ROOFTOP MUSIC ALUMS THE QUAVERS ON A CANOE IN THE GOWANUS
One of the most beautiful shows Rooftop Films ever hosted was our 2007 edition of Dark ‘Toons. The astonishing animator Brent Green showed his films and played live music with Brooklyn locals The Quavers. They are a band whose sound and focus is very much in line with Rooftop–quiet and surprisingly intricate songs about drifting […]
ROOFTOP ALUM “FREEHELD” WINS AN OSCAR
I almost never agree with the Academy Awards, but 3 of the 4 nominees for Best Documentary Short Film played at Rooftop Films in 2007–Freeheld (Directed by Cynthia Wade), Salim Baba (Tim Sternberg) and Sari’s Mother (James Longley)–so you know I agreed with those choices. I’m thrilled that Brooklyn native Cynthia Wade (below, right) […]
FREE SCREENING – THIRD WARD, TX
Third Ward, TXa documentary about art, life and real estateDirected by Andrew GarrisonProduced by Nancy Bless & Noland WalkerFriday, Feb 1, 6:30pm@ Center for Architecture536 LaGuardia Place, NYCRSVP: 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 […]
Sundance Review – JAMES MARSH’S “MAN ON WIRE”
In 1974, Philippe Petit committed one of the world’s greatest “art crimes”: walking across a tightrope strung between the then unfinished World Trade Center towers. It’s a gorgeously ephemeral stunt. Walking some 1,200 feet above the street, Petit was barely visible, and might not have been noticed if not for his own assistants looking up […]
THREE ROOFTOP ALUMS NOMINATED FOR ACADEMY AWARDS
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 […]
Sundance Review – STACY PERALTA’S “MADE IN AMERICA”
“Made in America” is a radical film about the history of African-Americans in the infamous neighborhood of South Central, Los Angeles. The film outlines the early migrations of former slaves to Los Angeles, and discusses the post-WWII boom of skilled industrial careers which brought large numbers of blacks to LA for the first time. But […]
Sundance Review – CHRIS WAITT’S “A COMPLETE HISTORY OF MY SEXUAL FAILURES”
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 […]
Sundance Review – KATRINA BROWNE’S “TRACES OF THE TRADE”
Katrina Browne can trace her family’s history back to the early American colonial days . . . back when they ran one of the largest slave trade operations in the world. What do you do with knowledge like that? It’s been at least 140 years since anyone in your family owned or traded other human […]