Going. For People Who Love to Go Out.
Rooftop Films: Surreal Sounds and Shorts (Event Over)
- When:Fri 6/27/08 (8PM)
- Where: Open Road Rooftop
- Address: 350 Grand Street @ Essex in Manhattan New York, NY Map
- Cost: $9
Editors' Take
The surreal spirit of Dali and company is alive and well in the 21st century--just witness this collection of thematically quirky, offbeat and just plain weird short films. Later, hit up the open bar after party to talk about what it all meant.
Tickets for this Event
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General Admission - $9.00
No refunds. In the event of rain, show will be held indoors at the same location. There is food for sale on the roof and all purchases go to benefit New Design high School to help save their arts programs. Seating is first come, first served. Physical seats are limited. This means you may not get a chair. You are welcome to bring a blanket and picnic. Food is allowed, however absolutely NO ALCOHOL is allowed on the premises.
In the event of rain the show will be held indoors at the same location
8:00PM: Doors open
8:30PM: Live music by Bruce Levingston
9:00PM: Films
11:30PM - 1:00AM: After Party: Open Bar at Fontana’s (105 Eldridge St @ Grand) Courtesy of Radeberger beer
Tickets: $9
Presented in partnership with: Premiere Commission, IFC.com, New York magazine, Open Road New York & New Design High School
Rooftop Films, and Premiere Commission present
Surreal Sounds and Shorts
Unexpected juxtapositions and surreal short films, preceded by a performance by pianist Bruce Levingston and the world premiere of a score for piano inspired by short films from MoMA's Dali: Painting and Film exhibition.
Rooftop Films and Premiere Commission present an extraordinary night of short films and live music inspired by the life and art of Salvador Dali. The evening begins with a live performance by the acclaimed concert pianist Bruce Levingston, who will be playing swirling and ethereal works by Erik Satie and Philip Glass. Mr. Levingston will conclude his set with the world premiere of a new score by Keeril Makan for the screening “Dali: Home Movie, 1954,” and "Menjant garotes", two short films from Dali: Painting and Film, an upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. This will be followed by a new composition by the composer that will accompany a screening of excerpts from Red Bucket Films' "Buttons."
Following Mr. Levingston’s performance, Rooftop Films will present a program of new surreal short films. These short films show how the juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated concepts and other mechanisms of surrealism are still in use in the works of many of todays short filmmakers.
Film and Music Program
Menjant garotes (Eating Sea Urchins) (Luis Bunuel | 1930 | Spain | 4:00)
While on location in Cadaqués to shoot scenes for L'Age d'or (1930), Buñuel made this home movie featuring Dalí's estranged father and stepmother in an intimate moment: dining alfresco on sea urchins, a local delicacy. The iconographic sea urchin also appears in Un Chien andalou (1929), as well as in Dalí's paintings of the late 1920s. Print courtesy Filmoteca de Catalunya-ICIC.
Dali: Home Movie, 1954 (Alma De Luce | 1954 | Spain | 1:47)
Color home movie footage shot by Alma De Luce in July 1954 at the
Port Lligat, Spain home of Salvador Dalí. Dalí clowns
around with a wooden pitchfork, mimicking the actions of his much
beloved silent film comedians Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
Buttons (Excerpts) (Josh Safdie, Alex Kalman, Benny Safdie| 2008 | New York)
Josh, Benny and Alex roam the world with video cameras in hand,
capturing loose, magical moments. They collect these instances like
they are little buttons, so that is what they call them. Red
Bucket's first feature film, The Pleasure of Being Robbed was
selected for the 2008 Cannes Directors Fortnight.
The pianist:
Pianist Bruce Levingston is one of today's leading figures in contemporary music. Many of the country's most important composers have written works for him including Philip Glass. The New Yorker describes him as "elegant and engaging", "a poetic pianist who has a gift for inventive - and glamorous - programming". Mr. Levingston is also Artistic Director of the Premiere Commission and has sat on the board of Rooftop Films since 2006.
The composer:
Winner of the 2008 Rome Prize, Keeril Makan writes music that challenges description and thwarts assumptions about what is beautiful.
Short Film Program:
The Mark (Thomas Barndt | Cleveland | 4:00)
A lawyer rents a room to a human lightning bolt, and soon he has chicken all over his face. The trial begins, and the prosecutor is talking lethal injection.
Mompelaar (The Mumbler) (Marc Roels and Wim Reygaert | Belgium | 20:00)
A lonely man with a manly mother wanders into the woods and discovers that some terrible force is decapitating nature enthusiasts.
I Hate You Don’t Touch Me or Bat and Hat (Becky James | New York | 5:00)
A lonely bat loses his hat and mutilates himself to harvest the material to sew a new one.
Compost (Visual Voice | 2:30)
Creamy Krimi (Isabelle Prim | France | 10:22)
Using brilliant and elliptical visual rhymes, startling audio cues, and seemingly disassociated images, Isabelle Prim creates a sense of dread and paranoia, yet also a propulsive energy and a sense of perpetual anticipation.
Emerge (William Lamson | New York | 2:10)
One after another, balloons mysteriously emerge from a body of water, float along the surface and then ascend to the air, tantalizing the viewer with their unpredictable pace.
A Catalogue of Anticipations (David Lowery | Austin | 5:00)
An ominous fable about a young girl and her collection of dead things.
The Morning Commute (Ben Philippi and Jonas Wollverton | Montreal | 2:45)
Cirque Du Soleil performer Jonas Woolverton rides his giant Cyr wheel through the streets of Montreal.
INTERMISSION
Veterinarian (Sige Baumane | New York/Latvia | 18:30)
A distraught veterinarian must be forgiven by the ghosts of slaughtered animals so that he can regain his confidence and save the animals of his little town.
Read My Lips (Stephanie Lampert | New York | 3:00)
A video piece that addresses the role of language as a method of communication through the anthropomorphization of the common goldfish.
The Drift (Kelly Sears | Glendale, CA | 8:25)
An absurd fable crafted from images found in thrift store bookshelves about our country's unflinching frontierism and the desire to push too far, too fast.
Madame Tutli-Putli (Chris Lavis and Maciek Szcerbowski | 17:00)
Madame Tutli-Putli boards the night train and finds herself caught up in a desperate metaphysical adventure adrift between real and imagined worlds.
Talk