WHAT:
Week two of the Rooftop Films 19th annual Summer Series features documentaries about siblings whose lives have been impacted by forces beyond their control: Spartacus and Cassandra screens on Friday, June 5th followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Ioanis Nuguet; The Wolfpack screens on Saturday, June 6th, followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Crystal Moselle. Producers Megan Delaney and Izabella Tzenkova will be in attendance, in addition to the six Angulo brothers, who are the subjects of the film.
WHERE:
Spartacus and Cassandra: The Old American Can Factory. 232 Third Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215
The Wolfpack: Industry City. 220 36th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11232
SHOW DETAILS
8:00PM Doors Open
8:30PM Live Music
9:00PM Film Begins
10:30PM Filmmaker Q&As
11:00PM After-party Sponsored by New Amsterdam Vodka
$15 online or at the door includes live music, film and after-parties.
In the event of rain, screenings are indoors at the same location. Select shows have rain dates.
ABOUT THE FILMS
Old American Can Factory, Gowanus
Spartacus & Cassandra (Ioanis Nuguet)
Spartacus and Cassandra used to be children like the others, back in Romania. But everything changed at their arrival in France: here, they are foreigners that social services can't help, and they have to be responsible for their alcoholic father and mentally unstable mother. When Camille, a 21-year-old trapeze artist, offers to adopt them, they face an impossible choice: to stay with their parents and live on the streets, or to leave them for a better future.
Dealing with a highly polemical issue, Spartacus and Cassandra subtly breaks the stereotypes associated with Roma immigration. Ioanis Nuguet’s empathic camera captures the extraordinary life of these two siblings deprived of their childhood; The result is a heartrending first film, both aching and bright.
Industry City, Sunset Park
The Wolfpack (Crystal Moselle)
Despite growing up on the Lower East Side, the 6 Angulo brothers know little of New York City or the outside world. They have no acquaintances outside their family and are rarely permitted to leave their home. Much of what they know of the world was gleaned from the films they watch obsessively and recreate meticulously, using elaborate homemade props and costumes. When one of the brothers ventures out for the first time (wearing a Michael Meyers mask), the power dynamics in the house are transformed, and his brothers are soon to follow. With incredible access into the subjects' world and vast archive of home movies, director Crystal Moselle has crafted a fascinating coming of age story, charting an extraordinary family whose lives are a true example of the transformative power of movies. –D.D.
