SWIMMING WITH THOUSANDS OF JELLYFISH IN PALAU
With music from Radiohead and using a Canon 5D Mark II, Simga 15mm Fisheye Lens and Aquatica Housing, filmmaker Sarosh Jacob takes us into the strange world of Jellyfish Lake, a lake located on Eli Malk island in the Republic of Palau. Twelve thousand years ago the jellyfish here became trapped in a natural basin on the island when the ocean receded. With no predators amongst them for thousands of years, they evolved into a new species that lost most of their stinging ability as they no longer had to protect themselves.
NEW VIDEO FROM JUSTICE: CIVILIZATION
Here’s the Edouard Salier bison-adorned new video from Justice for the song “Civilization” from the new record they have dropping later this year on Ed Banger.
NEW VIDEO FROM BATTLES: ICE CREAM
Since Tyondai Braxton left the experimental rock outfit Battles to work on his solo projects, the remaining trio of Ian Williams, Dave Konopka, and drummer John Stanier, are back with a new poppy summertime video for “Ice Cream” off their upcoming album Gloss Drop, dropping June 7 via Warp. The video directed and produced by CANADA is heavy on nude bathing women eating ice cream, women licking roller skates, pinecones, door handles and a schmorgesborg of beach karate.
TETRA TENNIS ANYONE?
Video Mapping on the tennis ground of the French Masters series in Paris Bercy / 2010 from 1024architecture. This is their third consecutive mapping on the tennis ground. Running realtime, activated with a PS3 controller, powered by MadMapper software. More info on 1024architecture.net or their blog on 1024d.wordpress.com
SXSW WEEKEND AT ROOFTOP FILMS
This weekend at Rooftop Films, is their our long-awaited SXSW Weekend. This year, for the first time, Rooftop worked with the SXSW festival to put together a weekend of films that made their World Premieres at SXSW 2011. This weekend they will be presenting the New York Premieres of The Dish and the Spoon, with star Greta Gerwig in person, the gorgeous coming of age film No Matter What, and Rooftop Grantee The City Dark (Ian Cheney, King Corn). Friday, June 3, 2011
ROOFTOP FILMS: THE DISH AND THE SPOON (NY Premiere) (Alison Bagnall | Philadelphia, PA | 92 min.) Presented by SXSW and Rooftop Films. SXSW weekend begins with the New York premiere of The Dish and the Spoon. Indie starlet Greta Gerwig and newcomer Olly Alexander put on alternately fierce and delicate performances in this enchantingly offbeat romance about an alienated teen and a woman on the run from a troublesome marriage. Over the last five years, Greta Gerwig has made her mark as one of the most promising young actresses to come out of American independent cinema. Even though she has since appeared in larger Hollywood projects such as Arthur, Gerwig hasn’t lost touch with her indie roots, as proven by her extraordinary performance in Alison Bagnall’s charming feature film. Greta Gerwig and Alison Bagnall will be there in person to answer questions after the film Tickets are $10 online or at the door. Tickets and more information:http://rooftopfilms.com/2011/schedule/the-dish-and-the-spoon/ 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 8:00 PM Doors Open 8:30 PM Live Music by Snowmine 9:00 PM Film Begins 10:30 PM Q and A with filmmaker Alison Bagnall and star Greta Gerwig 11:30 PM After Party at Fontana’s (105 Eldridge St. btwn Grand St. and Broome St.) Plays with: CHIEF SERENBE (Evan Curtis | USA | 5 min.) Music: SNOWMINE Brooklyn’s Snowmine embraces a sound rich with echo pedals, tribal beats, electro-acoustic soundscapes and classical orchestrations. Inspired by love found and lost, forest trips, and circuit bending, it seems their music can be an apt cure for problems strange but beautiful, uplifting but melancholy. The quintet formed in 2008 from a long bubbling friendship between bassist Jay Goodman, drummer Alex Beckmann, and lead singer/composer Grayson Sanders. Many parties, road trips, and treacherous leaky basements fraught with jam sessions later, they met guitarists Austin Mendenhall and Scott Seelig – two wayfarers from D.C. and Los Angeles. The band’s nine-track debut album, Laminate Pet Animal, was recorded with Dave Trumfio (Wilco, My Morning Jacket). Saturday, June 4, 2010
No Matter What – Trailer from Cherie Saulter on Vimeo. ROOFTOP FILMS: NO MATTER WHAT (NY Premiere) (Cherie Saulter | Chipley, FL | 90 min.) Presented by SXSW and Rooftop Films. SXSW Weekend Continues with the story of Nick and Joey, two best friends living in the crumbling landscape of rural Florida, whose lives and friendship are changed by the journey to find Joey’s mother. Teenagers Joey and Nick are navigating the complex landscape of rural Florida on their own — they don’t really have parents, they prefer skateboarding to school. When the pair set out to find Joey’s mother — camping out in drug dealers’ backyards, hopping freight trains — we wonder if, perhaps, they should just keep going. Tickets are $10 online or at the door. Tickets and more information:http://rooftopfilms.com/2011/schedule/no-matter-what/ 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 8:00 PM Doors Open 8:30 PM Live music by Secret Mountains 9:00 PM Film Begins 10:30 PM Q and A with filmmaker Cherie Saulter 11:30 PM After Party at Fontanas (105 Eldridge Street btwn Grand St. and Broome St.) Music: SECRET MOUNTAINS The bulk of the last decade brought Baltimore’s hyper-color acts—the dance epics of Dan Deacon and the guitar spirals of Ecstatic Sunshine and Ponytail, or even the expatriate pop exuberance of Animal Collective—to the central streams of indie rock. Maybe it’s time to pull the shades: Maryland sextet Secret Mountains is a slow, subdued wonder, shaped by serpentine guitar lines that sigh and moan and busy drumming that sidles into the beat and shuffles around it. The surface is supplied by Kelly Laughlin, a singer whose muted alto seems wounded but resilient, like an autumn sun breaking through early morning clouds. This band is bound for bigger rooms.—Grayson Currin Sunday, June 5, 2011
ROOFTOP FILMS: THE CITY DARK (NY Premiere) (Ian Cheney | Brooklyn, NY | 84 min.) Presented by Rooftop Films, SXSW, and Edgeworx Studios. For thousands of years, the night sky was a crucial part of human experience, but due to light pollution, the stars are disappearing from our vision and consciousness. Would bringing back the sky make us better humans, or save us from some of the harmful effects of modern city life? Our SXSW weekend concludes with the New York premiere of The City Dark. Filmmaker Ian Cheney (Rooftop alum, King Corn) grew up with a deep fascination with the sky — he was even an amateur astronomer and astrophotographer who built his own telescope on his family’s farm in rural Maine. His childhood memories comprise as much looking out, into the universe, as looking around him. When he moved to New York, the relative lack of visible stars was a rude awakening. The difference seemed more than purely aesthetic, and eventually Cheney asked himself how the flood of light, and lack of night sky, could be affecting all creatures on the planet – humans and otherwise. Tickets are $10 online or at the door. Tickets and more information:http://rooftopfilms.com/2011/schedule/the-city-dark/ Venue: On the roof of The Old American Can Factory, 232 3rd St. (at 3rd Ave.), Gowanus/Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY 11215 Subway: F/G to Carroll St. or M/R to Union 8:00 PM Doors Open 8:30 PM Live Music by The Fishermen Three 9:00 PM Film Begins 11:30 PM Reception in the Courtyard Plays with: HELIOTROPES (Michael Langan | San Francisco, CA | 3 min.) HELIOTROPES documents the parallel goals of man and nature, through the most primitive and sophisticated means, to simply stay in the light. Based on the poem by Brian Christian. HOWLING AT THE MOON (Jason Tippett and Elizabeth Mims | Los Angeles, CA | 8 min.) Matt and Harry receive an invitation to see a fellow employees band. To escape the awkward coffee shop performance, Matt comes up with a somewhat decent excuse. Music: FISHERMEN THREE The Fishermen Three play mystical country music and blues of every color. Simon Beins, member of New York City’s weird folk trio The WoWz, writes the songs and plays a few instruments, and Raphi Gottesman provides spiritual guidance, friendship, and percussion. They also wrote the score for The City Dark, which won an award at the SXSW festival.
NEW ALBUM FROM THE COOL KIDS FEAT. GHOSTFACE KILLAH
On July 12th Chi-town’s The Cool Kids will release their long-awaited full-length album, When Fish Ride Bicycles on Green Label Sound. The album will feature 11 new tracks featuring Ghostface Killah, Bun B, Mayer Hawthorne, Asher Roth, Travis Barker and Pharrell Williams.
Track listing:
1. Rush Hour Traffic
2. GMC
3. Boomin’ (featuring Tennille)
4. Sour Apples (featuring Travis Barker)
5. Penny Hardaway (featuring Ghostface Killah)
6. Bundle Up
7. Gas Station (featuring Bun B)
8. Get Right
9. Swimsuits (featuring Mayer Hawthorne)
10. Roll Call (featuring Asher Roth, Chip Tha Ripper, Boldy James)
11.Summer Jam (featuring Maxine Ashley), Produced by Pharrell Williams
ARIEL PINK’S RE-FREAK GETS A RE-MIX FROM DAM FUNK
Check out this remix of Ariel Pink’s “re-freak” from Galactic Funk Federation founder Dām Funk which appears on Ariel Pink’s Fright Night 12″ single. Give a listen below:
mp3:
Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti :: Fright Night (Nevermore) (Dām Funk Refreak)
BOB DYLAN REVISITED ON EAST VILLAGE RADIO
In honor of Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday today, East Village Radio is celebrating the occasion with six hours of special Dylan content. Tune in at 2 p.m., to hear Clash magazine editor Simon Harper presenting “Dylan A-Z”, a collection of Dylan songs for every letter of the alphabet. Then, at 4 p.m. Rolling Stone Contributing Editor Austin Scaggs will share his favorite Dylan bootlegs, and at 6 p.m. Chances With Wolves will play their favorite Dylan covers. You can also listen to some interviews from Don’t Look Back and some rare live performances. Listen live at www.eastvillageradio.com. Happy Birthday Bob!
| Excerpt of Albert Grossman | Don’t Look Back 1965 | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan and The Band | You ain’t goin’ nowhere | May 24 |
| Beatles | Interview | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | Must be Santa | May 24 |
| Excerpt of Bob Dylan | Don’t Look Back 1966 | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | Maggie’s Farm LIVE at Newport Folk Festival 1965 | May 24 |
| Excerpt of Bob Dylan | LIve at Manchester Free Trade Hall 1966 | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | Interview from No Direction Home | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | Just like a woman LIVE at Glasgow Barrowlands 2004 | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | Hurricane | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | Interview plus excerpt from No Direction Home | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | Idiot Wind | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan and Joan Baez | Interview from No Direction Home | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan and Joan Baez | Mama, you’ve been on my mind LIVE 1964 | May 24 |
| Keith Richards | Interview | May 24 |
| Little Richard | Slippin’ and slidin’ | May 24 |
| Mavis Staples | Interview for Clash Magazine 2010 | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | Tonight I’ll be staying here with you | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | Thing have changed | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger | Interview from 1962 | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | The lonesome death of Hattie Carroll LIVE Cabadian TV 1964 | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | Interview from Don’t look back 1965 | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | Gotta serve somebody | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | Sara | May 24 |
| Excerpt of Bob Dylan’s | Theme Time Radio Hour: New York | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | All along the watchtower | MTV Unplugged | May 24 |
| Bob Dylan | Visions of Johanna | May 24 |
| Woody Guthrie | Do re mi |
FOSTER THE PEOPLE: TORCHES OUT TODAY!
Coachella hyped Foster The People’s debut album Torches is out today. The band will also make their television debut tonight on ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live!, followed with a spotlight piece airing on Last Call with Carson Daly on Tuesday May 24th and a performance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Wednesday, May 25th. Foster The People will end the week by kicking off their second headlining tour, which starts at Sasquatch and includes stops in New York, Denver, Minneapolis, Boston, and more. The band will also hit this year’s Lollapalooza and Outsidelands festival.
NEW VACCINES VIDEO: ALL IN WHITE
The Vaccines recently announced their next UK single, “All In White,” and now you can check out their new video for the track, shot in Spin and directed by Canada (Two Door Cinema Club, Scissor Sisters, etc.) The LP What Did You Except From The Vaccines? is out May 31st.
A TASTE OF WASHED OUT: WITHIN AND WITHOUT
Heres another little taste of Washed Out’s long awaited debut album Within and Without. Reminds me of the opening to David Lynch’s Lost Highway. The album is set for release on July 12 through Sub Pop in the US and July 11 through Weird World (Domino) internationally.
PALEO: FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
[rating: 2]
Paleo: Fruit of the Spirit
Label: Partisan Records
Release date: June 21, 2011
Strackany is another in a long line of folk singers who weren’t born with the suitable means to be technically proficient singers. Such a list has too many names to list, but right there at the top is Bob Dylan, owner of one of the most cringe-inducing voices in all of popular music history. But like Dylan, Strackany gets by. His words are often a shield against the sandpaper abrasiveness of his voice and his instrumentation, though off the beaten path of traditional American folk, is regularly enough a nice distraction. “Lighthouse,” the opening track on Fruit of the Spirit, is a great example of this. This cut plasters Strackany’s strained voice over top of rugged acoustic instrumentation. You can hear his fingers against the fretboard as he switches chords, even amidst the constant fluttering percussion. There are moments almost identical to this scattered all throughout the album. But as many brilliant moments as Strackany sets up and knocks down, there are that many truly agitating ones waiting just around the bend.
“Poet (Take 1)” takes some of the most brutal instrumentation you’re likely to hear all year — the clunking, rhythm-devoid instrumentation isn’t experimental, its painful — and throws it over top of ironic lyrics about the fallacies of considering yourself a poet. In a sense, this song is like hearing Strackany rebel against himself. Taken that way it doesn’t seem like such a bad creation; artists don’t often skewer their own music and mock their songwriting so freely. But taken as simply another song amongst a collection of them, it represents a turn-off of staggering proportions. Strackany’s Kristian Matsson-meets-Jackie Greene-meets cheese grater voice isn’t intolerable (all the best singers have deficiencies, anyway) but is a challenge, so it would seem logical to make things sound as appealing as possible otherwise, not take the complete opposite course. And especially not twice — “Poet (Take 2)” is essentially the same architecture recycled.
While Fruit of the Spirit does have its charms — the aforementioned “Lighthouse,” “Over the Hill and Back Again,” and “In the Movies” are all worthy standouts — they are ultimately weighted down by its shortcomings. Its clear that Strackany doesn’t have a good voice, but what remains uncertain is whether or not he’s aware of this. Throughout the album there are moments where he strains too far, stretching out to latch onto notes that he shouldn’t even be thinking about. These instances tend to hurt. And while the instrumentation backing him up may maintain a certain level of consistency (save for those two atrocious “Poet” tracks), that simply isn’t enough to make this an album worth digging too deep into.
SLASHER? I DON’T EVEN KNOW HER: ANR’S HORROR FLICK
“It all started with the idea of shooting spear hooks through this girls back, through her boobs, into her boyfriends hands.” That’s what ANR’s singer/ drummer, Michael John Hancock, told us was the premise for the bands new slasher film project. We took the bait too. So here it is, the music video edit of ANR’s slasher film based on “Big Problem” directed by Lucas Leyva, crewed by the fine folks at Borscht Film Festival, and starring a cast of Miami heroes. It’s a 5 minute horror epic along the line of Thriller. Check back with us for the extended 12 minute unrated short film version coming soon too.
WH’NTCHA BACK THAT APP UP
We are creating an exciting new, interactive iPad Magazine app. for indie junkies to get their fix of the latest independent music, film, and art. Back our App on Kickstarter and be a part of our project.
CLICK HERE TO PLEDGE AS LOW AS $1.00 TO DISCOSALT MAGAZINE FOR iPAD:
After you back it up, then stop, what what what? drop it like its hot.
THIS WEEK AT ROOFTOP FILMS: SOUND OF NOISE + DARK TOONS
Two great shows coming up this week at Rooftopfilms. On Thursday, check out Sound of Noise, a maniacally funny Swedish comedy about a band of musical anarchists who break into banks, hospitals, and construction sites and perform guerilla style concerts using their surroundings as musical instruments. The film’s musicians and filmmakers will be at the show, facing off in a live, heavyweight drum battle that we hear has been brewing ever since they started shooting the film. Friday is “Dark ‘Toons,” the popular annual collection of enjoyable evil animation. This year’s batch will include a crazy quilt remix of Bill Plympton’s Oscar nominated short Guard Dog.
Show details below:
Thursday, May 19th
SOUND OF NOISE
A clever and fiercely entertaining Swedish comedy about a group of “musical terrorists” who break into hospitals, banks, and other public places to play compositions using the surroundings as their instruments. The screening will feature a special live performance by the musicians from the film. Presented in partnership with MusicDoc Malmo.
Venue: On the pier at Solar One
2420 FDR Drive (E 23rd Street and the East River)
New York, NY 10010
Subway: R/6 to 23rd St., walk all the way east.
8:00PM Doors Open
8:30PM Live Music by Prylf
9:00PM Film begins
10:30PM Special LIVE Heavyweight Drum Battle between the Drummers and the Filmmakers!
10:45PM After Party Onsite
Tickets and more info at: http://rooftopfilms.com/2011/schedule/sound-of-noise/
Friday, May 20, 2011
DARK ‘TOONS
Venue: On the pier at Solar One, 2420 FDR Drive (E 23rd Street and the East River
New York, NY 10010
Subway: R/6 to 23rd St., walk all the way east.
8:00 PM Doors Open
8:30 PM Live Music by Live Footage
9:00 PM Films Begin
11:00 PM After Party Onsite
Tickets and more info at: http://rooftopfilms.com/2011/schedule/dark-toons-1/
The Films:
GUARD DOG GLOBAL JAM (Bill Plympton | New York, NY | 5 min.)
75 different artists combined their talents (and styles) for this crazy-quilt remake of an Oscar-nominated short. plymptoons.com
THE HOLY CHICKEN OF LIFE AND MUSIC (Nomint | Greece | 3 min.)
A giant, two-headed chicken is the ultimate false god, in this jaw-droppingly surreal fantasy. theholychicken.com
THE GLOAMING (Niko Nobrain | France | 14 min.)
The last man in his world creates new life that quickly spins out of his control – despite his efforts to play God. An allegory for the ages. nobrain.fr
COSMIC JUNGLE (Marie Ayne, Martin Brunet, Alexander Casals, Sebastien DeOliveira Bispo, Fabrice Fiteni, Mathieu Garcia | France | 5 min.)
Two rambunctious mutts upset the order of a robot-run metropolis in this ultra-kinetic future fantasy.
THE REPLICANTS: USER (Edouardo Salier | France | 4 min.)
Old-school flipbook filmmaking – with an angst-rock soundtrack. Courtesy of Autour De Minuit.
TRIUMPH OF THE WILD (Martha Colburn | New York | 11 min.)
An exploration of the impulses that prompt hunting and the resiliency of people and animals in times of battle during 300 years of American history. [Sundance]
THE ONGOING LIFE OF PETER PEEL: CAN, CAN, CAN’T (Felix Massie | UK | 2 min.)
The drudgery of the stock clerk’s day is perfectly encapsulated, in this cheerfully wan vignette.
LGFUAD (Kelsey Stark | Brooklyn, NY | 4 min.)
Sex. Violence. Death. The interior life of the average, alienated suburban teen. riversideflesh.blogspot.com
MOSKITO BRAVO (Emeline Chankamshu, Alexandre Cuegniet, Paul Serrell, Sarah Sutter, Henning Wagenbreth | France | 7 min.)
One dog-eat-dog world is just a speck on the surface of another – which in turn exists inside another. And so on, in a riot of color and ordered chaos.
ENRIQUE WRECKS THE WORLD (David Chai | San Jose, California | 4 min.)
One surly kid with a sling shot accidentally unleashes a cataclysmic chain reaction in this mordant imagining of a whoops apocalypse. houseofchai.net
BAND RADAR: NEVEREST SONGS (FOR FANS OF OWEN PALLET/ FINAL FANTASY, INLETS)
Neverest Songs is the alias of Margate UK based multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Luke Twyman. With sparse composition, Neverest Songs bleeds sentiment and simple progression is met with interesting exploration, building in ways that will reward multiple listens. Twyman’s extensive musical understanding and range has lead him to compose a recent score for an independent film based in New York, titled All That Glitters and his live set-up is open ended, with supporting members and instrumentation varying between shows, and rehearsals taking place in a boat on the Thames.
You can listen here: http://soundcloud.com/neverestsongs/sets/tracks/
Luke is travelling over from England this week and playing a one-off solo piano set on Thursday. Here’s the details:
Neverest Songs | Googie’s Lounge (above The Living Room) | Thurs May 19
Free Entry | 21+ | 7:30pm (sharp)
Later on this year, Luke is playing UK’s Green Man festival, headlined by Fleet Foxes, Explosions in the Sky and Iron & Wine.
URBAN ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: CT
For an urban artist, “CT” tells us that he didn’t grow up in a big metropolis. As a result, he “wasn’t directly in contact with the more common writing dynamics, which at the beginning of 90’s established themselves in all European cities”. CT’s environment took him in a different direction; influencing his way of thinking and contributing to a different approach to “Graffiti” art. Without any stylistic references in his small town, he grew curious about the world of graffiti art in cities like New York and Berlin. CT soon discovered a group of artists who were starting a stylistic/formal/conceptual revolution, able to lead Graffiti to a new level. This lead him to create urban art that has an old school spirit but also expresses his subjective vision of contemporaneity.
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THIS WEEK AT ROOFTOP FILMS: THIS IS WHAT WE MEAN BY SHORT FILMS AND FREELOADER
[Will Oldham in Pioneer]
Opening Night of the 15th Annual Rooftop Films Summer Series is this weekend! and we are pretty excited about the more than 200 films they are bringing to the city throughout the summer. On Friday, May 13th, you can check out a special screening of “This is What We Mean by Short Films,” a collection of short epic stories that could save your life. Then on Saturday, May 14th, you can watch the World Premiere of New York Filmmaker Zachary Raines new black comedy Freeloader.
Details below:
Friday, May 13th
Opening Night: This is What We Mean by Short Films
Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side)
Subway: F, J, M, Z to Delancey Street-Essex Street; B, D, Q to Grand Street
8:00 PM Doors Open
8:30 PM Live Music by Dustin Wong
9:00 PM Films Begin
11:30 PM After Party at Fontanas
Tickets and more info at: http://rooftopfilms.com/2011/schedule/this-is-what-we-mean-by-short-films-2/
A simple line drawing fleetingly becomes a recognizable face, then morphs into something disturbing. An obliterating splatter of paint describes the history of the universe. A prophesy of doom comes blissfully alive. The forces of creation and destruction battle epically within and around us at all times, at atomic, 8-bit and astronomical levels. David O’Reilly’s masterful fragmented universe The External World reminds us “Remember this is merely a cartoon. None of this is real. . . . There is only a silent emptiness spreading infinitely in all directions.” But at this, the start of Rooftop’s 15th year of existence, we begin with short films that celebrate creativity as a necessary means to survival. The piano players know, “She can’t kill me while I’m playing.”
The Films:
LOVE & THEFT (Andreas Hykade | Germany | 7 min.)
The driving pulse of transformation reveals moments of terror and beauty amidst images familiar and domestic.
OOPS (Chris Beckman | Springfield, MO | 10 min.)
Conjuring creative connections out of mundane happenstance, Oops—composed entirely of appropriated YouTube videos—lies somewhere between a home-video mixtape and a postmodern travelogue.
THE EXTERNAL WORLD (David O’Reilly | Ireland | 15 min.)
A boy learns to play the piano.
THE PIANO TUNER (Olivier Treiner | France | 13 min.)
Adrien is a young piano prodigy. He now works as a piano tuner. He pretends to be blind in order to infiltrate his clients’ intimacy. Since he sees things he should not, Adrien ends up witnessing a murder.
HEARTPOCALYPSE (Matthew Silver | Brooklyn, NY | 7 min.)
In a dynamic bit of spontaneous street art, a crazed doomsayer ranting underneath a Brooklyn subway track brings to life his worst nightmares—and the crowd loves it.
BIG BANG BIG BOOM (Blu | Italy | 10 min.)
This ingenious animation uses the city as its canvas in a short unscientific story about evolution and its possible consequences.
LEDO AND IX BATTLE EPICALLY (Emily Carmichael | Brooklyn, NY | 4 min.)
The third in a series of films about two adventurers in an old-school fantasy video game. Ledo, the tiny 8-bit heroine, has been obsessively upgrading her weapons and tirelessly honing her attacks, all in preparation for great battles that have never materialized. Supported by the Rooftop Filmmakers’ Fund.
YEARBOOK (Carter Smith | New York, NY | 10 min.)
The yearbook photo never tells the whole story in this creepy portrait of small town high school sexuality from the award-winning creator of Bugcrush.
PIONEER (David Lowery | Dallas, TX | 15 min.)
A father (Will Oldham) tells his little boy the most epic bedtime story ever.
Saturday, May 14th
World Premiere: Freeloader
Venue: Open Road Rooftop, 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side)
Subway: F, J, M, Z to Delancey Street-Essex Street; B, D, Q to Grand Street
8:00 PM Doors Open
8:30 PM Live Music by Emily Reo
9:00 PM Film Begins
11:30 PM After Party at Fontanas
Tickets and more info at: http://rooftopfilms.com/2011/schedule/freeloader/
(Zachary Raines | New York | World Premiere)
A special World Premiere of the new black comedy from New York based filmmaker Zachary Raines.
It’s not easy being heart-broken, down on your luck, and out on your own in New York City—particularly when you’re a Grade A jerk.
All of us know someone like Frank (Kyle Espeleta). He’s kind of clever, but a little too much of a smart ass. He’ll make you chuckle—until he aims his sarcasm at you. He’s a bright guy, but he hasn’t held down a job in a while. It’s true he’s over-qualified for the menial job you landed for him, but did he have to be so dismissive when he quit? It may seem easy to write off someone like Frank, but it’s hard to take your eyes off him as this insightful dark comedy makes you squirm awkwardly.
An establishing shot outside a Brooklyn apartment shows a graveyard, telling us it’s morning, and it’s not going to be a good one. Inside, Frank is hung over (again). He would’ve overslept work if he had a job, but he has missed his opportunity to have that relationship talk with Pearl he so desperately, drunkenly wanted to have late last night. It seems like Frank just can’t catch a break—or is it that he keeps breaking things?
When Pearl (Vassi Spanos) tenderly tries to break up with him, Frank (as usual) makes an awkward situation more difficult than it has to be: he simplifies things, spins them around, and simultaneously goes on the attack while feigning victimhood. It’s a masterful maneuver, as far as dick moves go. As uncomfortable as Frank’s faux pas are, they’re always uncomfortably funny.
Perhaps Frank’s gripes are justified, but he’s always digging in for a fight, overtly passive-aggressive, and he manages to make everyone involved feel badly. Even while living off the gifts of others, Frank makes sure to his best friend Bud (John Siciliani), his ex-girlfriend Pearl, and anyone else he encounters won’t be happy with or without him. At last, while shacking up with overly-eager Ray (“with the pedophile smile”), it appears that Frank might be recognizing something about himself, coming out of his bitter shell. Frank goes to Ray’s (Jesse Wakeman) comedy show—a blinding bomb of a performance that serves as the metaphoric epicenter of the movie—and for the first time Frank earnestly tries to project empathy. It’s almost tragic how badly that comes off. This is, after all, a dude who’s even sarcastic to the sea.
Writer-Director-Editor Zachary Raines delicately draws sharp and nuanced performances out of the entire cast, and cuts the naturalistic dialogue crisply, keeping each scene light and funny, even when the subtext sinks further and further into negativity. Freeloader is on some level a fantastic farce, set in a New York City neo-realism that satirizes some of our society’s delightfully nasty tendencies.
STREAM THE NEW WILDERNESS OF MANITOBA RECORD
The Wilderness of Manitoba’s U.S. debut When You Left The Fire is streaming in full below. Give a listen:
NEW! IRON & WINE, MOGWAI GIGPOSTERS AND LOST HIGHWAY ART PRINT FROM DOE-EYED
Eric Nyffeler has some sick new prints available at doe-eyed posters. Two gigposters for Iron & Wine and Mogwai, as well as a really sweet Lost Highway art print for a David Lynch show at the Phone Booth Gallery. Check out some of his work below or stop by his web shop and pick up a print.
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Author Info
"you have punk rock, you have rock, you have blues, you have soul, it’s all disco.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUOsztgBE-I
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