Rooftop Films Series Unveils Impressive Summer Lineup

Somewhere between a festival and an art house movie theater, Rooftop Films today unveiled its impressive summer lineup bringing some of the very best of indie cinema to a variety of outdoor locations around New York City. The program reads like a best of the best from Sundance and SXSW, including a sneak preview screening of Destin Cretton's SXSW winning Short Term 12 which Cinedigm nabbed at the Austin fest.

Other notable titles include Joe Swanberg's upcoming Magnolia release Drinking Buddies (our review), CBS's Jordan Vogt-Roberts hit Kings of Summer (our review) and Oscilloscope's Baltimore bike gang docu 12 O'Clock Boys, directed by Lotfy Nathan.

IFC Films has a predictably strong presence at the film series with David Lowery's Ain't Them Bodies Saints (that was just announced as part of the Cannes Critics' Week lineup), TIFF hit and Greta Gerwig starrer Frances Ha (our review) from Noah Baumbach, and Sebastian Silva's charming little Sundance gem Crystal Fairy (our review).

Though no distributors have been announced, both Todd Sklar's Awful Nice (our review) and Slamdance fave The Dirties (our review) by Matt Johnson are in the lineup, suggesting we might be hearing about larger release plans for those films sooner than later.

Check out more from the press release below and find more details at Rooftopfilms.com.

Rooftop Films 2013 Summer Series Feature Films Line-up

 

12 O'Clock Boys (Dir. Lotfy Nathan) NY Premiere

Part of Rooftop's SXSW weekend

Pug, a young boy growing up on a combative West Baltimore block, finds solace in a group of illegal dirt bike riders known as The 12 O'Clock Boys. Courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories.

 

Ain't Them Bodies Saints (Dir. David Lowery) Special Sneak Preview

"Ain't Them Bodies Saints" tells the tale of an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas hills to reunite with his wife and the daughter he has never met. Courtesy of IFC Films.

 

Awful Nice (Dir. Todd Sklar) NY Premiere

Part of Rooftop's SXSW weekend

Estranged brothers Jim and Dave must travel to Branson together when their father dies and leaves them the family lake home. A series of hilarious mishaps and costly misadventures follow as they attempt to restore the house and rebuild their relationship.

 

Belleville Baby (Dir. Mia Engberg) NY Premiere

A long distance call from a long lost lover makes her reminisce about their common past. She remembers the spring when they met in Paris, the riots, the vespa and the cat named Baby. A film about love, time and things that got lost along the way.

 

Bending Steel (Dir. David Carroll, produced by Ryan Scafuro)

A remarkable and intimate documentary exploring the lost art of the old time strongman, and one man's struggle to overcome limitations of body and mind.

 

Brasslands (Dir. Meerkat Media Collective) NY Premiere

Presented by Rooftop Films and Arts Brookfield

Devoted American musicians, Serbian brass heavyweights, and a Gypsy trumpet master collide at the world's largest trumpet festival.

 

Brothers Hypnotic (Dir. Reuben Atlas) NY Premiere

Free screening presented with Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Forest City Ratner

Brotherhood, whether biological or ideological, is never easy. "Brothers Hypnotic" is a coming-of-age story--for eight young men, and for an ideal.

 

The Central Park Five (Dir. Sarah Burns, Ken Burns, Dave McMahon)

Free screening presented with the Ford Foundation and Friends of Dag Hammarksold Plaza

Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, "The Central Park Five" tells the story of how five lives were upended by the rush to judgment by police, a sensationalist media and a devastating miscarriage of justice. Courtesy of Florentine Films.

 

Crystal Fairy (Dir. Sebastián Silva) Special Sneak Preview

Presented by Rooftop Films and indieWIRE

A hilariously unpredictable comedy about a self-involved young American searching for a secret hallucinogenic cactus in the desert of Chile. Courtesy of IFC Films.

 

Cutie and the Boxer (Dir. Zachary Heinzerling) Special Sneak Preview

This candid New York love story explores the chaotic 40-year marriage of renowned "boxing" painter Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko. Anxious to shed her role of assistant to her overbearing husband, Noriko seeks an identity of her own. Courtesy of RADiUs-TWC.

 

The Dirties (Dir. Matt Johnson) NY Premiere

Matt and Owen are best friends, who are constantly bullied by a group they call The Dirties. When an assignment goes awry, the friends hatch a plan to enact revenge on their high school tormentors.

 

Domestic (Dir. Adrian Sitaru) NY Premiere

Presented with Socrates Sculpture Park.

Wonderfully surreal, painfully real, this is the story of children, adults and animals who live together trying to have a better life, but sometimes death comes unexpectedly. In the bittersweet comedy "Domestic" it is all about us, people who eat the animals that they love and the animals that love people unconditionally.

 

Drinking Buddies (Dir. Joe Swanberg) NY Premiere

Presented in partnership with BAMcinemaFest

Luke and Kate are co-workers at a Chicago brewery where they spend their days drinking and flirting. They're perfect for each other, except that they're both in relationships. But you know what makes the line between "friends" and "more than friends" really blurry? Beer.

Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

 

Elena (Dir. Petra Costa) NY Premiere

Part of Rooftp's SXSW weekend

Intimate in style, "Elena" delves into the abyss of one family's drama, revealing at once the inspiration that can be born from tragedy.

 

The Expedition to the End of the World (Dir. Daniel Dencik) NY Premiere

A real adventure film - for the 21st century. On a three-mast schooner packed with artists, scientists and ambitions worthy of Noah or Columbus, they set off for the end of the world: the rapidly melting massifs of North-East Greenland. 

 

Frances Ha (Dir. Noah Baumbach) Special Sneak Preview

Frances wants so much more than she has, but lives her life with unaccountable joy and lightness. "Frances Ha" is a modern comic fable in which Noah Baumbach explores New York, friendship, class, ambition, failure, and redemption.  Courtesy of IFC Films.

 

F--- for Forest (Dir. Michal Marczak) NY Premiere

Berlin's "F---" for Forest is one of the world's most bizarre charities: based on the idea that sex can change the world, the NGO raises money for their environmental cause by selling home-made erotic films on the Internet.

 

The Genius of Marian (Dir. Banker White)

Free screening presented with the Ford Foundation and Friends of Dag Hammarksold Plaza

An intimate family portrait that explores the tragedy of Alzheimer's disease, the power of art and the meaning of family. "The Genius of Marian" follows Pam White in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease as her son, the filmmaker, documents her struggle to hang on to a sense of self.

 

i hate myself :) (Dir. Joanna Arnow) NY Premiere

Nebbishy filmmaker Joanna Arnow documents her yearlong relationship with racially charged poet-provocateur James Kepple. What starts out as an uncomfortably intimate portrait of a dysfunctional relationship and protracted mid-twenties adolescence, quickly turns into a complex commentary on societal repression, sexuality and self-confrontation through art.

 

The Kings of Summer (Dir. Jordan Vogt-Roberts) NY Premiere

A unique coming-of-age comedy about three teenage friends who, in the ultimate act of independence, decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods and living off the land. Courtesy of CBS.

 

Newlyweeds (Dir. Shaka King) Special Sneak Preview

Brooklyn residents Lyle and Nina blaze away the stress of living in New York City, but what should be a match made in stoner heaven turns into a love triangle gone awry. Courtesy of Phase 4 Films.

 

North of South, West of East (Dir. Meredith Danluck) NY Premiere

Free screening presented with Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Forest City Ratner

North of South, West of East takes a scrupulous look at the American Dream through Hollywood tropes and conventional cinema. Working with a narrative structure this four-part 85 minute film takes the chronic existential crisis that is the American identity and turns it inside out, laying the typical components of comedy, thrill, violence, love and death (the ultimate reinvention) neatly side by side.

 

Our Nixon (Dir. Penny Lane and Brian L. Frye) FREE Sneak Preview

Presented with Socrates Sculpture Park.

Throughout Richard Nixon's presidency, three of his top White House aides obsessively documented their experiences with Super 8 home movie cameras. Young, idealistic and dedicated, they had no idea that a few years later they'd all be in prison. "Our Nixon" is an all-archival documentary presenting those home movies for the first time, along with other rare footage, creating an intimate and complex portrait of the Nixon presidency as never seen before. 

 

Short Term 12 (Dir. Destin Daniel Cretton) Special FREE Sneak Preview

Presented in partnership with the Academy's Oscars Outdoors series

"Short Term 12" follows Grace (Brie Larson), a young supervisor at a foster-care facility, as she looks after the teens in her charge and reckons with her own troubled past.

 

Tiger Tail in Blue (Dir. Frank V. Ross) NY Premiere

"Tiger Tail in Blue" is about a young married couple, Christopher & Melody, that work opposite schedules to remain financially afloat as Chris bangs out his first novel while working nights as a waiter. Never seeing each other is taking its toll, as the two rarely get a chance to engage one another. Chris finds the attention he craves in the past and Brandy, a saucy co-worker.

 

Towheads (Dir. Shannon Plumb) Special Sneak Preview

A harried New York mother struggling as an artist searches for a happy (if slightly unhinged) hybrid of the two. In her debut feature, Shannon Plumb's charming Chaplin-like characters light up the screen with visual playfulness.

 

Twenty Feet From Stardom (Dir. Morgan Neville) Special FREE Sneak Preview

Presented in partnership with the Academy's  Oscars Outdoors series

Meet the unsung heroes behind the greatest music of our time. Courtesy of RADiUs-TWC.

 

William and the Windmill (Dir. Ben Nabors)

Free screening presented with the Ford Foundation and Friends of Dag Hammarksold Plaza

William Kamkwamba, a young Malawian, builds a power-generating windmill from junk parts to rescue his family from famine, transforming his life and catapulting him on to the world stage. His fame and success lead him to new opportunities and complex choices about his future, distancing him from the life he once knew.

 

 

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Rooftop Films is a non-profit organization whose mission is to engage and inspire the diverse communities of New York City by showcasing the work of emerging filmmakers and musicians. In addition to their annual Summer Series - which takes place in unique outdoor venues every weekend throughout the summer - Rooftop provides grants to filmmakers, teaches media literacy and filmmaking to young people, rents equipment at low-cost to artists and non-profits, and produces new independent films. At Rooftop Films, we bring underground movies outdoors. For more information and updates please visit their website at www.rooftopfilms.com.