Just in time for long summer evenings…
Plenty of summertime favourites have announced their full return recently after a year away – and we’re pleased to report that the latest highly-anticipated event to make a comeback is New York’s Rooftop Films.
In the lead-up to the long-running festival’s 25th anniversary, Rooftop Films is set to return for a full season of outdoor screenings. The events will take place in a range of beautiful spots around the city, including Fort Greene Park, the Old American Can Factory, Metrotech Commons and the pier at the Brooklyn Army Terminal to name just a few.
If the venues weren’t enough to entice you into attendance, the line-up most certainly will be! To celebrate their milestone anniversary and long-awaited comeback, Rooftop Films are partnering with SundanceTV, allowing them to cherry-pick the very best new releases to showcase to delighted audiences across New York City.
Highlights of the line-up include the New York premieres of the ‘jaw-dropping’ Zola (Janicza Bravo’s highly anticipated adaptation of the iconic Twitter thread), Joshua Rofe’s Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal and Greed and Sally Aitken’s Playing With Sharks. Impressively, the line-up features a world premiere, too, in the shape of ESPN’s retrospective of the Mets’ championship run in 1986, Once Upon A Time In Queens.
Some screenings are also preceded by specially-created musical performances in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center, with select events supported musically by celebrated trio New Jazz Underground. Even more excitingly, some events will see the screenings enhanced by the inclusion of filmmaker Q&As, giving viewers the chance to look into the creative process behind the work itself.
Rooftop Films’ events weren’t off the table entirely in 2020, with a limited series of drive-in events taking place over the last year. However, fans across the city have been excited to see them make a full return to business as usual, as President of Rooftop Films, Dan Nuxoll, would agree.
“Nothing replaces the experience of being seated together in a crowd, watching a film that transports us to another place and reminds us that we are very much not alone,” he said.
“As we selected the films for this year’s Summer Series, we sought out bold new works that focus the beams of light shining through the darkness, capture the celebrations that became acts of resistance, and depict the happy accidents that only come about when we gather as one.”
It certainly sounds like it’s going to be a fantastic series of events, so why not grab some friends, some snacks and head out to enjoy a Rooftop Film this summer?
More information on this season’s Rooftop Films can be found here.