We (Shooting People) have gotten together with Rooftop Films, Cinereach and IndiePix to bring you some really great filmmaking panels before the screening of Persona Non Grata at Rooftop Films this Saturday, June 13th. This is part of the Rooftop Films 4-day Panorama Weekend which runs from Wednesday to Saturday this week with fantastic films screening each night: www.rooftopfilms.com

Panel Schedule:

5:00-6:00pm

Message vs. Craft: The Art of Effective “Issue” Storytelling

When a filmmaker takes on a topic related to social justice or human rights it is often with the hope of influencing public opinion and inspiring action. To achieve that, a film must reach and engage the right audience, in the right numbers. It must also portray the human impact of the issue or problem persuasively. How does a “social issue” filmmaker balance the need to educate with the public’s desire to be entertained? How does he/she move past preaching to the choir and make a film that can become a catalyst for real change? This panel will provide advice on the above from documentary and fiction filmmakers including Justin Schein (No Impact Man), Fabio Wuytack (Persona Non Grata) and Paola Mendoza (Entre Nos), whose work successfully walks the issue/entertainment line. Leah Sapin of Arts Engine (which specializes in production and outreach for socially relevant films), and New York magazine film critic Bilge Ebiri will join the discussion, to be moderated by Lina Srivastava.

Panelists include: Lina Srivastava (consultant to non profit media companies working for social change) – moderator   Justin Schein (Co-director of No Impact Man) Fabio Wuytack (Director of Persona Non Grata) Bilge Ebiri  (film critic from New York magazine) Leah Sapin (Arts Engine) Paola Mendoza (Director of Entre Nos)

6:30-7:30pm

Filmmaking Strategy: Tips, Tools and Wisdom to Help You Make the Right Decisions For Your Film

Filmmakers have to be both artists and strategists to get their films made and seen and this is the case now more than ever as changes in funding and distribution force filmmakers to shoulder more of the crucial decisions on their own. This panel will help you learn how to be the best advocate for your film by asking all the tough questions that you will have to ask along the way. For example: How much work (and what work) do you need to achieve on your own before approaching a funder? And how can you tailor your pitch to communicate your vision to a foundation vs. an equity investor? What other funding options are there? How do you balance traditional outreach to festivals, sales agents, broadcasters, and distributors with the need to also create your own fan base? Which distribution deals do you accept? How do know when a deal is a good deal? How do you hope for the best but plan for the worst?

Panelists include: Adella Ladjevardi (Cinereach) Janet Brown (Cinetic) Liz Ogilvie (B-Side) Tia Lessin (Co-Director of Trouble the Water) Andy Bichlbaum (Co-Director of The Yes Men Fix The World) Simon Kilmurry (P.O.V.)

EVENT DETAILS:

Date: Saturday, June 13, 2009

Venue: On the roof of the Old American Can Factory Address: 232 3rd St. @ 3rd Ave. (Gowanus/ Park Slope, Brooklyn) Directions: F/G to Carroll St. or M/R to Union Ave.

Rain: In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location

5:00PM: Panel discussion: “Message vs. Craft,” outside in courtyard

6:30PM: Panel discussion: “Filmmaking Strategy,” outside in courtyard

7:30PM – 9:00PM: Reception in courtyard including free sangria courtesy of Carlo Rossi

8:30PM: Live music presented by Sound Fix Records

9:00PM: Film

The film is the US premiere of Persona Non Grata, directed by Fabio Wuytack. Prosecuted as a rebel. Banned as a priest. Committed as an artist. Loved as a father. An inspiring documentary—co-funded by the Rooftop Filmmaker Fund—about the filmmaker’s father, Franz Wuytack, a radical left-wing Belgian missionary in the slums of Venezuela in the 1960s. With a new liberal movement sweeping Latin America, and people like Wuytack needing to continue the fight for social justice in the US and around the world, this film is crucially relevant today.

It’s going to be a wonderful night! Get tickets at www.rooftopfilms.com

I’m knee-deep in accounts (such fun!) but wanted to mention this free Rooftop Films screening of David Modigliani’s Crawford in Chelsea Market tonight, Monday January 12th. Live music at 7pm (Matteah Baim), film starts at 7.30pm. Free beer! It’s a special screening to say farewell to Bush – now that’s something I can drink to!

Rooftop Films are doing a bunch of great screenings this week. Here’s the info:

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Tuesday, Sept. 16th, 2008
Rooftop and IFP Independent Film Week present
Trinidad
FREE SHOW, FREE OPEN BAR!
40 years ago, Dr. Stanley Biber transformed a sleepy mining town in Colorado into The Sex Change Capital of The World.
Venue: Along the water at Solar One
Address: East 23rd Street and the East River in Manhattan
Directions: 6 Train to 23rd street and walk East to the river. MAP
8:00: Doors Open
8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by FRANCES
9:00 PM: Films
10:30 PM: FREE Open bar with complimentary beer courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner
*Admission: FREE

Wednesday, Sept. 17th, 2008
Rooftop, IFP and Indie GoGo present
Selections from the IFP Narrative and Documentary Labs
FREE SHOW, FREE OPEN BAR!
A sneak peek at trailers and scenes from independent narrative and documentary films that will be next year’s hot festival and indie releases. Presented in partnership with IFP and Indie GoGo
Venue: Along the water at Solar One
Address: East 23rd Street and the East River in Manhattan
Directions: 6 Train to 23rd street and walk East to the river. MAP
8:00: Doors Open
8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Action Painters
9:00 PM: Films
10:30 PM: FREE Open bar with complimentary beer courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner
*Admission: FREE

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Thursday, Sept. 18th, 2008
Rooftop Films and True/False present
October Country
Buy Tickets
A beautifully filmed portrait of an American family struggling for stability while haunted by the ghosts of war, teen pregnancy, foster care and child abuse.
Venue: on the roof of the Open Road Rooftop
Address: 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side)
Directions: F/J/M/Z to Essex / Delancey
8:00: Doors Open
8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music by Phosphorescent
9:00 PM: Films
11:30 PM: Open bar at Fontana’s with complimentary beer courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner
*Tickets: $9 on Going.com

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Friday, Sept. 19th, 2008
Rooftop and IFC Films Present
The Pleasure of Being Robbed
Buy Tickets
A curious and lost Eleonore looks for something everywhere, even in the bags of strangers who find themselves sadly smiling only after she’s left their lives.
Venue: on the roof of the Open Road Rooftop
Address: 350 Grand Street @ Essex (Lower East Side)
Directions: F/J/M/Z to Essex / Delancey
8:00: Doors Open
8:30PM: Sound Fix presents live music.
9:00 PM: Films
11:30 PM: Open bar at Fontana’s with complimentary beer courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner

*Tickets: $9 on Going.com

Rooftop Films are a good reason to stay in hot, sticky NYC during the Summer months. They curate some incredible film programs (both shorts and features), coupled with great music and beautiful outdoor locations. They are also developing grant programs to help the independent film community that they are part of. Their latest grant is an Equipment Grant provided through a partnership with Eastern Effects. Filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung has been awarded a two-ton lighting and grip package for 30 days to be used on his next film Lucky Life. You can see his critically-acclaimed debut feature, Munyurangabo, at The Old American Can Factory on Saturday. Congrats to all involved!

Still from Lee Isaac Chung’s Munyrangabo, playing at Rooftop Films this Saturday.

We had a fantastic evening of panels at Rooftop Films on Saturday night – and the rain was no match for the incredible folk at Rooftop Films and their magical Brooklyn Can Factory! My favorite quote from the evening has to be this from Esther Robinson during the Cinema and Social Justice panel: “Make your life good, don’t get in a lot of debt and do something meaningful.” Amen Sister!

Photo: Copyright Sarah Palmer 2008
Cinema and Social Justice: Simon Kilmurry (P.O.V.), Ryan Harrington (Gucci Tribeca Fund), Esther Robinson (Director, A Walk Into The Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory), Katy Chevigny (Arts Engine and Director, Election Day) and moderator Danielle DiGiacomo (IndiePix)

Photo: Copyright Sarah Palmer 2008
The Art of Short Film: Casimir Nozkowski, Signe Baumane, Benh Zeitlin, Duana Butler and moderator Mark Rosenberg (Rooftop Films)

Photo: Copyright Sarah Palmer 2008
The rain didn’t stop us!

I went to see Captured (Ben Solomon, Dan Levin and Jenner Furst) at Rooftop Films last night – on the Open Road Rooftop in the Lower East Side. It was an incredible night – feeling so plugged into the neighborhood, looking out over the ever changing skyline, and watching a film about a man, Clayton Patterson, who has tirelessly documented the LES for 30 years. Clayton’s photographs and videos tell a fascinating story of a neighborhood in constant flux – from the drugs and graffiti, the homeless and the squatters, the Puerto Ricans and old-time Jews, to the drag queens at the Pyramid Club and the hardcore boys who watched over them, and on to the encroaching gentrification of the late 80s and 90s. The film peaks in 1988 with the Tompkins Square Riots when the fight against gentrification was fought in the streets in pitch battles with police. The deal is sealed with the closing of CBGBs, celebrated and mourned with a final Bad Brains show, Clayton snapping away in the front row as he is moshed from all sides. Clayton was always there, constantly getting arrested and beaten up, working in tandem with his quietly powerful wife, losing teeth to tell the story of the neighborhood he loved and the people who lived there.

Still from Clayton’s footage of the 1988 Tompkins Square Riots.

The roof of the Open Road Rooftop has some amazing graffiti murals and sitting up there with Clayton in his signature embroidered cap, snapping photos of the audience (gentrifiers though we may be!), felt electric. A.R.E. Weapons provided much of the music for the film and they played a great set before it started, including my cheesy favorite Don’t Be Scared. If you live in NYC, or any city for that matter, and you care about what happens to communities and local histories you should see this film (and if you’re one of those people who keep moving into the horrible new chrome and glass buildings in my neighborhood you should definitely see this film!)

A.R.E. Weapons performing before the Rooftop Films screening of Captured with some of Clayton’s photographs projected behind them.

Summer is here which means that Rooftop Films are back on Friday, June 6th with This Is What We Mean By Short Films. This is very good news indeed for fans of film, lovers of New York City, and appreciators of fine rooftops.  I am always happy to sit outside under the stars and watch beautifully curated shorts and features so I was pleased as punch to get involved with the Rooftop Films Panorama which is happening next week, June 12-14. On Saturday, June 14th Rooftop Films, Shooting People and IndiePix will be presenting two panels before the Industriance shorts program at The Old American Can Factory: Cinema and Social Justice and The Art of the Short Film. Panelists include Ryan Harrington (Gucci Tribeca Fund), Simon Kilmurry (P.O.V.), Esther Robinson (Director, A Walk Into the Sea: The Danny Williams Story), Katy Chevigny (Arts Engine and Director, Election Day) Benh Zeitlin (Filmmaker, Glory at Sea), Duana Butler (Filmmaker, Curator of ReelNY) and Signe Baumane (animator).

It’s going to be an amazing evening of panels, music and films -  tickets are only $6 online so please come out to play.

The Shooters posse went to see DARKON at Rooftop Films last night. I’d forgotten quite how funny the film is and it was lovely to watch it on the lawn of the Automotive High School where we have done Shooting People screenings with Rooftop in the past. By the way there are only a few more Rooftop screening happening this Summer so make sure you go before the frosts set in – it’s a really great experience to sit outside in NYC and watch bands and films under the (light-polluted) stars.

Here’s Shooting People founder Cath le Couteur and NY Editor Jesse Epstein with a man in armor (I don’t know who the random guy in the background is but I’m sure he’s very nice):

New York’s Rooftop Films are partnering with IFC.com to bring you 100 short films online. The fine folk at Rooftop Films have been great champions of short films for 11 years and they curate some really interesting, bizarre, and wonderful work. Plus they’re just really lovely people who live and work in Brooklyn and create amazing outdoor summer shows involving music and film (and beer) so it’s hard not to be a fan of what they do. I have discovered a few filmmakers I really love through Rooftop (please everyone track down Jennifer Matotek’s films: Brent’s Wondrous Balls and Every Boy I’ve Fucked) and they showcased the films of Shooting People’s own Lee Kern at a brilliant summer show in 2006.

So check out the films here – there are already a few online.

The 2007 Rooftop season starts with a free show tonight in Fort Greene Park and then the official opening night is June 8th in the Lower East Side. Bring it on! Find all the details here. Tickets are only 5 bucks if you book them in advance online.

And while we’re on the subject of short films and Brooklyn, the Sundance Institute at BAM are showing a series of shorts programs tomorrow. Ticket holders can also attend a talk with Sundance Film Festival’s Director of Programming John Cooper and Senior Programmer Trevor Groth. All details here.