In a city where you can discover a film festival every weekend of the year, perhaps the most unique of such offerings is located in Rockaway, Queens. Taking place just a few blocks from the beach, the 6th edition of the Rockaway Film Festival will occur August 19-August 27, and we’re pleased to exclusively debut the lineup of award-winning documentaries, premieres, live music and dance performances, shorts programmes, and rare repertory screenings.
Organized by Sam Fleischner and Courtney Muller and sponsored by Blundstone®, Istic Illic Pictures, and NYC Ferry, this year’s edition will open at their flagship outdoor theater, Arverne Cinema (constructed using scraps of boardwalk that were destroyed during Hurricane Sandy), with Disney’s famous feature masterpiece Fantasia. There will be a program of shorts preceding it by cine-magician Oskar Fishinger, whose groundbreaking animations changed the cinematic frontier. The festival will also present the New York Premiere of one of the best films of the year, the Sundance Documentary Directing award winner, A Still Small Voice directed by Luke Lorentzen, who will be in attendance. Closing night will host John Wilson, returning after presenting a short at the first-ever screening of the festival in 2018, and the finale of his HBO series How To with John Wilson. Additional special guests include Jessica Beshir, Rahill, Steve Gunn, Chances With Wolves, Edan, Andrew VanWyngarden, Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio, and many more.
“Our festival emerged from a deep love for the communal ritual of watching movies,” said RFF Co-Founders, Sam Fleischner and Courtney Muller. “Nothing compares to the experience of gathering silently in the dark with friends and strangers, to be unified by a shared source of sight and sound. This year’s lineup is vast and eclectic and marks another year in our endeavor to bring cinema back to Rockaway, which had been without a movie theater for more than twenty years.”
Check out the lineup below and learn more at the official site.
SATURDAY AUG 19 – OPENING NIGHT
LIVE PERFORMANCE: ROCKAWAY CHAMBER MUSIC
STUDY NO. 8 by Oskar Fischinger. 1931, 4 min.
MOTION PAINTING NO. 1 by Oskar Fischinger. 1947, 11 min.
Walt Disney’s FANTASIA. 1940, 124 min.
SUNDAY AUG 20
LIVE PERFORMANCE: STEVE GUNN
THE LOVE SPELL by Jane Stiles and Meryl Jones Williams. 2021, 19 min.
MIRROR PARTY by Bridey Elliott. 2022, 9 min.
SIDE HUSTLE by Abby Harri. 2023, 15 min.
ALPHA KINGS by Faye Tsakas & Enrique Pedráza-Botero. 2023, 15 min.
STARFUCKERS by Antonio Marziale. 2022, 15 min.
PLAYLAND by Georden West. 2023, 72 min.
A STILL SMALL VOICE by Luke Lorentzen. 2022, 93 min.
MONDAY AUG 21
LIVE PERFORMANCE: AGUA DE GIO + M I C C A
PINE by Andres Rojas + Frank Siringo. 2023, 10 min.
BEACH GENIUS H2.0 by Thom Musso. 2023, 17 min.
KOOK MIKE GOES SURFING by Robert Bryn. 2023, 11min.
FIRST TIMES AT CONEY ISLAND by Joana Botelho. 2023, 8 min.
ON THE PEOPLE’S BEACH by AG Crist. 2022, 16 min.
ROCKAWAY HAIKU by Emily Brausa. 2022, 11 min.
TUESDAY AUG 22
VOICES by Joanna Priestley, 1985, 4 min
ONCE MORE WITH FEELING by Pallavi Agarwala, 2022, 4 min
STORY FROM NORTH AMERICA by Garett Davis + Kirsten Lepore, 2007, 4 min
OPERATION JANE WALK by Robin Klengel + Leonhard Müllner, 2019, 16 min
THE STITCHES SPEAK by Nina Sabini, 2009, 12 min
PLANTS by Deanna Morse, 1989, 4 min
MYTH TODAY by Jonah Primiano, 2021, 5 min
LA JOIE DE VIVRE by Anthony Gross, 1934, 9 min
489 YEARS by Hayoun Kwan, 2016, 11 min
WILD HEART 1981 / 2020 by Zach Dorn, 2020, 6 min
WEDNESDAY AUG 23
LIVE PERFORMANCE: DUELLE FILMS – PROJECTION
HERE AT THE WATER’S EDGE by Leo Hurwitz & Charles Pratt. 1962, 60 min.
THURSDAY AUG 24
LIVE PERFORMANCE: KYP MALONE
ATOPIAS:THE HOMELESS WANDERER by Daniela Yohannes + Julien Béramis. 2023, 27 min.
AS TIME PASSES by Jamil McGinnis. 2022, 14 min.
KEEPING TIME by Darol Olu Kae. 2023, 32 min.
FRIDAY AUG 25
LIVE PERFORMANCE: SURF JAZZ TRIO
AT LAND by Maya Deren. 1944, 14 min.
ZUMA NEWS, LA by Simone Forti. 2013, 13 min.
DUNE DANCE by Carolyn Brown. 1981, 18 min excerpt.
ARENA by Madeline Hollander. 2017, 14 min.
BEACH BIRDS FOR CAMERA by Merce Cunningham. 1993, 27 min.
SATURDAY AUG 26
LIVE PERFORMANCE: RAHILL
THE CORN DOESN’T PAY THE CORN by Caitlin Craggs. 2023, 18 min.
THE DESPAIR OF MONKEYS by Julián García Long. 2023, 17 min.
SOME ACTS AROUND ROCKS AND STONES by Kevin Kelly. 2023, 35 min.
I’M NOT HERE by Sujani Reddy. 2023, 5 min.
OUR ARK by Deniz Tortum + Kathryn Hamilton. 2021, 12 min.
NEIGHBOUR ABDI by Douwe Dijkstra. 2022, 29 min.
I THINK THIS IS THE CLOSEST TO HOW THE FOOTAGE LOOKED by Yuval Hameiri. 2012, 10 min.
LITTLE BOY LOON by Kevin Daniel Bay & Julia Thompson. 2023, 10 min.
THERE IS GOLD EVERYWHERE by Rita Morais. 2023, 12 min.
THE EMPTY SPHERE by Stephanie Roland 2022, 19 min.
YWNHX by Nate Dorr. 2023, 5 min.
OMMATIDIA by Gloria Chung 2022, 7 min.
FRANCE by Philip Cartelli + Mariangela Ciccarello. 2022, 6 min. *16mm projection
SUNDAY AUG 27 – CLOSING NIGHT
LIVE PERFORMANCE: VENTRILOQUIST SOPHIE BECKER
THE PEDESTRIAN by Claire Read + Nora Rose DeLigter. 2023, 19 min.
THEY GOT ME GOIN’ IN ON MY DAY OFF by Luis Figueroa. 2023, 5 min.
RUNON by Daniel Newell Kaufman. 2020, 12 min.
REST STOP by Crystal Kayiza. 2022, 12 min.
CIVIC by Dwayne LeBlanc. 2022, 20 min.
HOW TO CLEAN A CAST IRON PAN. 2012, 6 min.
LOS ANGELES PLAYS NEW YORK. 2016, 19 min.
HOW TO SEASON 3 FINALE. 2023, 37 min.
See the festival poster by Valentina Gallup below.
