out of hand, with Chris demonstrating his deadpan ability to get rejected and to say the wrong thing. When interviewing a young lady on the street, he asks her how long her boyfriend's penis is. Her reply: a shy smiling "Uhh, me mum's right there." It's only when Chris' mum gets out some old love/hate letters sent to her son (one of which is addressed "Dear Shit-Fuck), and negotiates interviews on his behalf, that he is able to even really communicate with any other woman.

And that's when we get to see that his awkwardness and social irresponsibility isn't just limited to pestering women on the street; his failures run far deeper. From the interviews, a pattern emerges: he's uncaring, constantly late, a liar, and in one instance even tried to kiss his girlfriend's mother. One woman is so ashamed of having dated him, she only agrees to be interviewed behind a curtain, typing her humiliatingly harsh answers into a computerized voice machine. In the Q & A following the screening, Chris pointed out that he'd really allowed these women to "discover their inner anger."

One former fling who is a self-described sex addict reminds Chris that he was unable to perform in bed, he is forced to admit (in front of a wide-eyed female hotel clerk) that he's impotent. The film then really goes wild, with Chris seeking medical help, getting advice from drunks on the street, and visiting a dominatrix who literally whips his balls, in full view of the camera, in an uproariously funny sequence which is sure to vindicate many of his former lovers. Finally, Chris OD's on Viagra (and beer), and runs around the streets asking women to fuck him. Call it his own "Super Size Me" moment.  

The film is certainly part of the growing trend of "stunt" documentaries, with these numerous set pieces that wouldn't be happening if not for the camera. One has to wonder at points if Chris isn't hamming up his own lack of awareness, his own ignorance of basic human relationships. But I think Chris and these women are being pretty earnest. The fact is, Chris is a charming, attractive, creative, hip guy: women really want to love him. But he's also solipsistic and painfully uncaring, and so he disappoints his girlfriends badly. If he was just a dumb schmuck, none of these women would care one way or the other. But the fact that he does have so much potential makes the sting of his failures all the more poignant, and makes the film all the more compelling.

Chris does learn some lessons from the process. For one, he heals his relationship with his longest-running girlfriend, and now that she's had a baby, Chris seems to gain more respect for her, and seems to actually acquire some sense of responsibility. Even more amazingly, Chris ends up in a long-term relationship with one of the women he accosted during his little blue pill freak-out. At the Q & A, she said that remarkably she hadn't seen the film until now (a sign of both his insecurity and his callousness, it would seem), but though she was quite shocked by the film, she claims he's been a much better boyfriend.  

When asked if there was anything that was too embarrassing to put in the film, Chris said that it was all damn embarrassing, "but I had gotten some funding, and there comes a point when people have put all this time and effort into the thing, and I couldn't go back. I wondered when it would ever end, because after all, it's my life. And believe me, it wasn't good news for me when the film got into Sundance. I was like, 'Oh no, now even more people are going to know what a fuck-up I am."

That he is, but a charming and delightful one, who has made a daring, insightful and hilarious film, one which really fits with Rooftop's ethos of showing personal documentaries, even "home movies."

Sunday, January 20, 6:30 PM
Monday, January 21, 6:30PM
Sundance New Frontier on Main
333 Main St. (Lower Level)
Animation with live music by Califone
FREE

Brent Green is the closest thing I've got to a religion. His animations, performed with live scores, with Brent shrieking out the stories, scare the hell out of me, and fill me with hope. Brent's performances play out like he's a singing preacher who not only met god, they built a house together, and had some creative differences along the way. They worked their asses off, scavenging scraps of wood from Santa's sleigh, rigging up wires and pulleys to illuminate the moon, debating the merits and availability of gravity. Some birds died, some firetrucks were misplaced, some birds were resuscitated (briefly), the bedroom was three feet lower than the living room, but in the end they came to an agreement: "Wondrous things happen every day, and to sleep through even one of them would cripple you for life."

I put that last bit in quotes, but all of that wondrous imagery is directly from Brent's films.

Personally, I know Brent has a complicated and fascinating relationship with religion and the supernatural, and I'm a flat out atheist, but I bring it up because Brent really does inspire me in a way that seems to me to represent the essence and power of religion: he points out how scary and terrible and horrifying life and death are, and then he reminds you to see the beauty in that. The beauty and passion in his work are mesmerizing and awe-inspiring. You just have to see it to believe.

(P.S. Dear Sundance, please continue and expand the New Frontier section of the festival. It's great, and will only get better, under the brilliant curatorial guidance of Mike Plante and John Cooper. Next year, Brent should be playing the Eccles.)

Saw a great program at Slamdance today. "City of Cranes," directed by Eva Weber, is exactly the type of film I would hope for in a documentary about construction crane operators: the images are dazzling without being showy, the interviews are lovely without being precious. It tells you things you never thought about cranes, and offers curious insights into the minds of these guys--and the crane operator world is almost exclusively male; the filmmakers were unable to get an interview with the one female operator they found--people who spend countless hours alone in a little box perched hundreds of feet in the air, moving massive objects in what is potentially a very dangerous (and therefore stressful) job. There's a zen-like quality to some operator's approaches, but they stay grounded (pun intended) by innocently spying on the people of the world who would never expect to be seen from that perspective. I didn't get a chance to talk to the directors after the screening, but this could be a great film to show on the rooftops of New York City, particularly in our INDUSTRIANCE series, focusing on architecture, industry and agriculture and the ways they affect individual lives.

* * *

When I first started watching Joanna Vasquez Arong's "Neo-Lounge," a fascinating documentary about (mostly) European expats in Beijing, my first reaction was, "I'm so glad it's not just Americans who make assholes of themselves abroad." But this film is also much more rich than that. Early on in the film, watching the generic party-hardy Euro trash and the two main characters, I recognized the deep nihilism that everyone was exhibiting in the form of decadence. Drunken partying always indicates a certain amount of abandon, a willful amount of self-destruction, an escape. But in the case of the Expat, you can sense a deeper desire for self-erasure. Arong's intricately crafted film is a passionate and intelligent exploration of that pathos.

As the film progresses, two characters come to the foreground. Leonardo Griglié is a mysteriously wealthy middle aged Italian impresario, who quite reminded me of Boris Yeltsin (including his penchants for vodka and tanks). Leo has a magnificent house stuffed to the gills with art and artifacts, and is constantly entertaining, though he constantly complain that everything is "boring." Nothing could be worse for him than a moment of boredom, and his curious ways of filling the time are consistently hilarious. He often hires Diliana Georgieva, a young aspiring actress/model/singer from Bulgaria, to come perform at his parties. We follow the two of them as their lives twist and turn, always around the central elements of partying and performing (which both do equally with a great lack of inhibition). Slowly, the desperation and confusion in both becomes clear: that feeling of self-erasure is reified (in fascinatingly opposing ways). With Diliana, we learn of a past she ran from, secrets she's kept, and watch as she works to settle herself down in this new, boyfriend-less, Kung Fu studying, way. Leo, however, tries to clean himself up, but to do so up and leaves China for Moscow, departing still a mystery. In the Q & A, Arong told the audience that no one ever knew where Leo's money came from, or exactly who he really was.


Throughout the film, Arong's startling editing propels the characters forward in a pulsing freefall. Her sense of narrative is excellent, and her jarring edits create just the right feeling of dislocation and symbolic inevitability. Having shown Arong's "Lao Shan, Lao Yin (Old Mountains, Old Shadows)" at Rooftop last summer, I was really pleased to see her make such an accomplished debut feature.

Also of note, it's great to see a program of films made by women, still underrepresented among film directors.

The film world migration to Utah is underway, but my journey is hung-up. On my trip out here, I've run into director Gabe Rhodes (August in the Empire State, co-directed by long-time Rooftop collaborator Michael Galinsky) and video artist / Rooftop Alum Seth Price, but neither were going to Sundance. Good for them. Because meanwhile, I'm stuck in O'Hare in a snow storm with Jim Becker and the guys from Califone who are heading to Park City to play the most recent incarnation of the amazing live music/animation show they played at Rooftop with Brent Green in 2006. They're playing Friday, Sunday and Monday evening at 6:30 at the New Frontier on Main, and I highly recommend catching their show.

I was supposed to be flying from JFK to O'Hare to Salt Lake. But with this storm here in Chicago, I find myself waiting in the airport for our plane to get flight attendants. I offered to pour coffees and explain the seatbelts myself, but the airline doesn't seem to want my help.

Meanwhile, I've learned that not only is Terminal 5 at O'Hare now officially "The International Starbucks Terminal," but that there are 10 times more Starbucks at this airport than there are in all of Detroit.

I was at a grants panel recently, where a New York City government official advised us non-profits that if we wanted to find out about the potential gentrification of a neighborhood, we should call Starbucks HQ, because they had the most advanced research.

Take from those related anecdotes what you will. I'll write more about indie film soon, but all I know about Sundance this year is that it's hard to get to.