Rupert Murray’s The End of the Line explores the devastating impact of overfishing on our oceans. Based on a book by journalist Charles Clover, the chilling documentary proposes that without the appropriate action, we may see the end of seafood by the year 2048. Flavorpill spoke with Murray about the impact of Clover’s work, public responsibility, and what he hopes audiences will learn from his film. New Yorkers Note: The End of the Line will be screening at Rooftop Films on Governor’s Island on September 4th at 8 p.m. Read More »

Alejandro Adams is a film critic and director. Canary, his second feature film following 2008’s Around the Bay, is a futuristic satire that portrays a world in which organ harvesting has become a mainstream, commercial industry. It pushes boundaries in form and content, leaving the audience contemplating not just the future of the industrialized world, but the present. Note: Rooftop Films is screening Canary tonight at the Old American Can Factory.

Flavorpill: Tell us about your film:

Alejandro Adams: Canary is a sci-fi thriller about organ trafficking. It’s everything you’d expect a sci-fi thriller to be, except that I couldn’t afford Nicolas Cage. Read More »

Michael Paul Stephenson had his acting debut at the tender age of ten, when he was cast as the child star of the 1990 cinematic train wreck known as Troll 2. Years later, Troll 2 has become an underground, cult phenomenon acknowledged by most as “the worst movie ever made.” Stephenson, who is now a director, writer, and producer, decided to explore the unexpected popularity of Troll 2 in his first feature-length documentary, Best Worst Movie.

Note: Rooftop Films is screening Troll 2 tonight and Best Worst Movie tomorrow evening. You can buy a combo ticket that will get you admission to both films. Read More »

Still from Stay the Same Never Change

Laurel Nakadate is an American filmmaker, video artist, and photographer based in New York City; she was born in 1975 in Austin, Texas, and spent her childhood in Ames, Iowa. In 2005, Nakadate’s Love Hotel and Other Stories received critical acclaim and Jerry Saltz dubbed her a standout at a P.S.1 group show that same year. She has since been exhibited at the Mary Boone Gallery and the Asia Society in New York, the Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, and the Reina Sofia in Madrid. Stay the Same Never Change — a nonlinear yarn about young women set in the heartland — is her first feature film. It plays Rooftop Films Summer Series this Saturday night at 8 p.m. Read More »

Opening today, the Chelsea Museum presents what has to be one of the timeliest exhibitions in its history: Iran Inside Out. Hit the museum’s roof deck tomorrow night for Iranian indie rock by Tehran-based Hypernova. Special programming continues throughout the summer, including collabs with Rooftop Films, ArteEast, and the Cedar Lake Ballet. Flavorpill is a proud media partner of this event; click here for more details.

Image credit: Pooneh Maghazehe, Hell’s Puerto Rico Performance Still, Digital C-print 2008 copyright artist and courtesy Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery

Acclaimed for his short films, Austin-based emerging filmmaker Ben Steinbauer is currently touring the festival circuit with his first feature Winnebago Man, a documentary that seeks to get to the heart of Jack Rebney, the most famous man you’ve never heard of thanks to YouTube and a series of hilarious Winnebago sales video outtakes. A “sneak preview” of the film — which morphs into a character study of a man who feels himself pitted against his own ironic celebrity — screens as part of The Rooftop Films Summer Series tomorrow night. To help spark your interest Rooftop’s Music and Outreach Manager Danielle Kourtesis sat down with Steinbauer to find out what we can expect other than swear words. Read More »

The New York Underground Film Festival went six feet under in 2008, concluding a fifteen year run. In part, the festival chose to close because the programmers thought the idea of “underground” cinema wasn’t relevant to what they wanted to do, and they were looking to re-brand. Perhaps the need and appeal of the underground is played out, what with luxury condos surrounding the festival’s home at Anthology Film Archives, other “underground” film festivals coming and going around the world, and the rise of online video that allows any amateur or avant-gardist to be seen by millions. (NYUFF smartly embraced YouTube in its infancy with a round-robin slam called “Tube Time” and, before that, “Google Me This”). Read More »

After wading through 39 comments from you guys naming newish bands who we should check out, the music fiends at Flavorpill HQ have done some careful listening and we’ve picked out a lucky winner. Not only will you score a pair of season passes to Rooftop Film’s upcoming Summer Series, you’ll also be able to brag to your friends that you’ve got amazing taste. So with no further ado, Alyssa, come on down and collect your prize for turning us on to *Like Bells. Actually, not really; we’ll drop you an email now with the deets on collecting your spoils. Thanks to everyone for playing and we hope to see you at a Rooftop event this summer!

* If you live in NYC this Ohio-based band is playing The Delancey on May 29; check ‘em out.

Last month, Earplug’s Michael Byrne hit massive music industry gathering (and unofficial weenie roast) SXSW alongside photographer Josh Sisk, wading through the thousands of bands and lapping up all the backyard BBQ he could eat. What’d he take away? Austin’s premiere event isn’t going anywhere. Read More »

In her final post from SXSW 2009 (no we promise — no more until next year) Danielle Kourtesis, the Music and Outreach Manager for Rooftop Films reveals a few of the bands that have dominated her iPod since she got back from Austin. She’s also offering one lucky Flavorwire reader a pair of passes for Rooftop Film’s upcoming Summer Series. Read More »