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 13^th 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/

Wes Anderson Talks Directing and Writing Moonrise Kingdom

Director Wes Anderson talked with Drew Mcweeny about his latest film Moonrise Kingdom and his great relationship with Bill Murray.

Official Trailer

The Black Power Mixtape – Official Trailer

THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 mobilizes a treasure trove of 16mm material shot by Swedish journalists who came to the US drawn by stories of urban unrest and revolution. Gaining access to many of the leaders of the Black Power Movement—Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis and Eldridge Cleaver among them—the filmmakers captured them in intimate moments and remarkably unguarded interviews. Thirty years later, this lush collection was found languishing in the basement of Swedish Television. Director Göran Olsson and co-producer Danny Glover bring this footage to light in a mosaic of images, music and narration chronicling the evolution one of our nation’s most indelible turning points, the Black Power movement. Music by Questlove and Om’Mas Keith, and commentary from prominent African- American artists and activists who were influenced by the struggle — including Erykah Badu, Harry Belafonte, Talib Kweli, and Melvin Van Peebles — give the historical footage a fresh, contemporary resonance and makes the film an exhilarating, unprecedented account of an American revolution.

Help Sound Of Vision Win Audience Award – Watch and Vote!

Sound of Vision is a 7- minute documentary, about one man’s journey to belong as he confronts the hurdles, and embraces the beauty, of the city he will never see. The film was created in under five days for the International Documentary Challenge by 20Coop – a collaborative production team comprised of five New York based filmmakers from The United States, Canada, Russia, China and The Netherlands : Joseph Vele,  Julia Doran,  Konstantin Syomin, Dongnan Chen, and Loretta van der Horst.

Sound of Vision premiered at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto on May 1 and took home five major awards including Best Film presented by the Documentary Channel, the POV Award presented by American Documentary/ PBS, Best Use of Genre, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

Sound of Vision and the eleven other finalists are online for viewing and voting for the Audience Award (presented by the Documentary Channel) in the International Documentary Challenge Screening Room.  

WATCH AND VOTE HERE

Reggie Watts Makes Music with John Hamm

Watch Reggie Watts and Madmen’s John Hamm remix the theme from”Taxi” on IFC’s new talk show “Comedy Bang! Bang!” T-T-T-T-Tony Danza.

Packed with character cameos, short films, comedy sketches and games set in an off-beat world, Comedy Bang! Bang! delivers thirty minutes of absurd laugh-loaded fun featuring some of the biggest names in comedy, including Amy Poehler, Zach Galifianakis, Adam Scott, Seth Rogen, Elizabeth Banks and, host Scott Aukerman. But before these comedy greats can make it to the relative safety of the couch, they have to get past Reggie Watts who has made it his mission to make each and every one of them sing with him. ” ( via IFC )

Comedy Bang! Bang! premieres on IFC on Friday June 8th at 10 p.m. ET