Bring a friend, bring a blanket, and prepare yourself for an evening of independent films under the stars. Films are screened beginning at 9 pm, with ticket sales beginning at 8 pm. Admission is free for MMoCA members and $5 per screening for the general public. Limited seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis. The program relocates to the lecture hall in case of rain.
Beverages may be purchased from Fresco.
Rooftop Cinema is curated by Tom Yoshikami, doctoral candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with technical coordination provided by Mike King, associate academic curator for the UW-Madison Department of Communication Arts. Rooftop Cinema is a program of MMoCA’s Education Department. Media support for Rooftop Cinema is generously provided by the A.V. Club
Friday, August 6 • “Best Of ” Rooftop Cinema
Tunnel of Love (Helen Hill, US, 1996, 4 min., DVD)
Quite early in her life, Helen decided that “love at first sight” was not
a strong basis for a lasting relationship. She believed that the best romance was between best friends. Paul and Helen had been good
friends living in Adams House. After Harvard, they went to New Orleans. However, an “accidental romance” brought the two good
friends together in love. Elijah remained their best friend and collaborator in creative endeavors. Tunnel of Love was made to illustrate
Paul and Elijah’s song “Accidental Romance.” Helen called it a “romance activist” film, meant to give good advice about falling in love. It
also captures the carnival atmosphere that Helen remembered and loved from the South Carolina State Fair. The film features a tea
party with CalArts friends and the Photo Booth photos that Helen collected and loved.
Breakaway (Bruce Conner, US, 1966, 5 min., 16mm)
Frequently pointed to as an important precursor to the modern music
video, Breakaway uses incredible rapid-fire montage to deliver a beautifully frenzied response to Maya Deren’s motion studies. Shot
at multiple speeds (and forwards and backwards), Conner’s dance film features music by Ed Cobb, and dance and vocals by Toni Basil
(Antonia Christina Basilotta). Countless screenings include the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Walker
Art Center.
Observando El Cielo (Jeanne Liotta, US, 2007, 19 min., 16mm)
“Seven years of celestial field recordings gathered from
the chaos of the cosmos and inscribed onto 16mm film from various locations upon this turning tripod Earth. This work is neither a
metaphor nor a symbol, but is feeling towards a fact in the midst of perception, which time flows through. Natural VLF radio recordings
of the magnetosphere in action allow the universe to speak for itself. The Sublime is Now. Amor Fati!” –Jeanne Liotta. Named on
of 2007’s top 10 films by Chrissie Iles (Artforum) and Ed Halter (Village Voice). Screened at the New York Film Festival, the British
Film Institute, Rotterdam International Film Festival, the Wexner Center for the Arts, and the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Associations (UK, 1975, 7 min., 16mm)
Images from magazines and color supplements accompany a spoken text taken from Word Associations and Linguistic Theory by Herbert H Clark. By using the ambiguities inherent in the English language, Associations sets language against itself. Image and word work together/against each other to destroy/create meaning.
Powers of Ten (New Version) (Charles and Ray Eames, USA, 1977, 16mm, 8 min.)
Probably the best known of the Eames' films, Powers of Ten refines and extends the journey of its predecessor by presenting it in color and in great scientific detail.
Starting at a one meter square image of a picnic, the camera moves 10 times further away every 10 seconds, reaching to the edge of
the universe; then the journey is reversed, going 10 times closer each ten seconds, ultimately reaching the interior of an atom.
Frank Film (Frank and Caroline Mouris, USA, 1973, 16mm, 9 min.)
Esteemed as “probably the most celebrated American short,” Frank Film is a collection of 11,592 collages sequenced to illustrate the chronology of the filmmaker’s life. Spanning the years
of 1945-1973, this wildly entertaining short film goes beyond the story of one man’s existence to become a collective autobiography
of our time.
Rooftop Cinema takes place in MMoCA's rooftop sculpture garden.