Rooftop Films Premiere

Rooftop Films Presents In a Dream--NY Premiere
July 26, 2008 When the filmmaker set out to make a documentary about the legendary mosaics his father pieces together, he didn’t mean to take his family apart. An eye-popping and heart-wrenching documentary about art and love, merging home movies and public expression.
PRESS Contact:Genevieve Delaurier 718-417-7362 press@rooftopfilms.com

www.rooftopfilms.com (New York, NY) June 30, 2008 – On Saturday, July 26, Rooftop Films will present the New York Premiere of Jeremiah Zagar’s film In a Dream. This stunning documentary is really the perfect film for Rooftop, where we don’t screen in theaters, we screen in communities. We take independent cinema out of the underground and into the outdoors, and match films with venues and neighborhoods to create meaningful and intimate connections. It’s a marriage of widely public art and deeply personal cinema.

Isaiah Zagar’s gigantic, intricate murals have been part of a Philadelphia revitalization for decades. In the 1960s, Zagar and other artists were in danger of losing their homes and studios because they city wanted to build a Crosstown Highway. But all along South Street, Zagar crafted mosaics that filled the entire sides of decaying buildings, and along with many other residents, activists and artists, the community successfully foiled the eminent domain abuse and saved their neighborhood. (For an amazing interactive 360-degree view of Zagar’s Magic Garden, and an excellent history of Zagar’s involvement in helping to preserve and heal the Center City neighborhood in Philadelphia, visit: www.isaiahzagar.org and www.philadelphiasmagicgardens.org/history.html.

Of course, as is often the case, places like the Magic Garden, Julia and Isaiah Zagar’s gallery, and the many other theaters, cafes and shops that opened in the neighborhood led to the skyrocketing real estate prices, so the struggle to survive and create continues. But with Zagar, his art addresses social issues, but comes from a very personal place. His murals are infused with the interests, stories, and loves of his life. The names of his friends and family are woven into the walls, and portraits spring from the jagged patterns. Mirror shards are scattered through his murals, indicating the self-reflective nature of the work, for both Zagar and the public. It was this milieu and perspective that Jeremiah Zagar aimed to capture with a documentary about his father. He ended up with much more. Similar to the way his father’s art makes private passions public, Jeremiah’s film unexpectedly reveals the fragility of his family’s life.

In A Dream plays like one of our favorite genres here at Rooftop, the home movie (our annual screening of Home Movies will be on 8/1/08), where only a filmmaker personally invested in the story could discover and disclose the intimate difficulties—mistreatment, infidelity, drug abuse, mental instability. But that same private perspective is what keeps the film honest, never veering into sensationalism. Told with dexterity, sensitivity and poignancy, In a Dream is an eye-popping and heart-wrenching documentary about art and love, merging home movies and public expression.Part of Rooftop Films and XO Projects’ INDUSTRIANCE™ Series: films, discussions, installations and more about the changing landscape in industry, architecture, agriculture, labor, and related fields.

Details:Saturday, July 26 Venue: on the roof of The Old American Can Factory (232 3rd Street @ 3rd Avenue, Gowanus / Park Slope, Brooklyn)8:00PM: Doors open8:30PM: Live music presented by Sound Fix 9:00PM: Film11:30PM - 1:00AM: After Party: Outside in the courtyard including wine courtesy of Brooklyn OenologyTickets: $9 at the door or online at www.rooftopfilms.com Rooftop Films is a non-profit organization whose mission is to engage and inspire diverse communities by showing movies in outdoor locations every weekend all summer long, producing new films, teaching filmmaking to young people, and renting low-cost equipment to artists and non-profits.


PRESS Contact:Genevieve Delaurier 718-417-7362 press@rooftopfilms.com www.rooftopfilms.com

PRESS FESTIVAL PASSES, PREVIEW TAPES / DVDs, & HIGH RESOLUTION STILLS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. FULL PROGRAM NOTES, FILM DESCRIPTIONS, VENUE INFO, SCHEDULE OF OTHER EVENTS AND MORE AVAILABLE AT WWW.ROOFTOPFILMS.COM