Fostering independent film throu$h "Offering!a fresh approach to the
community involvement
movie$oer experience, the RoofRooftop Films has grown from a single screen
top Films Summer Serrbs offers
ing in 1997 into one of the most dynamic film
institutions in the world. As a non profit orgathe audience a cool approach to
nization, our mission is to engage and inspire
innovative, diverse, and
diverse cornmunities through the mediurn
important films,'
of film. Rooftop's events have expanded all
across the city,
attracting massive crowds and
widespread media attention by showcasing
thought-provoking independent films to tens
ofthousands ofrnovie lovers in spectacular
outdoor spaces. We identify and fund new
talent through our innovative Filmmaker's'
Fund, help produce new films, teach classes to
budding young filmmakers and enable dozens
of local screenings with equipment rentals
at low-cost to artists and non-profits. Rooftop
Films is a vital support system and resource for
independent filmmakers and the people that
love them.
-Arts and Entertainment, Examiner,com
Engaging audiences, pioneering innovatiye creative collaborations, Rooftop Films is more than a film festival
Rooftop Films is a unique collaboration
between filmmakers and festivals, between
audience and artists, venues and neighborhoods.
Our ongoing commitment to keeping ticket
prices and submission fees low (and often free)
sets us apart from other festivals and allows
underserved and diverse audiences to take part
in one of New York's most important industries,
ensuring that filmmaking remains a vital part
of the culture in New York City and beyond.
Gultivating new talent and
providing vital support to
local Iilmmakers
Rooftop Films is best known for our Summer
Series. With an audience of over 50,000 in 2015,
we have become one of the best-attended film
events in the country. Rooftop gathers over
5,000 film submissions a year, guaranldeing
that the films we show are unique, diverse, and
outstanding. Our films include world premieres
and festival award winners, first-time filmmakers and long-time outsider artists, and new
works by under-represented artists. We provide
a forum and an audience for filmmakers who
make deeply personal cinema-films that offer
iri.timate Iooks into individual lives and distinct
cornrnunities worldwide.
2OL3 HIGHLIGHTS
Last summer, Rooftop screened films from 33 countries: 130 shorts and 3O features, including 17 New
York, U.S. or World Premieres. More than 3O,OOO people attended out 47 screenings at 15 different
outdoor locations. 2OLg was the most suceessfu! year in Rooftop Films' L7 yeat history!
Premiers
topic, as screenings of "New York Non-Fic-
We show films that are garnering different
levels of exposure-films that will only be
tion," "Romance Shorts" and other programs
films that will play in limited
release, and films that will be independent
hits. For lesser-known films, we provide an enseen at Rooftop,
thusiastic audience and a uniquely memorable
platform from which to launch a successful
run, such as when we presented the East Coast
Premiere of Meerkat Media's Brasslands to
more than 2,000 attendees in lower Manhattan, preceded by performances by four Balkanstyle brass bands.
include the personal work Rooftop celebrates.
And many of our the filmmakers whose shorts
we have shown often return to screen more
great short films (such as Lucy Walker's Academy Award Nominated The Tsunanni and. the
Cherry Blossom) as weII as exceptionally successful feature films (Beasfs of the Southern
Wild, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Kings
of Surnrner, and many more). In 2015 we also
collaborated with the Sundance Film Festival
to present an evening of short films from their
2015 festival.
Sneak Previews
Ain't Them Bodies Saints.
Short Films
Some of the most daring films in the world are
shorts, and at Rooftop we prize the short as a
medium unto itself. Our thematic programming displays multiple perspectives on a single
uMy screening
Greative Go!laborations
At Rooftop, we believe that the artistic com-
For films about to hit theaters, immediately
drawing large audiences is crucial to its survival in a crowded market. By doing a sneak
preview at Rooftop, filmmakers generate buzz
that spurs box office sales for films such as
Frances Ha, Cutie and the Borer, Our Niron
and
show the four-channel drana North of South
West of East; and we had Ushio Shinohara
create one ofhis legendary "boxing paintings" following our screening of the powerful,
Academy Awardo short-Iisted documentary
Cutie and the Borer. And we always strive to
discover innovative locations for our screenings, such as The Queens County Farm.(for the
indie-wesrern Ain't Them Bodies Sadzrs) and
the Waterfront Barge Museurn (for our screening of the nautical documentary Erpedition
to the End of the World).
lnnovative Events
munity is strengthened by collaboration. In
We aim to make every Rooftop event unique
and memorable, and much more than a simple
an effort to provide direct support to arlisLs,
we join forces with dozens of organizations,
including IFP, America's oldest non-profit independent filmmaking advocate. And this year,
screening. We have live music prior ro every
screening, and in 2015 we showcased emerging
bands such as Akua Carlson, The Hypnotic
Brass Ensemble and many more. We also
further enhanced many of our events with
special performances and unique elements:
we brought in sideshow strongmen to perform
feats ofstrength on the beach at Coney Island
prior to Bending Steel; we set up four giant
screens and hundreds of rotating chairs to
at
for the first time, Rooftop Films partnered
with The Academy of Motion Picture Sciences to present sneak previews of Tu;enty
Feet Frorn Stard.om and Short Term 72,
both of which went on to have very successful
theatrical releases and earn widespread critical
praise.
Rooftop was one of the most memorable nights of my life.,,Rooftop
fosters a deep sense of communi$ among New York independent filmmakers, one
that is sorely needed. As trite as it sounds, Rooftop has made a lot of indie dreams
possible-including my own."
- Lena Dunham, Director
of Tiny Furniture and creator and star of HBO's Girls
MORE THAN A
Filmmakers'Fund
Rooftop earmarks a portion of all ticket
sales and submission fees for filmmaker
grants, an innovative approach that utiIizes community support to help produce
dynamic new films. In2013, we gave away
over $65,000 in grants and services to fund
new productions by Rooftop alurrrni. The
Rooftop Films AT&T Feature Filmmaker
grant was awarded to Jonas Carpignano
for his film A Chjana, giving him $10,000
towards production of his epic African
drama. Working with the post-production
house Edgeworx, we granted a full suite
of finishing services to Zachary Treitz
and Kate Lyn Sheil for their Civil War
filrn, Men Go to Battle. We partnered with
Eastern Effects, a Brooklyn-based film
equipment company, to loan Todd Rohal
a package of lighting and grip equipment
for 50 days for his wildly unconventional
comedy, Su.teet Cheeks. lMe also awarded
cash grants to Tom Schroeder, Lisa Paclet,
Mike Plante, Yung Jake, and Riley Hooper
to help each of them to produce their shorr
films, plus we awarded the Rooftop Films
Adrienne Shelly Foundation Short Fiims
Grant for lVomen to Heather Courtney
for her latest documentary. Via local media
center DCTY we offered a host of production equipment and postproduction services
in three grants to Darius Clark Monroe,
FI LM
FESTIVAL
Natalie Paul, and Sam Green. FinaIIy we
awarded an equipment grant to Keith Miller
for his latest neo-realist drama, Fioe Star
Venue Gollaborations
At Rooftop, we don't screen in theaters, we
screen
in communities. With screenings
throughout NYC we establish collaborative
partnerships with venues to bring relevant
films to local residents. In 2015 we collabo
rated with a number of new venues, including screenings on not one but two roofs above
Industry City in Sunset Park. We also ran
Industriance" screenings atop the former
industrial complex at The Old American Can
Factory, and screened political fikns at Dag
Hammarskjold Plaza, across from the UN,
with support from the Ford Foundation. Other
venues include the roof of the Bronx Terminal Market, Metro'Tech Commons, Socrates
Sculpture Park, Solar One, and many more.
Gommunity Outreach and
Youth Education
Rooftop Films is committed to supporting the
next generation of filmmakers and to creating
films that cultivate understanding of complex
issues. In partnership with The Fledgling
Fund, Rooftop hosted an interactive screening
event at Solar One to celebrate the broadcast
premiere of 99t%: The Occupy Wall Street
Collaborath;e Film, followed by a conversa-
tion moderated by Naomi Woolf. Rooftop also
continued our Youth Education Program,
presenting workshops at New York City public
high schools built around Sean and Andrea
Nix Fine's Inocente, a documentary about a
homeless teen who finds hope and a way out of
her struggle via art-making.
Equipment Rentals
In an effort to support truly independent
screenings, Rooftop makes all our film/video
exhibition equipment available for low-cost
rentals. Projectors, sound systerns, screens
and more are available, including our 40 foot
wide inflaLable airscreen. sure to impress giant
crowds.
"Rooftop Films challenges
the inner couch potato
lurking in every New Ysrker
by making each screening
not merely a spectacle, but
an experience,"
- Wall Street Journal
Rooftop Films is $enerously supported by:
Staff
Founder and
Artistic Director
'":::*Direc'iors
Mark Elijah Rosenberg
Brian Newman
Proglam Director
Teresa Lee
Dan Nuxoll
Secretary
Managin$ Direetor
Casimir Nozkowski
Genevieve DeLaurier
Development
Iddo I. Arad
Director
Anne Carey
Michael Clark
Jessica Cox
Samara
Festival Manager
Kristin Molloy
WillChu
Letitia James
Catherine Martinez
DCTV
r
FonrsrCnv
ffiorogy
-V
:#*TT
,Ji, 6hr*r*,
firr"*'.
tdp5rffirht2ft u \rrrz*-*'"-
Sarah Palmer
Mark Elijah Rosenberg
Festival Assistant
lffitdtYLalm
Vinay Singh
Fo.Edaton
Kate Gellene
ressicalappin
JumaaneWilliams
NYCBrooklyn
Delegation
&
ffi ronorouNDA*oN
Brad Lander
1fi*lh
ffi
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Brent Green
Anne Hubbell
car&sa}:{ii"',il*"
f
@souanesencr
G
Daly
Evan List
Iechnical Manager
ar$nfi x
ffi #
Ery
Tleasurer
Donors:
Iehan Mahmood
Martha Hirst
Michael Palmer &
Cathy Simon
Laura Heberton
Marissa McMahon
-Lnd 527
individual
donors and members.
NYSCA
(for a fuII list of
visit www.
rooftopfilms.com/
donate.html)
donors
Technical
Goordinator
ln2OL4 at Rooftop Films we're buildin$ somethinEl
bigger, we're going further, we'te doing more, and we
can only do it with you.
Christopher Torres
JOIN US ON THE ROOF!
When you become a member, you save money while supporting our efforts to keep independent filmmaking
alive and thriving in New York Gity and beyond. Memberships also make great gifts! For full membership
details, please visit rooftopfilms.com.
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The benefits of a single membership at a
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tr
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tr
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Other
tr
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amount:
sTArE
GITY
PHONE-
tr
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n
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Free entry for 1 member Plus 2
guests and Rooftop Films tote bag
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Total Contribution:
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Pay via credit card online at
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check payable to "Rooftop Films" to:
Rooftop Films is a 501(c)5 public charity; aI1 contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by
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