My favorite summer film festival features
Dangerous Docs. It's a super deal. Flicks, live music and drinks for 10 bucks. You go to the movie theatre and the movie alone is $12.50. It's the greatest film deal in Nueva York!
Rooftop Films
June 4th / 8 pm doors open, live music (Elephant Parade) @ 8:30, films @ 9
Open Road Rooftop / New Design High School
350 Grand St.
11:30 pm / After party with complimentary Radeberger beer at Fontana's (105 Eldridge)
$10
DANGEROUS DOCS
Even in a cultural landscape dominated by semi-scripted "reality TV," sometimes the most insane adventures and outlandish characters are actually real.
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THE FILMS
THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY (Alice Nelson | Scotland | 10 min.)
The bizarre sexual acts you conduct in the comfort of your own room might endanger you (or your vehicle), but this humorous animated cautionary tale addresses the danger of governmental injustice. Nelson's second film at Rooftop is part of the Scottish Documentary Institute's series "The New Ten Commandments," marking the 60th anniversary of the Human Rights Declaration. newtencommandments.wordpress.com
THE COMFORT OF COLD (Sara Newens | Stanford, CA | 4:15 min.)
A portrait of one man's ritual escape into the cold waters of the San Francisco Bay and the art that is influenced by his meditative experience.
NOTES ON THE OTHER (Sergio Oksman | Spain | 13 min.)
Unlikely connections between Ernest Hemingway and a man passed out in the gutter, between flocks of Hemingway look-alikes in Florida and a shop owner in Pamplona. The ghostly doubling and denying prove that history repeats itself, but so does the present. notesontheother.com
MR. OKRA (T.G. Herrington | New Orleans | 11 min.)
In the age of fast food, strip malls, and mega-markets, New Orleans legend Mr. Okra travels the back streets of the Bywater, Trem?֬? and the 9th Ward, selling vegetables from his iconic truck, standing as a stark contrast to the high technology and shiny produce markets of the modern world. nomdeguerre.tv
NJ LADY: DEAD (Jesse Selwyn | Los Angeles, CA | 2 min.)
The filmmaker's grandmother is one tough broad, surviving life with a deadly sense of humor. njlady.tv
CICADA (Amiel Courtin-Wilson | Australia | 9 min.)
In a stylized monologue, Melbourne man Daniel P. Jones recalls the day, as a five-year-old, he witnessed a murder. Sometimes surviving a violent incident doesn't keep you out of danger. amielcourtin-wilson.com
MR. HYPNOTISM (Bradley Beesley | Austin, TX | 13:45 min.)
Dr. Ron Dante has had a colorful career as a grifter, stage hypnotist and infamous conman. As 'Mr. Hypnotism' he became a hit, selling out venues nationwide. Following a brief marriage to Lana Turner, Dante was tried and convicted for the attempted murder of a rival hypnotist. Continuing his performances onstage, Dante expanded his operation to include cons like the Permaderm Academy, a fake cosmetics school, and Columbia State University, a diploma mill scheme. He amassed tens of millions of dollars until the FBI caught up with him following an interview on ABC's 20/20. Assets seized, Mr. Hypnotism was once again sentenced to prison. Dante says, 'I was a con artist. I was a good conman. I say what people want to hear, just like all conmen do."
Austin-based filmmaker Bradley Beesley has made a cinematic career documenting oddball Americana, strange sub-cultures and homegrown rock stars. Post art school, he began filming with legendary bluesman R.L. Burnside to make his first movie 'Hill Stomp Hollar' (SXSW). He has since directed nine feature-length films, including seven documentaries, a concert film and a sci-fi narrative. Bradley is the producer and director of the backwoods cult classic Okie Noodling (PBS). The film chronicles the lost art of bare-handed catfishing in his home state of Oklahoma. In 2005, Shout! Factory released 'The Fearless Freaks', a documentary starring The Flaming Lips. He has collaborated on over ten music videos with the Lips and recently teamed-up with Wayne Coyne to make 'Christmas on Mars'. (Warner Bros.) 'Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo' (HBO) is his latest effort and goes behind prison walls to follow convict cowgirls as they compete in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo. Other films include 'The Creek Runs Red' (Independent Lens), 'Summercamp!' (Sundance Channel) and 'UFO's at the Zoo' (Warner Bros.). His TV credits include 'Roller Girls' (A&E), 'Paranormal State' (A&E) and 'Storm Chasers' (Discovery).
DOCK ELLIS & THE LSD NO-NO (James Blagden | Brooklyn, NY | 4:30 min.)
An animated documentary that celebrates the greatest athletic achievement ever by a man on a psychedelic journey. If our evaluation of the records of athletes like Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Marion Jones, and Barry Bonds needs to be revised downwards with an asterisk, Blagden submits that that Dock Ellis' record deserves a giant exclamation point. jamesblagden.com
DRUNK HISTORY VOL. 3: OLNEY JUDGE (Jeremy Konner, Derek Waters | Los Angeles, CA | 6:15 min.)
Late one night, Jen Kirkman drank a bottle and a half of wine and then discussed an historical event: the backhanded way of our first president (played by Danny McBride) dealt with his favorite slave (Tymberlee Hill).
FREESTYLE RAP BATTLE: TRANSLATED (Ben Hays, Ryan Darrow | Marina del Ray, CA | 3:30 min.)
Cultural miscommunication gets out of hand, on many levels.
I DON'T BLAME THE BEAUTIFUL GAME (Christopher Arcella | Brooklyn, NY | 5 min.)
Arcella returns to Rooftop with an artful film about a European soccer player's treacherous experience with match fixing. christopherarcella.com
NJ LADY: AT THE ZOO (Jesse Selwyn | Los Angeles, CA | 2 min.)
Why bother going to the zoo? You want danger? Visit Florence Lazar's closet. njlady.tv
