The 2020 edition of the Galloway Rooftop Film Festival—normally held on rooftops all across Brooklyn, was a virtual experiment this year! We investigated lost New York architecture on film. That is, films that happen to include buildings and landmarks which have since been demolished. It's interesting to me how buildings once considered inevitable were captured as the backdrop to fictional Hollywood stories, only to become poignant shadows on film once they were torn down. These twelve films—whether ever intended as such or not—serve as archives to a Lost City, a New York of the movies. In this way, fantasy serves to record reality; and more than any documentary, these stories register fleeting glimpses of the ever-changing metropolis.
Season overview introduction with found footage of the complex process of New York City construction and demolition, with original track by Kyle Warfield.
Study guide written by me. Full version available here. Printed by Colour Code Printing.
Inspired by the overlapping patchwork of the city, social posts consisted of video collages featuring clips, historic material, and short videos.
