OCTOBER 17-21, 2019

▱ REMEMBRANCES
We lost a number of great filmmakers in the last year. Sown throughout this year’s festival are shorts from some of our favorite late moving-image heroes. We will not forget their legacy of images in power.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17

7:00 PM
SNOWBLINK CONCERT Los Angeles based musician, Snowblink, will open the festival and grace our cinema with her enchanted vocals and pop hooks. Don’t miss this intimate event with a singular performer.

CHASSÉ
Michella Bredahl - 2019, 31’
Chassé is a picturesque look on a group of women and their experiences with neglect and love. The film uses the form of a diary to depict their inner and most intimate thoughts on childhood and hope. The dance is their sanctuary - they use it to arm themselves against the reality they live in. The young women long for love, but the dark side in which destructiveness can feel like a cleansing, threatens. When love has always been accompanied by neglect, how does one learn to love? The Spanish narrator, who knows both sides, guides us through the darkness. Produced by Pernille Tornøe and National Film School of Denmark.

North American Premiere. Filmmaker in person.



8:00PM
SHORTS 1: TRANSIT╱IONAL NEW YORK
These shorts capture modes, moments, and motions of transition in NYC.

WILLIAMSBURG ▱ Jonas Mekas - 2002, 11’
BERLIN / NEW YORK Jack Waters - 1984-86, 14’
INTERIOR N.Y. SUBWAY, 14TH ST. TO 42ND ST. G.W. Bitzer - 1905, 6’
DAYBREAK EXPRESS ▱ D.A. Pennebaker - 1953-57, 5’
NY, NY: A DAY IN NEW YORK Francis Thompson - 1957, 15’
GO GO GO Marie Menken - 1964, 12’

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18

7:30 PM
BLOW THE MAN DOWN
Bridget Savage Cole & Danielle Krudy - 2019, 90’
The Connolly Sisters (Sophie Lowe and Morgan Saylor) are in mourning, but between a dead stranger in the ocean, a missing murder weapon, and the increasingly shady behavior of their recently deceased mom’s friends, they’ve barely had a chance to register their loss. The audacious debut feature from co-directors and screenwriters Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy blends elements of thriller and the darkest of comedies to present something wholly entertaining and wickedly original. Don’t miss this festival favorite, recently acquired by Amazon Studios.

Post-screening Q&A with film composer, Brian McOmber.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19

11:00 AM
LOVER’S WIND (BAADEH SABAH)
Albert Lamorisse - 1978, 71’ The wind that blows across Iran’s deserts, mountains, old settlements and new cities has a name: Baadeh Sabah. Sometimes he blows alone, sometimes with other winds, and other times he quarrels with his brother, the mischievous Baadeh Div. Baadeh Sabah is the poetic narrator in this extraordinary ode to Iran, which is mostly made up of aerial footage akin to the perspective of the wind itself. Director Albert Lamorisse (The Red Balloon and inventor of the game Risk) died in a helicopter accident while finishing production. Lamorisse’s wife and son completed the film, which received an Oscar nomination shortly before the Iranian Revolution.
Presented by Sean Price Williams.

☆ FREE SCREENING!




1:00 PM
SHORTS 2: REGULAR OLD GOOFY SHREDDIN’ (TAKE TWO!)
Matt Lily presents another rare VHS skate film from his secret, internet-free, vault. Check out vintage Rockaway beach surf footage and fresh footage from the shores of Rockaway Beach and Puerto Rico from Shane Murphy.




3:00 PM
ONE MINUTE FOR ONE IMAGE
▱ Agnes Varda - 1983, 26’
Une image c’est ça et le reste // A photo is that and everything else.
Agnes Varda considers her favorite photographs in this experimental TV series.

TITIXE
Tania Hernández Velasco - 2018, 62’
A mourning tree, dancing sprouts, ghosts, stories and forgotten seeds. This is a Mexican family’s very last attempt to cultivate their land.
New York Premiere. 



5:30 PM
SHORTS 3: TALK TO ME HOW Where do you start when you stand on opposite sides? Centering conversations both private and public, the films in “Talk to me how” foreground the personal, touching on the fraught dynamics of family, masculinity, and various generational and ideological divides. Organized by Dessane Lopez Cassell.

7-7-94 FOR MY BABE Paige Taul - 2018, 4’
THE PROMISE Paige Taul - 2018, 6’
LYNDALE Oli Rodriguez & Victoria Stob - 2018, 24’
CIVIL WAR SURVEILLANCE POEMS, PT. 1 Mitch McCabe - 2019, 15’

Post screening Q&A with Mitch McCabe, moderated by Dessane Lopez Cassell.




7:30 PM
JEZEBEL
Numa Perrier - 2019, 88’
In a cramped Las Vegas apartment, 19 year old Tiffany struggles to find her place. She enters a world of internet fetish cam girls in order to survive after her mother’s death. An unflinching and authentic portrait of poverty, womanhood, and blackness, JEZEBEL raises questions about agency and exploitation. Numa Perrier stars in this semi-autobiographical directorial debut.

New York Premiere in collaboration with MYUZ. Organized by Dessane Lopez Cassell. Filmmaker in person.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20

11:00 AM
A SILENT VOICE
Naoko Yamada - 2016, 130’
After transferring to a new school, Shoko Nishimiya, a deaf girl, navigates her changing friend group. Richly animated, this coming-of-age story delves into social issues like bullying and disability. Masters of Anime, Kyoto Animation stands out as one of the most progressive animation studios in the world. In an industry that notoriously favors men, Kyo-Ani is known for prioritizing women. They protect their workers by offering salaries, rather than the common freelance fees of studio animators. This July, Kyoto Animation was victim of a terrible arson attack, one of the worst in recent Japanese history. We dedicate this screening to the victims.
*this film acknowledges the existence of suicide




1:30 PM
EMBODYING URBAN COASTAL KNOWLEDGE MANAGED RETREAT
Nathan Kensinger - 2018, 18’
A portrait of three NYC neighborhoods that were purchased by the New York State government in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, to be demolished and returned to nature as part of the city’s first ‘managed retreat’ from rising sea levels.
Filmmaker in person.
AS IF SAND WERE STONE
Ben Mendelsohn - 2019, 35’
An essay documentary examining the making and remaking of urban waterfronts in New York City. Narrated by landscape architect Gena Wirth, the film analyzes underwater dredging as a key infrastructural process in the production of urban space. The film combines observational footage of New York’s massive harbor deepening project with a series of self-reflexive research spirals that take place within the director's imagined computer desktop. As a result, the project not only explores the making of urban coastal landscapes, but also how these sedimentary landscapes are entangled with digitally mediated spaces of discourse and image.
World Premiere. Filmmaker in person.
WATER AND POWER
Pat O’Neill - 1989, 57’
This 1989 masterpiece by Pat O’Neill is a moving meditation on industrialization, focusing on the dystopic desert created by Los Angeles’s vast water consumption.




4:30 PM
SHORTS 4: FEMALE BODIES & BRIDGES Portraits of/from Barbara Hammer and Carolee Schneemann — legendary amplifiers of the female voice in the NYC avant-garde scene. Presented by MM Serra, in collaboration with the Film-Makers’ Cooperative, to benefit the preservation of films made by women.
AUGUST 10, 2010 MM Serra - 2019, 4’
BARBARA HAMMER LENDS A HAND Leighton Pierce - 2012, 1’
TRIP TO CAROLEE Coleen Fitzgibbon - 1973/2011, 5’
CAROLEE, BARBARA AND GUNVOR Lynne Sachs - 2018, 9’
SPLIT DECISION Bill Brand - 1979, 15’
DYKETACTICS ▱ Barbara Hammer - 1974, 4’
MEAT JOY ▱ Carolee Schneemann - 1964, 10’

Q&A with MM Serra and Lynne Sachs following screening.




6:00 PM
SHORTS 5: ANIMATED FICTIONSFlesh and costumes. Light and line. Conflict and cultivation. This program of contemporary and retrospective independent animation ponders: what makes an image, what forms an identity?
Organized by Caitlin Craggs.
GIRL FIGHT Lauren Gregory - 2017, 6’ on loop before program
TRAVELING LIGHT ▱ Jane Aaron - 1985, 2’
LO - Ted Wiggin 2017, 3’
THE MISSING PIG Cecilia Corzo - 2018, 4’
WINNERS BITCH Sam Gurry - 2018, 7’
GUIDANCE David Delafuente - 2018, 4’
WINDOWS Ingo Raschak - 2017, 1’
AGUA VIVA Alexa Lim Haas - 2018, 7’
A POEM PLAY Nancy Kangas and Josh Kun - 2018, 1’
VOCABULARY Becky James - 2016, 4’
MOM’S CLOTHES Jordan Wong - 2018, 5’
BULLETS Nancy Kangas and Josh Kun - 2018, 1’
HEDGE Amanda Bonaiuto - 2018, 6’
Q James Bascara - 2016, 4’
ASPARAGUS ▱ Suzan Pitt - 1979, 18’

*Some adult themes. Lauren Gregory, Ted Wiggin, Ingo Raschka + Skip Blumberg in person.



8:00 PM
INITIALS S.G.
Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia - 2019, 93’
An aging, Argentine, Serge Gainsbourg wannabe struggles to deal with a career he can’t seem to get on track, an affair he doesn’t want, and a crime he didn’t mean to commit. Starring one of Argentina’s favorite actors, Daniel Fanego alongside the brilliant Julianne Nicholson, in a hilarious and beautifully crafted film you won’t forget. An award winning favorite from this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Filmmakers in person.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21

6:00 PM
GREETINGS FROM FREE FORESTS
Ian Soroka - 2018, 98’
Underground resistance is made literal in Ian Soroka’s debut feature, which excavates the buried histories of the Partisan Liberation Front, who resisted the Fascist occupation of Yugoslavia during World War II. Through rich landscape cinematography, haunted archival images, and the vivid testimonials of local hunters, foresters, tour guides, and historians, the film traces the hidden historical currents beneath Southern Slovenia’s verdant terrain, exploring cave hideouts, quarries, archaeological sites, unmarked graves, and even a subterranean bunker that became a film archive. Winner of DocLisboa’s Grand Prix.



8:00 PM
MIDNIGHT FAMILY
Luke Lorentzen - 2019, 90’
One of this year’s most thrilling documentaries that pushes the genre of verite filmmaking to new frontiers. Set in Mexico City’s wealthiest neighborhoods, the Ochoa family runs a private ambulance, competing with other for-profit EMTs for patients in need of urgent help. As the Ochoas try to make a living in this fraught industry, they struggle to keep their dire finances from compromising the people in their care.



In a special collaboration with Riis Park Beach Bazaar, Rockaway Film Festival presents a program of favorite fantastic worlds. Our heroes embark on noble quests, enter magic realms, and return irrevocably changed in tales of boundless imagination. Visually spectacular, technically singular, these emblems of adventure are treasured by moviegoers of all ages.

JUNE 8, 2019

SUNSET
THE PRINCESS BRIDE
Rob Reiner - 1987, 98”
A story within a story, a dream within a dream, Rob Reiner's 1987 fantasy THE PRINCESS BRIDE is a deliciously self-aware modern classic awash in swashbuckling duels, protracted battles of wits, improbable plot twists, and compulsively quotable dialogue. A deservedly beloved film and a delightfully clever commentary on the perennial power of storytelling to capture the imagination.

JULY 13, 2019

SUNSET
THE DARK CRYSTAL
Jim Henson and Frank Oz - 1982, 93”

On the faraway planet of Thra, the balance has been disrupted. Muppet masters Jim Henson and Frank Oz's THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982) is an epic fusion of ornate puppetry, analog animatronics and grim fairy tale. In this cult classic, Jen, the determined orphan, must find a magic crystal shard to restore harmony between the gentle Gelflings and the sinister Skeksis.

Live music performance by HIGHLIFE (Sleepy Doug Shaw) before the show, at 7:30pm.
Film presented by Museum of the Moving Image Executive Director, Carl Goodman, in person.

AUGUST 10, 2019

SUNSET
SPIRITED AWAY
Hayao Miyazaki - 2001, 125” A dazzling masterpiece of animation, Hayao Miyazaki's Academy Award winning SPIRITED AWAY (2001) tells the story of ten-year-old Chihiro, who is separated from her parents at an abandoned amusement park and enters a spirit world. Chihiro confronts witches, gods, and shape-shifters in a dangerous journey full of Japanese mythology, and must use her cunning and courage to find her way back to her family.

This is an outdoor beach screening — bring your towels, blankets, beach chairs, and good vibes! The show starts at sundown.
Suggested admission is $10.

Easily accessible by car, bus & ferry. Parking is free after 6pm. More info about getting there HERE.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 19, 2019

323 74th Street, 11692
Suggested Donation: $10

5:00 PM
MINDING THE GAP
Bing Liu - 2018, 93”
One of 2018’s most beloved documentaries and Sundance Special Jury Award winner. Three young men bond together to escape volatile families in their Rust-Belt hometown. As they face adult responsibilities, unexpected revelations threaten their decade-long friendship.

7:00 PM
*this program contains nudity
LABIAL QUINTET
Courtney Stephens - 2015, 11”
Created specifically for the 2015 Cunt Art event at Veggie Cloud in Los Angeles, Labial Quintet was prompted by a claim made by a waxing aesthetician that there are five distinct varieties of labia shape. Browsing pornography, a live waxing session, surgical footage, and other visual “evidence,” the film explores the veracity of this claim, and what it means to typologize a body part. 
+
A POEM IS A NAKED PERSON
Les Blank - 1974/2015, 93”
An ineffable mix of unbridled joy and vérité realism, A Poem Is a Naked Person presents the beloved singer-songwriter and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Leon Russell as filmed by documentarian Les Blank between 1972 and 1974. Blank’s camera lets us into the world of Russell and his friends and fellow artists in and around his recording studio in northeast Oklahoma, capturing intimate, off-the-cuff moments and combining them with mesmerizing scenes of Russell and his band performing live. This singular film about an artist and his community never got an official theatrical release and has attained legendary status. 

9:30PM
AFTER PARTY @ ROCKAWAY BREWING COMPANY
Music by The Skells + honky tonk Americana from DJ Mighty Redeemer.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19