A letter from our Founder, Mark Elijah Rosenberg

A lot of people ask me: What do you guys do outside the summer? And the answer is: Everything.

We have the Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund, grants we give away to alumni. Just recently, two of our grantees were accepted into Sundance (“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” and “Newlyweeds”). We run a Rooftop youth education program at three New York City public schools, bringing films and filmmakers into the classroom to enhance the existing curriculum. We rent out equipment to enable other independent screening events, and we host the occasional special event ourselves.

But when I say that in the winter and spring we do “Everything,” what I really mean is: everything we do to make our summer festival into one of New York’s most spectacular annual events, it all happens now. We spend months discovering, reviewing and discussing over 3,000 films in order to select the most astonishing new movies in the world. We trek all around New York seeking out new venues, negotiating with existing venues, and planning venue enhancements to ensure that out event are in spectacular locations. We’re developing partnerships with film organizations, art organizations, charities, artists, and others, so each show is unique and memorable. And then of course there’s all the behind-the-scenes infrastructure work, from permitting to bookkeeping to promotions to equipment maintenance and more, which ensure that we can do all this effectively with a small staff and a tight budget.

All of this work cost money, and an organization like ours requires support from people like you—our friends and fans. We’re running a Kickstarter campaign right now, because to get through the cooler months and be ready to show you a great time in the summer, we need to raise money. There’s lots of great rewards (including a DVD of OrbitFilm, the omnibus of short films I produced), and you’d really be helping us out.

Please donate online before December 20
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rooftopfilms/keep-rooftop-on-top
and join us on the roof soon.

Thanks,
Mark