Calling all cinephiles, casual moviegoers, and basically anyone looking to have some fun in New York City this summer: On May 10, Rooftop Films is kicking off their Summer Series, a May-through-August, borough-spanning outdoor film festival that brings the best in independent movies to local communities. No need for press passes, no need to RSVP, all you need is to check out the Rooftop Films site to easily purchase tickets for the flick that interests you.
If you can't make it to this Friday's opening night, titled This is What We Mean by Short Films, a presentation of shorts from around the world, at the Open Road Rooftop in the Lower East Side, don't worry. There are a lot more to catch, as the lineup year is more impressive than ever, including Sundance and SXSW favorites, respectively, Ain't Them Bodies Saints and Drinking Buddies.
And even if those mean nothing to you, each screening is its own main event. Not only do the filmmakers typically take part and engage with the audience, but the programmers also schedule a little something special to accompany the movie. To give you a taste on what we mean, this year, a slew of brass bands are scheduled to perform at the showing of Brasslands.
Before the festivities begin, we got a chance to speak to the festival's head honchos, founder and artistic director Mark Rosenberg and program director Dan Nuxoll, to get their take on the films we're most excited to see this year. Check out what they have to say about our 10 most anticipated movies at this Rooftop Films' 2013 Summer Series.
As told to Tara Aquino (@t_akino)
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10. Crystal Fairy
Director: Sebastián Silva
Stars: Michael Cera, Gaby Hoffmann, Agustín Silva
Screening Date: June 28th
Rosenberg: Crystal Fairy is a very hilarious film that really, in the end, is also deeply emotionally affecting in ways that are not easy to pinpoint. On the surface, it's a Michael Cera comedy about this awkward guy looking for drugs in America, sort of the American buffoon who goes to a foreign country and steps on a lot of people's toes. But really, when the film starts to add up and the characters become much more rich and in-depth, you realize that it's saying some very interesting things about the characters. It's not just a sort of goofy comedy, it really gets to the heart of the twentysomething quest to have adventures, and explores what that says about ourselves. That's going to be a really interesting film for the world to see because I find it a very rich and fascinating work that is very poignant as well.