Rooftop Alumni Sundance Wins and Oscar Nominations
Written by: FFT Webmaster | February 14th, 2011
Rooftop Alumni Win Awards and Praise at Sundance and Nominations from the Academy
New York, NY — The more than 200 hundred films selected to be shown at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival will go a long way towards painting the landscape of independent film in the coming year. The 201 festival was a particularly exciting one for Rooftop Films, as twenty-six Rooftop Alumni had films at Sundance. This is the highest number of Rooftop Alumni at Sundance, ever.
In addition, Sean Durkin was awarded Best Director for his film Martha Marcy May Marlene, which we helped fund through our Rooftop Films Edgeworx Filmmakers Fund Grant, a grant given to Rooftop Alumni to help them complete a new film. (More information at: www.rooftopfilms.com/2011/info/produce.)
Other Rooftop Alumni at Sundance received widespread acclaim, with Indiewire’s Eric Kohn dubbing Calvin Lee Reeder (The Oregonian) “one of the most promising young American horror directors,” and describing Todd Rohal’s Catechism Cataclysm as “enjoyably irreverent.”
In addition to the praise and Mr. Durkin’s win, this week three 2010 Rooftop Alumni were honored with Academy Award nominations: Gasland and Waste Land for Best Documentary, and Madagascar, a Journey Diary for Best Animated Short.
As evidenced by the reception of Rooftop Alumni by the Sundance Institute, the press, and the Academy, Rooftop Films remains one of New York City’s premier places to discover the most exciting and influential filmmakers of tomorrow.
Rooftop Films screens new, independent films on rooftops and other unique outdoor locations across New York City every weekend from May through September. Programming for our 2011 Summer Series will be announced in April.