Rooftop Films in NYC

posted by Michael Zoldessy on August 1, 2007 at 7:53 am

All around New York City, Rooftop Films is projecting movies in some original locations.

Literally, in the case of Rooftop Films. Moviegoers climbed several flights of stairs, weaving their way through the Old American Can Factory, a former industrial complex near the Gowanus Canal that now houses artists' studios, to see “Crossing the Line.” Rooftop Films also shows movies on the lawn of the Automotive High School in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and in various locations around Manhattan.

Held regularly since 1997, when it began on an East Village apartment roof, and organized like a festival, Rooftop has become a destination for independent shorts, documentaries and features, the kind that might one day win honors at Sundance or Cannes. Rooftop receives 2,500 submissions annually from all over the world, said Mark Elijah Rosenberg, the co-founder and artistic director, and aims for unusual programs, like one showcasing filmmakers' home movies. Tonight it is showing shorts from an independent animation festival at Automotive High School; an afterparty with an open bar follows. Take that, Bryant Park.

You can read the full story at the New York Times.