Rooftop Films: Doomed Love and the Devilles July 6, 2010

VENUE
AUTOMOTIVE HIGH SCHOOL
On the lawn of Automotive High School
WILLIAMSBURG
50 BEDFORD AVE. AT NORTH 13TH ST., BROOKLYN, NY 11222
L to Bedford Ave. or G to Nassau Ave.
8:00 Doors Open
8:30 Live Music
9:00 Films begin
11:30 After-party: Open Bar at Matchless (557 Manhattan Ave) Radeberger Pilsner

Spectacularly failing romances, including an alcoholic comedy, some stunning facts about the sexuality of one of the founding fathers, and a luscious documentary about a stripper / punk rocker husband and wife duo.

Maybe all love is doomed. Maybe to have genuine passion, you have to face real peril. Perhaps true love only surfaces when it's threatened, tested, lost and forged anew. In these films, couples face down outside threats-some crumble, some cohere stronger than ever. In these stories, lovers sew the seeds of their own destruction-some crash and burn, some rise together from the ashes. Because deep in all our hearts, we have clashing emotions. We want wild passion and steady companionship, we want spontaneity and stability, hot sex and good friends. We might drink, cheat, fight, fornicate with fuzzy creatures and run off to Vegas in a fit of fury, but the next morning, the next day, years later, from far away, we know we'll gladly suffer for that singular soul mate. Because love is confusing, love is conflicting, love may destroy us all, but goddamn love is hard to kill.

-Mark Elijah Rosenberg

Presented in partnership with: IFC, New York magazine, Radeberger, Automotive High School, Matchless & Council Member David Yassky
THE FILMS

THE DEVILLES (Nicole Nielsen Horanyi | Denmark | 59 min.)
In this rockabilly romance of elegance, decadence and passionate dedication, a burlesque stripper and her punk rock husband are living in their own fascinating universe of a time that has passed. When maybe once this couple would've lived fast, died young, and left a beautiful corpse, now they're dealing with their aging bodies, their old habits, their anguished offspring. Still in love after 25 years, still as fiery as ever, The DeVilles tells a modern tale of love and living in a stylized world with no compromise.

DRUNK HISTORY VOL. 2.5: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN LIKES TO FUCK (Jeremy Konner, Derek Waters | Los Angeles, CA | 4:00 min.)
One night in November, Eric Falconer drank 8 vodka cranberries and then discussed a historical event.

80 BILLION GUYS (Kieran O'Hare | Brooklyn, NY | 3:16 min.)
In the early days of NYC beatniks and free love, one man can't come to terms with the new scene's role for him and his lover. Years later, this animated film recalls his biggest romantic regret. kmohare.com Brought to Rooftop by Brooklyn film collective thefilmshop.org.

QUADRANGLE (Amy Grapple | Long Island, New York | 22 min.)
Quadrangle is an unconventional documentary about two "conventional" couples that swapped partners and lived in a group marriage in the early 1970s.
quadranglefilm.com

FUZZY INSIDES (Michaela Olsen | Brooklyn, NY | 5:10 min.)
A peek into the secret nightlife of a strange, squashy suburb. Four stop motion vignettes portray relationships that develop romantically and sexually, with a touch of awkwardness.
michaelaolsen.com

SUCCESSFUL ALCOHOLICS (Jordan Vogt-Roberts | Los Angeles, CA | 25:00 min.)
In this uninhibited, inebriated comedy, Drake (TJ Miller) and Lindsay (Lizzy Caplan) are pushing their successful lives and undying love to the blackout brink of destruction.
jcvr.net

Official Website: http://www.rooftopfilms.com/2010/schedule/36-doomed-love-and-the-devilles