Entries tagged with “Short Films” from Rooftop Films Blog

I've been asked by IndieWire, the Tribeca Film Festival and the SoHo Apple Store to moderate a discussion with actor-turned-short filmmaker Matthew Modine. Along with his successful acting career, Matthew has now moved behind the lens and directed four very different short films. We'll be screening his latest film, I Think I Thought, a 2008 Tribeca selection, as well as clips from his other films, and discussing his work as a director-writer-actor, his experience as a festival juror, the art of the short film, and more. Come join us.

Sun., May 4, 5:30 - 6:30pm
Matthew Modine in conversation with
Mark Elijah Rosenberg (RF Artistic Director)
@ Apple Store SoHo
103 Prince St., NYC
FREE

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!

Like the film itself, this story has (in its own way) a happy ending. As you probably read in my other posts below, Benh Zeitlin--the director of "Glory at Sea," a miraculous short film that Rooftop co-funded--was in a brutal car accident the day of his first screening at SXSW. He's doing much better now, with his metal hip, painkillers, and tremendous set of friends and supporters. Contrary to a popular rumor, the infamous welder-turned-actor who plays Sergeant Major in the film, Jimmy Lee Moore, did NOT perform Benh's operation.

Although Benh wasn't able to attend the first two screenings of his film, he may actually be able to get to the Friday March 14 show at 2:30pm (so go join him if you can for what promises to be a very emotional screening). And so, laid up in a hospital bed, the festival has come to him.

Many filmmakers sent along copies of their films so Benh could watch them in his hospital bed (holding his laptop inches from his face as he awaits new eyeglasses to replace the ones lost in the car). Many more people cheered on the film and sent their well wishes. I know Benh would like to pass on his thanks to all of you.

And last night, "Glory at Sea" took home the SXSW Wolphin Award for Best Short Film.

Brent Hoff and Emily Doe from Wholphin, the excellent DVD magazine that is part of the beneficient McSweeney's empire, presented the award to "Glory" producers Josh Penn, Dan Janvey, and Par Parekh. Fittingly for such a funky, underwater film, and for a DVD zine named for a cross between a whale and a dolphin, the award itself was a pinky-sized vial containing a tiny squid, found some 6,000 feet beneath the sea by an official Wolphin oceanographer.

Immediately following the awards ceremony, I went with about 20 people to visit Benh and celebrate. He was moved and delighted and proud, and really loving the symbolism of this tiny dead creature pulled from the depths of the sea.

Facts about the accident, car insurance and medical bills are still sketchy, but plans for celebration / benefit screenings in Austin and New York are in the works.