Rooftop Films: Industriance July 2, 2010

VENUE
THE OLD AMERICAN CAN FACTORY
On the roof of The Old American Can Factory
GOWANUS/ PARK SLOPE
232 THIRD ST. AT 3RD AVE., BROOKLYN, NY 11215
F/G to Carroll St. or M/R to Union Ave.
8:00 Doors Open
8:30 Live music
9:00 Films begin
11:30 Reception in courtyard

In this striking program of short films, self-constructing buildings battle for fidelity, makers of mold-o-form plastic deer muddle their love, and Werner Herzog plays a discarded plastic bag desperately seeking the meaning of existence.

INDUSTRIANCE

Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, philosophers have railed against dehumanization, as machines replaced people in the workplace and technology came to dominate our daily lives. Giant factories churned out poisonous products while chewing up and spitting out replaceable workers. Urban landscapes became increasingly alienating as automobiles and skyscrapers secluded and dwarfed individuals. But who would've thought that we'd move so quickly to a post-industrial world dominated by virtual products and cyber-realities? A world with no use for the physical objects of the recent past, and no place for the makers and consumers of formerly quaint and useful materials. We now live in age where we must sentimentalize our trash in order to save ourselves from annihilation by way of abstraction. Amidst the changing landscape in industry, architecture and manufacturing, this dynamic program of short films is about people (and objects) searching for meaning, connection and love.

-Mark Elijah Rosenberg

Presented in partnership with: IFC, New York magazine, Telegraph 21 & XO Projects
THE FILMS

TELEGRAPH 21 CONTEST WINNER (TBA | | TBD min.)
Telgraph 21 is a video magazine featuring the best documentary films and art videos from around the world. Rooftop is proud to present their Grand Prize Winning short documentary from their acclaimed contest, to be announced June 15 at telegraph21.com.

SEED (Ben Richardson | Brooklyn, NY | 12 min.)
An egg and an apple build competing broadcast towers that vie for the attention of a transistor radio. With its complex characterization and narrative of animal evolution, competition and reproduction, Seed is a beautiful and sinister stop-motion story about the struggle to survive. seed-movie.com

AANAATT (Max Hattler | United Kingdom | 4:55 min.)
A seductive world of rapidly moving brightly colored shapes sets a tone of attractive alienation. maxhattler.com

ALIQUOT LIGHT (Kazuhiro Goshima | Japan | 7 min.)
This physical recreation of 3D computer graphic simulations reminds us of the transfixing beauty of the real world and the importance of actual objects and people. goshiman.com

THE SHUTDOWN (Adam Stafford | Scotland | 10 min.)
Alan Bissett recalls the intense experience of growing up next to one of Europe's largest petrochemical plants and the harrowing experience of an explosion that temporarily deformed his father. accidental.tv

PLASTIC BAG (Ramin Bahrani | New York, NY | 18 min.)
This short film by American director Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart; Goodbye Solo) traces the epic, existential journey of a plastic bag (voiced by Werner Herzog) searching for its lost maker, the woman who took it home from the store and eventually discarded it. noruzfilms.com | futurestates.tv

MILLTOWN, MONTANA (Rainer Komers | Germany | 34 min.)
An elegiac excursion across a magnificent landscape deeply scarred by man documenting what was once the largest mining region in the United States, now contaminated by toxic substances and heavy metals, and seemingly trapped in a post-industrial phase of standstill. breathless-films.com

OUR NECK OF THE WOODS (Rob Connolly | Los Angeles, CA | 17 min.)
A lonely manufacturer of ridiculous lawn-ornaments realizes the emptiness of his life when a foreign refugee joins the workforce and unintentionally enchants him with her haunting singing, withdrawn thoughtfulness, and the very fact of her otherness. Based on the short story from "Bluebirds Used to Croon in the Choir" by Joe Meno, this darkly comic fiction film is about the misguided chances we take when forced into a life of quiet desperation. mold-o-form.com

Official Website: http://www.rooftopfilms.com/2010/schedule/21-industriance