Explores the unique challenges facing Brooklyn Grange, a group of urban farmers who run the world’s largest commercially viable rooftop farms in one of the world’s biggest cities: New York. The film follows head farmer Ben Flanner and his team as they expand their operation from Long Island City, Queens, to a second 2.5-acre rooftop in Brooklyn. They work tirelessly to plant and harvest a viable crop in time for summer.
Young Alifa looks up at the sky and thinks about her daily life as a shepherdess in Beerato. She knows the day that will change her life forever is about to come. A poetic depiction of life in a remote village in wind-swept, drought-stricken Somaliland.
Thu 6:20 pm Varsity 2 Sat 3:20 pm Varsity 2 Sun 9:20 pm Varsity 2 Mon 6:20 pm Varsity 2
Synopsis
A Foley artist uses a surprising catalog of items to enhance sound effects in post-production. Filmed in one take, this study of a Foley artist at work becomes a fascinating exploration of cinema versus reality, until we’re not sure we trust what’s right before our eyes and ears. That the film within this film is Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation, a prophetic 1974 thriller about government eavesdropping, adds to our sense of unease.
Fri 10:10 am Ashland Street Cinema Fri 12:40 pm Ashland Street Cinema Sat 12:40 pm Ashland Street Cinema Sun 12:40 pm Ashland Street Cinema Mon 9:20 pm Varsity 2
Synopsis
Two unlikely characters — toy factory rejects — find themselves left to their own devices on the busy and dizzying streets of Belfast, Ireland. It’s new, strange, and a little daunting. As a world of oversized humans move speedily around them, they cleverly find a way to fit in. A unique mix of stop-motion animation and time-lapse photography, this film is a sweet and amusing modern-day fable.
In the middle of a muddy field, blanketed by fog, an annual Mardi Gras celebration in rural Louisiana takes place. “Rougarouing” is the Cajun term for “dangerous carousing.” Striking black and white cinematography enhanced with bold splashes of color captures folks as they don strange masks and dress like medieval carnival jesters, readying themselves to partake in the music, madness, whiskey, whips, and gumbo. [mature]
Thu 6:20 pm Varsity 2 Sat 3:20 pm Varsity 2 Sun 9:20 pm Varsity 2 Mon 6:20 pm Varsity 2
Synopsis
AIFF13 Rogue Award honoree Lucy Walker tells the story of actress and filmmaker Marianna Palka, whose father died from Huntington’s Disease, the debilitating illness that destroys both the mind and body. Palka bravely decides to be tested for the gene that causes Huntington’s, knowing there is no cure if she has it. The night before she gets her test results, she has an intimate and profound dinner party with her closest friends and family.
A jaded lawyer wastes an afternoon trying to figure out if a dimwitted government employee has ever used a photocopier. 100% of the dialogue in this short film comes from an actual deposition filed with the Supreme Court of Ohio.
A man struggles to condense the history of the world onto a device with limited memory before the Earth is destroyed by aliens. The product of 2,000 handmade pencil drawings, the film is comic but also touching and surreal, and leaves us pondering some big questions: What is important in life? What should be remembered?
On the verge of aging out of foster care, seventeen-year-old Mercedes Harper needs money and she needs it now. She manipulates Denver Thomas, a former high school classmate with a massive crush on her, to help her plan and execute a bank robbery.
Read an interview with Director Kevin Lacy on our blog!
