Rooftop films team up with SXSW for weekend of Austin-based festival favorites
Rooftop films has teamed up with SXSW to present a weekend of Austin-based festival favorites including The Sheik and I, Fat Kid Rules the World, and Sun Don’t Shine. Q&As will follow each screening this weekend.
Thursday, June 7
The Sheik and I
(Caveh Zahedi | 108 min.)
Co-Presented by Rooftop Films & SXSW
Caveh Zahedi built a reputation as a naughty provocateur with surreal docu-comedies like A Little Stiff and I Am a Sex Addict, but his latest effort rises above self-interest and takes a stab at instigating change. And he might be facing a fatwah for it. The Sheik and I, a diary film about Zahedi’s messy experience working on commission in the United Arab Emirates, certainly contains a mischievous edge. However, Zahedi has also made an alarming testament to the challenges of sincere expression in societies opposed to its function. It’s a daring work made with reckless abandon — in other words, both irresponsible and necessary. Q&A with Caveh Zahedi following the screening.
Venue: On the lawn of Automotive High School, 50 Bedford Ave. @ North 13th St. Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Subway: L to Bedford Ave. or G to Nassau Ave.
8:00PM: Doors open
8:30PM: Live music
9:00PM: Film
11:30PM-1:00AM: After-party at Matchless (557 Manhattan Ave. @ Driggs)
Tickets and more information: http://rooftopfilms.com/2012/schedule/the-sheik-and-i/
Friday, June 8
Fat Kid Rules the World
(Matthew Lillard | 94 min.)
Co-Presented by Rooftop Films & SXSW
Troy is a fat kid. Ignored at school, ridiculed by his younger, more athletic brother, pitied by his ex-marine father, he has decided to end it all by stepping in front of a bus. He is just about to do it when he is knocked out of harm’s way by a force of nature named Marcus. Thus begins an unlikely partnership between nerdy, introverted Troy and semi-homeless, drug-addicted, punk rock genius Marcus. Marcus recruits Troy as the drummer in his new band, and for a second, it looks like things might be looking up for Troy. There are only a couple of problems. Troy doesn’t know how to play the drums, and Marcus doesn’t know how to stay off the pills for long enough to be the friend that Troy so desperately needs. Twenty pages into K.L. Going’s book by the same name, Matthew Lillard (SLC Punk) picked up the phone to buy the movie rights. It took him nine years to find a way to make the film. We at Rooftop are glad he did, and we think you will be too. Q&A with Matthew Lillard following the screening.
Venue:
Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street (at Essex), Lower East Side, New York, NY 10002
Subway: F, J, M, Z to Delancey Street-Essex Street; B, D, Q to Grand Street
8:00PM: Doors open
8:30PM: Live music
9:00PM: Film
11:30PM-1:00AM: After-party at R Bar (218 Bowery @ Rivington) courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner
Tickets and more information: http://rooftopfilms.com/2012/schedule/fat-kid-rules-the-world/
Saturday, June 9
Sun Don’t Shine
(Amy Seimetz | 90 min.)
Co-Presented by Rooftop Films & SXSW
The sun is blaring white. The air is thick as water. Behind the mangroves and swamp grass, a man and a woman fight like animals. There’s trouble in the trunk. The cause of the commotion is unclear. The woman (rising indie star Kate Lyn Sheil) passes out in the muck and the man (Kentucker Audley) sets to driving shirtless before they reveal anything. With the heat so palpable and the landscape a teeming jungle that’s creepily calm, the whole thing could be a fever dream. Many moments in Sun Don’t Shine have an ethereal quality—a shirt flutters away from a car window, the sounds of the world melt into noise. But this is the danger-tinged dreaminess of Badlands, and the film truly grips you by carving vivid details out of an authentic Southern locale.
Venue:
Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street (at Essex), Lower East Side, New York, NY 10002
Subway: F, J, M, Z to Delancey Street-Essex Street; B, D, Q to Grand Street
8:00PM: Doors open
8:30PM: Live music by Behavior
9:00PM: Film
11:30PM-1:00AM: After-party at Fontana’s (105 Eldridge St. @ Grand)
Tickets and more information: http://rooftopfilms.com/2012/schedule/sun-dont-shine/
