NYC Happenings: Rooftop Films Summer Series Celebrates 20th Edition With More Screenings And Live Music Than Ever

Featured Critic; New York City, New York
NYC Happenings: Rooftop Films Summer Series Celebrates 20th Edition With More Screenings And Live Music Than Ever

One of the best things about summer in New York City is the bonanza of outdoor cultural activities on offer every day of the week. Specifically, it's a great time for outdoor film screenings and live concerts. One of the city's best events is the Rooftop Films Summer Series, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and brings many of the year's most acclaimed films to outdoor venues across the city (though the majority of the venues are in Brooklyn). With more than just your typical movie screenings, Rooftop Films always creates a fun vibe, giving audiences a full evening (and late night) of entertainment, which usually includes pre-screening live music performances, filmmaker intros/Q&As, and afterparties. 

This year's summer series runs from May 18 through August 20, with over 50 screenings in more than 13 venues. It kicks off on May 18 with Weiner, the Sundance award-winning documentary that offers an often uncomfortably intimate look at the sexting scandal that permanently derailed the political career of the rising young congressman Anthony Weiner. The official opening night screening occurs on May 20 with This is What We Mean By Short Films, a program featuring interesting and innovative shorts from around the world. May 21 brings the controversial 2016 Sundance entry Holy Hell, documenting the inner workings of a California religious cult, utilizing home movie footage shot from within the cult.

I've attended many of these screenings for the past few years now, and as a long-time Queens resident, now currently living in the Bronx, heading out to such Brooklyn sites as Gowanus, Bushwick, and Sunset Park for screenings can be quite a long trek. However, it's well worth it, because I'm always guaranteed an exciting atmosphere and memorable experiences. Great films, live music, appearances by great filmmakers, and free booze afterward. What more can you ask for?

Below are more details on this year's programming; more feature and short film program selections will be announced in the coming weeks. For more information, the latest updates, and to purchase tickets, visit Rooftop Films' website.

Rooftop Films is proud and excited to announce the Opening Weekend lineup and the first batch of our feature film slate for the 20th Annual Summer Series. This year’s series will feature more than 50 outdoor screenings in more than 13 spectacular venues, with live music, special enhancements and the best new, independent films from around the world.
 
The vicennial edition kicks off on Wednesday, May 18th with a special sneak preview screening of 2016 Sundance U.S. Documentary Grand Jury Prize Winner Weiner on the rooftops of Industry City. The official opening night will follow on Friday, May 20th, with “This is What We Mean By Short Films,” a collection of some of the most innovative new shorts from around the world. The screening will take place at Bushwick Generator, two blocks away from the McKibbin Lofts where the Summer Series took off in the late 1990’s. Both shows will include live-music before the screenings, filmmaker Q&As and complementary after-parties, sponsored by Stella Artois.
 
The 20th annual Rooftop Films Summer Series continues through August, with screenings of some of the best independent films of the past year in a variety of exciting and engaging outdoor locations across all five boroughs. It is Rooftop Films’ goal with each event and each season to re-imagine the festival, reinvigorate communities across the city, and remind audiences why they fell in love with New York in the first place. With live performances, audience interaction and enhanced themed events at amazing venues, Rooftop turns each film screening into an unforgettable event, and they're going bigger than ever for their 20th Anniversary.
 
Rooftop’s feature film programming includes a slate of powerful, innovative and invigorating documentaries. In addition to Weiner, this year’s slate includes phenomenal works of non-fiction such Jerzy Sladokowski’s thoughtful and intimate IDFA winner Don Juan, Roger Ross Williams’ critically acclaimed Life, Animated; Kirsten Johnson’s form-challenging and deeply poetic Cameraperson; Jesse Moss’ Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham doc, The Bandit, David Farrier’s stranger than fiction film, Tickled, Joe Berlinger’s Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru, and many more.  
 
Rooftop Films has live music prior to every outdoor screening, and this year we will also have more music onscreen than ever before, with multiple screenings of new music documentaries. Rooftop and House of Vans in Greenpoint are teaming up for multiple shows featuring music docs followed by live musical performances, including a first look at Andrew Cohn’s new Danny Brown concert doc, followed by a live performance by Danny Brown, and the NY premiere of Los Punks: We Are All We Have, featuring live performances by multiple Latino L.A. punk bands. Rooftop will also present Rooftop alum Morgan Neville’s The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, as well as Matt Conboy’s Goodnight Brooklyn: The Death By Audio Story, with performances by bands that frequented the beloved but recently shuttered underground Brooklyn performance space. Cincinnati’s Q-Kidz Dance Team figure prominently Anna Rose Holmer’s Sundance hit, The Fits, and the Q-Kidz will be performing live prior to our screening.
 
Of course, the 20th Summer Series also includes exceptional fiction films, such as Elizabeth Wood’s self-reflective and provocative White Girl; Bernardo Britto’s timely surveillance culture satire, Jacqueline, Argentine; Taika Waititi’s riotously off-kilter comedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople; Matthew Brown’s understated and intimate teen drama In the Treetops; and many more. 
 
In addition to feature and short film programming, this year’s series will include a number of unique events and partnerships, including: the return of the Rooftop Films Storm King Art Center Cinema Ramble featuring multiple film installations, and specialty programming with International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), The Sundance Film Institute, and SXSW Film. To celebrate their 20th anniversary Rooftop Films will also present a number of repertory programs, including short film programs featuring the early works of some of Rooftops most successful alumni filmmakers, as well as “Best of New York Non-Fiction” and “Best of New York Shorts,” which will trace the changes that New York has undergone over the past two decades.
 
 
Rooftop Films 20th Annual Summer Series Opening Weekend
 
Wednesday, May 18, 2016 
Industry City, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Weiner (Josh Kriegman, Elyse Steinberg | USA | 100’)
It’s 2013 and Anthony Weiner—still reeling from the sex scandal that ended his political career two years earlier—is back in the spotlight as he mounts an audacious comeback campaign for New York City mayor. But it’s not long before history repeats itself and new sexting allegations leave Weiner and his aides scrambling to contain the damage. Granted unfettered access to the candidate and his campaign, filmmakers Josh Kriegman and Elyse Steinberg capture a jaw-dropping, behind-the-scenes look at the political machine as it breaks down.
Presented by: Sundance Selects. Weiner will be in theatres in NY and LA on May 20th.
 
Friday, May 20, 2016
The Bushwick Generator, Bushwick, Brooklyn
This is What We Mean by Short Films
Featuring robots singing Carmina Burana, a rapid-fire tour of the NY subway system, and a four-part comedy symphony by Steve Collins (one of the first directors to show at Rooftop), this exciting slate of films celebrates everything you’ve come to love about the films that populate Rooftop’s shorts programs. We can’t think of a better way to start our 20th festival!
 
Saturday, May 20, 2016
The Old American Can Factory, Gowanus, Brooklyn
Holy Hell (Will Allen | USA | 103’)
In 1985, recent film school graduate Will Allen became a member of The Buddhafield, a Los Angeles area spiritual group. Also acting as the group’s official videographer, he began to document their activities, which centered on the mysterious leader they called Michel, or The Teacher.  Over time, the group’s dark side began to surface as total devotion turned to paranoia, until finally, unexpected truths about their enlightened leader were revealed – all in front of Allen’s camera. This incredible, 22-year archive of video footage became the basis for Holy Hell. Now, for the first time since he left the group, Allen turns the camera on himself and asks fellow ex-cult members to come to terms with their past and the unbelievable deceit they experienced.
 
Feature Documentaries (more films, dates and venues to be announced soon)
 
The Bandit
(Jesse Moss | USA | 82’)
Burt Reynolds and Hal Needham recount the strange, wild making of Smokey and the Bandit.
Presented in Partnership with CMT
 
Cameraperson
(Kirsten Johnson | USA | 102’)
Cinematographer Kirsten Johnson’s deeply poetic memoir, culled from footage shot for other films.
Presented in Partnership with The Film Collaborative
 
Danny Brown Concert Documentary (Title TBA)
(Andrew Cohn | USA)
An intimate, behind-the-scenes adventure with Detroit rapper Danny Brown during a hometown show.
Presented in partnership with House of Vans
 
Don Juan
(Jerzy Sladkowski | Sweden/Finland | 92’)
A 4-sided love triangle, complete with autism & neuroses in the Russian city Nizhny Novgorod.
Presented in Partnership with IDFA and Swedish Film Institute
 
Goodnight Brooklyn - The Story of Death by Audio
(Matthew Conboy | USA | 82’)
The origins, influence and ultimate closure of one of Brooklyn's best DIY music venues.
 
Life, Animated
(Roger Ross Williams | USA | 91’)
A young man with autism discovers a way to make sense of world via classic Disney animated films.
Presented in Partnership with The Orchard, in theaters July 8
 
Los Punks: We Are All We Have
(Angela Boatwright | USA | 79’)
All thrash, noise, and pits; meet the fans and bands of the thriving backyard punk scene in LA.
Presented in partnership with House of Vans
 
The Music of Strangers: Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble
(Morgan Neville | USA | 96’)
The extraordinary story of the renowned international musical collective which was created by famed cellist, Yo-Yo Ma.
Presented in Partnership with The Orchard, in theaters June 10
 
Tickled
(David Farrier & Dylan Reeve | New Zealand | 92’)
The shadowy world of competitive tickling is exposed in this stranger than fiction tale.
Presented in Partnership with Magnolia Pictures
 
Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru
(Joe Berlinger | USA | 115’)
Go behind the scenes of renowned life and business strategist Tony Robbins in a revelatory cinema verite by renowned director Joe Berlinger.
Presented in Partnership with Netflix
 
Fiction Feature Films
 
Donald Cried
(Kris Avedisian | USA | 85’)
Stranded in his hometown, a favor from Peter’s old friend becomes a long van ride into the past.
 
The Fits
(Anna Rose Holmer | USA | 72’)
A tomboy's desire for a dance team's acceptance warps when its members fall prey to mysterious spasms.
Presented in Partnership with Oscilloscope Laboratories, in theaters June 3rd
 
Hunt For the Wilder People
(Taika Waititi | New Zealand | 101’)
Raised on hip-hop and foster care, a defiant city kid starts fresh in the New Zealand countryside.
Presented in Partnership with The Orchard, in theaters June 24
 
Hunter Gatherer
(Josh Locy | USA | 85’)
A darkly comic tale of unlikely friendship with an indelible central performance by Andre Royo.
 
In the Treetops
(Matthew Brown | USA | 78’)
Driving all night, packed in a car, 5 high school friends avoid their final destination: home.
 
Jacqueline, Argentine
(Bernardo Britto | USA | 87’)
A playfully mysterious whistle-blower comedy from Film Fund Grantee Bernardo Britto.
 
White Girl
(Elizabeth Wood | USA | 88’)
A NYC college girl goes to wild extremes to get back her drug dealer boyfriend.
Presented in Partnership with FilmRise and Netflix, in theaters this September
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Rooftop Films Summer Series 2016

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