We are more than proud to boast of two Rooftop alum screening this year with the 2013 Cannes Film Festival!
Ritesh Batra‘s short film Cafe Regular, Cairo played during our 2012 Summer Series and has continued to reach an audience internationally. This week you may have noticed that Vimeo listed it on their homepage as a staff pick.
Batra’s is now debuting his first feature, The Lunchbox, as part of Cannes International Critics’ Week. This unique Mumbai-set tale explores a community of dabba (lunchbox) deliverymen who have visited Mumbaiker homes for over a century using complex methods of travel. Watch an interview straight from Cannes here in which Batra describes inspiration for the film.
Jeremy Saulnier first joined Rooftop in 1999 with his first short Goldfarb, a quirky zombie story that gave him cred with horror enthusiasts. We couldn’t resist having him back again in 2007 for his slasher-comedy Murder Party. The cult following that ensued gave us ample reason to play it again for our first ever indie-horror-film marathon last year. As Rooftop family, we were excited to present Saulnier with our 2012 Rooftop Equipment Grant to help develop his latest film Blue Ruin.
Possibly his most sophisticated feature to date, this daring story of revenge was selected to premier at this year’s Cannes’ Director’s Fortnight. Buzz on Saulnier grows louder daily within indie circles of conversation so we recommend doing some catching up on his history here.