Returning for its seventh edition this year, the 2024 Rockaway Film Festival kicks off next weekend, taking place August 17-25 and featuring a rich lineup of cinematic and artistic events. Highlights include Zia Anger’s My First Film, featuring a Q&A with star Odessa Young and post-screening DJ set by Andrew Vanwyngarden of MGMT; the East Coast premiere of Ed Lachman’s new restoration of Report From Hollywood, his account on the set of Wim Wenders’ The State of Things, featuring a Q&A with Lachman and Sean Price Williams; a 50th anniversary screening of Wenders’ Alice in the Cities; a rare screening of Agnes Martin’s Gabriel with a live score; and much more. Ahead of the festival, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the trailer.

“Every year, our program emerges intuitively,” said co-founders Courtney Muller and Sam Fleischner, “we choose films in consideration of the setting in which we’ll show them, and given the transient nature of Rockaway as both a unique community and a coastal environment right next to JFK airport, we are excited to include stories from across the globe that put forth imaginative visions for how we connect to our surroundings and to each other.”

Learn more about the festival here and check out the exclusive festival trailer below, along with the newly unveiled trailer for Zia Anger’s My First Film, which arrives on MUBI on September 6 following its Rockaway Film Festival screening.

 Festival Highlights:

Looping Installations 

  • WAKING UP (FOR THE FIRST TIME) by Jamil McGinnis and Pat Heywood. 2024. Multi-screen installation.
    • An audiovisual experiment that reconsiders footage of a film-in-progress as a place-based installation. In striking, dreamlike impressions of everyday city life, the Brooklyn-based artists explore practices of spirituality and reflect on meaning-making with reverence for the quotidian observations that make up our ordinary lives. On view August 17-25 in the Annex Cinema. 
  • REPOSE by Moriah Evans. 2024. *on view August 17 in Arverne Cinema Window.
    • To celebrate the tenth annual Beach Sessions Dance Series, this document looks back at the 2021 edition choreographed by Moriah Evans, which borrowed from the social and physical choreographies inherent to the beach.
  • TO OPEN A WINDOW by Craig Scheihing. 2023. *on view August 18-21 in Arverne Cinema Window.
    • In a dazzling flurry of 16mm images, a mirrored window makes a suggestion.
  • BIOGENETIC BLOOMS by Karen Ingram. 2024. Loop. *on view August 22-25 in Arverne Cinema Window.
    • A collaborative bio art animation using microbes engineered to display the same vibrant colors that exist in the DNA of sea creatures like jellyfish, sea anemone, and coral. This piece showcases the designs from a community workshop held on opening day of the festival, August 17.

Saturday, August 17

  • 4-6PM  BIO-ART WORKSHOP led by Karen Ingram
    • Participants create living artworks from gene edited microbes in Petri dishes, to be incubated and photographed over the following days. The photos will then be pieced together to make an animated clip of collaborative bio art that will be displayed in the Arverne Cinema installation window from 8/22-8/25.
  • 5PM SHORTS: BELONG WHERE
    • A collection of intergenerational memories and definitions of home, these personal poems linger in a limbo between places of belonging.
      • BISAGRAS by Luis Arnias. 2024. 16 min. 
      • BURNT MILK by Joseph Douglas Elmhirst. 2023. 10 min. 
      • DAISY by Catalina Kulczar-Marin. 2023. 30 min.
      • SILENT CLINKING by Ayesha Bashir. 2022. 2 min. 
      • MY HEART IS MY ONLY COUNTRY by Iva Gocheva. 2023. 12 min.
  • 7PM  MUSIC PERFORMANCE: Tim Keiper, Brian Marsell &  Kaoru Watanabe.
  • 8PM  ALICE IN THE CITIES by Wim Wenders. 1974. 110 min.
    • A journalist in search of inspiration unwittingly embarks on a cross-country odyssey with a strong-willed nine-year-old girl in one of the most breathtaking road movies of all time. German auteur Wim Wenders often refers to his fourth feature film as his first, because it was through making this film that he felt he discovered his cinematic voice. With the opening sequence shot on the Rockaway boardwalk, we present Alice in the Cities on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. 

Sunday, August 18

  • 5PM  REPORT FROM HOLLYWOOD by Edward Lachman. 1985. 48 min.
    • Visionary cinematographer Ed Lachman provides a behind-the-scenes account of Wim Wenders’ production of The State of Things (1984), a film about the difficulties of making a film. The cast and crew give interviews while driving a convertible between gas stations and motels in a striking document of Los Angeles in the 1980s. East Coast premiere of new restoration. Post screening Q&A with Ed Lachman and Sean Price Willams.
  • 7PM  MUSIC PERFORMANCE: Roche and Father.
  • 8PM  MY FIRST FILM by Zia Anger. 2024. 100 min.
    • Fifteen years ago, Zia Anger made a micro-budget film that never saw the light of day. My First Film is an ultra-meta, autofictional account of her experience creating and abandoning it. Joyously chaotic and disarmingly sincere, this un-making-of film is a declaration of personal agency and a testament to the power of collaboration. Q&A with star Odessa Young. Post-screening DJ set by Andrew Vanwyngarden of MGMT.

Monday, August 19

  • 5PM  SHORTS: NEW NARRATIVE SHORTS
    • These new shorts from emerging voices explore impulses of escape, zooming in on moments of clarity from outsiders teetering on the edge.
      • BAD DRIVER by Antonia Grilikhes-Lasky. 2024. 6 min.
      • LIVING REALITY by Philip Thompson. 2024. 16 min.
      • BUBBLEGUM AND THE TEXAS BELT BUCKLE by Jordan Alexander. 2023. 13 min.
      • ISKRA by Snejina Latev. 2024. 20 min. 
  • 7PM  MUSIC PERFORMANCE: Kevin Bewersdorf.
  • 8PM  FAITH HUBLEY CENTENNIAL
    • Faith Hubley was a trailblazing animator whose joyful and stunning free-form creations marked a new era of independent animation. To celebrate the centennial of the Oscar-winning artist—who lived in Rockaway from ages six months to six years—we present a collection of her imaginative shorts, including brand new restorations. Post-screening Q&A with Emily Hubley.
      • FAITHY, HEY by Emily Hubley. 2019. 4 min
      • WINDY DAY by John and Faith Hubley. 1967. 8 min. 
      • VOYAGE TO NEXT by John and Faith Hubley. 1974. 8.5 min. 
      • W.O.W. by Faith Hubley. 1975. 10 min.
      • TIME OF THE ANGELS by Faith Hubley. 1987. 9.5 min.
      • TALL TIME TALES by Faith Hubley. 1992. 10 min.
      • HER GRANDMOTHER’S GIFT by Emily and Faith Hubley. 1995. 4 min.
      • NORTHERN ICE, GOLDEN SUN by Faith Hubley. 2001. 6.5 min.

Tuesday, August 20

  • 5PM  YOUR FINAL MEDITATION by Corey Hughes. 2024. 52 min. World Premiere.
    • A girl enters a guided simulation to ease her growing anxiety. In psychedelic sequences combining scripted scenes, found footage, and AI-generated imagery, Baltimore artist Corey Hughes considers virtual space as a site for technological transcendence. World Premiere. Post-screening Q&A.
  • 7PM  MUSIC PERFORMANCE: Deakin and Geologist of ANIMAL COLLECTIVE.
  • 8PM  JETTY by Sam Fleischner. 2024. 55 min.
    • Patiently documenting the installation of new coastal infrastructure in the Rockaways, this observational process story was recorded on 16mm film and features an original score by Animal Collective. World Premiere. Post-screening Q&A with filmmakers and subjects. 

Wednesday, August 21

  • 5PM  A HUMAN YEAR IS 7 EARTH YEARS by Adrian Quetzal Randall. 2024. 83 min.
    • Honduran-American video essayist Adrian Quetzal Randall traces the origins of radio and television across military histories, global politics, and into the human psyche. 
  • 8PM  ECSTATIC PLASMATIC Guest-curated by Jonah Primiano.
    • Animators have long understood the irresistible power of transformation. What can be hard to enact in the world, animators have little trouble bringing to life under their pencils. Characters change shape, change bodies — free to become this or that at any moment. Recognizing this ease, Sergei Eisenstein dubbed this quality of animation “plasmatic” and related it to the potential for change in evolutionary biology. This program brings together films from throughout animation history that speak that quality.
      • EGYEDEM-BEGYEDEM by Dóra Keresztes. 2005. 4 min
      • RED HOUSE by Barry Doupé. 2022. 3 min.
      • CHRONOSYNTHESIS by Katie Morris. 2024. 1 min.
      • MOTH by Allison Schulnik. 2019. 3 min.
      • RIDDLE OR: A CHILD’S BESTIARY OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS by Runfeng Qui. 2023. 3 min.
      • THE BEAD GAME by Ishu Patel.1977. 6 min
      • THE LONG BODIES by Douglass Crockwell.1895-1940. 6 min.
      • PLANE OF INCIDENCE by Sabrina Ratte. 2024. 4 min.
      • SAUSAGE CITY by Adam Beckett. 1974. 5 min.
      • MIMT by Ted Wiggin. 2024. 4 min.
      • VISIONS OF THE INVERTEBRATE by Edwin Rostron. 2011. 2 min.
      • A MAN AND HIS DOG OUT FOR AIR by Robert Breer. 1957. 2 min.
      • BETWEENNESS by Oliver Laric. 2019. 5 min.
      • SPIRITUAL CONSTRUCTIONS by Oskar Fischinger. 1927. 6 min.
      • GLAZING by Lilli Carré. 2021. 2 min.
      • MOON BREATH BEAT by Lisze Bechtold. 1980. 5 min.

Thursday, August 22

  • 6PM THE AFTERLIFE OF IMAGES: ORAIB TOUKAN
    • Oraib Toukan explores the way we look at—or look away from—images of suffering. This program highlights two of Toukan’s films, each providing a testimony on violence, and on Palestine in different times and spaces, pointing to the complexities of adequately representing such violence.
      • OFFING. 2021. 28 min.
      • VIA DOLOROSA. 2021. 21 min.
  • 8PM  SHORTS: DATA PASSENGER
    • Sci-fi visions collapse into dystopian realities in these shorts exploring alternate algorithms of navigation on the open road.
      • VO by Nicolas Gourault. 2020. 17 min.
      • RANDOM ACCESS by He Zike. 2023. 14 min. 
      • DIRECTION OF THE ROAD by Janelle VanderKelen. 2023. 8 min. 
  • 9PM SHORTS: PIXEL PORTALS
    • Reaching across real and virtual worlds, our digital devices become modes of connection and mirrors of perception. These shorts fall into wormholes of self-presentation and online identities, blurring the line between performance and reality.
      • THE MOON ALSO RISES by Yuyan Wang. 2024. 24 min.
      • CHRISTMAS, EVERY DAY by Faye Tsakas. 2024. 13 min
      • APPLICATION TO BE LARS VON TRIER’S “FEMALE GIRLFRIEND/MUSE” by Tomi Faison. 15 min.

Friday, August 23

  • 5PM  RISING UP AT NIGHT by Nelson Makengo. 2024. 95 min.
    • Downstream from the overflowing River Congo, the people of Kinshasa have been flooded with water and swallowed in darkness. As the country prepares to build Africa’s largest hydroelectric plant, nearby neighborhoods have lost all power. Wading through the night, Congolese director Nelson Makengo documents his hometown’s remarkable resilience and resourcefulness in a surreal nocturnal portrait that locates alternate sources of light.
  • 8PM  AS THE TIDE COMES IN by Juan Palacios & Sofie Husum Johannesen. 2023. 89 min. 
    • The two dozen inhabitants of the tiny Nova Scotian island of Mandø cling steadfastly to their beloved homeland despite rising tides and a looming storm. In quietly poetic and often humorous glimpses of their daily routines, we follow them across gorgeous landscapes of windswept marshes and dunes as they confront their uncertain future. New York premiere. 

Saturday, August 24

  • 1PM  STOP MOTION ANIMATION WORKSHOP 
    • A free, all-ages stop-motion animation workshop led by Buena Onda Collective in partnership with Materials for the Arts. Learn upcycled art-making techniques while creating a rhizomatic collective animation that mirrors ecosystems where plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi work together to build a magical, vibrant world. The finished piece will screen at the end of the session.
  • 3PM  CHILDREN’S CINEMA Guest-curated by Light Industry.
    • Light Industry’s ongoing program for kid cinephiles returns for a special edition beginning with Marie Menken’s Dwightiana, an abstract portrait of the artist Dwight Ripley rendered through swinging stop-action animation. Afterward we’ll cool off with a trip to the Klondike in Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush (Chaplin, as it happens, was rumored to live in the neighborhood, on Beach 91st Street, and made his professional debut in Rockaway, in a stage performance at the old Morrison’s Summer Theatre on Beach 102 Street). His film is the ideal introduction to the art of slapstick, a comedy classic that follows The Tramp as a prospector looking to strike it rich, and finding love along the way.
      • DWIGHTIANA by Marie Menken. 1959. 4 min. Projected on 16mm.
      • THE GOLD RUSH by Charlie Chaplin. 1925/1942. 71 min.
  • 5PM  SHORTS: FAITHFUL COMPANIONS 
    • A collection of documentary portraits, fictional narratives, and philosophical fables about our unusual relationships and desired closeness to the animal world.
      • IF FOUND by India Donaldson. 2020. 8 min.
      • NOT WASTING MY TIME by Derek Howard. 2022. 16 min. 
      • PET STORE by Joanna Rothkopf. 2023. 16 min
      • TESTUDO HERMANNI by G. Anthony Svatek. 2023. 7 min.
      • THE COLLOQUY OF DOGS by Norman Nedellec. 2024. 28 min. 
  • 7PM  MUSIC PERFORMANCE: Celia Hollander
  • 8PM  SLEEP WITH YOUR EYES OPEN by Nele Wohlatz. 2024.
    • A coastal city in Brazil. Fu Ang, Kai and Xiaoxin rarely meet in this quiet comedy of misunder- standings. But over the course of a hot, slow summer, delicate bonds grow between them, like islands in a sea full of sharks. U.S. premiere. Director in person for Q&A.

Sunday, August 25

  • 6PM  SHORTS: HARBOR OF MYTH
    • In otherworldly rituals and inventive parables, these coastal mythologies offer alternate visions of the future.
      • ANIMA, SILUETA DE COHETE by Ana Mendieta. 1976. 
      • THE BOAT PEOPLE by Tuan Andrew Nguyen. 2020. 20 min.
      • SUYA DOKUN (TOUCH THE WATER) by Yusuf Demirörs. 2023. 8 min.
      • ON XERXES’ THRONE by Evi Kalogiropoulou. 2022. 15 min.
      • ADAPTATION by Josh Kline. 2022. 10 min.
  • 8PM  GABRIEL by Agnes Martin. 1976. 78 min.
    • Agnes Martin was one of the most influential abstract artists of the twentieth century. Known for her meticulous paintings of horizontal and vertical lines, her anomalous only completed film is conversely loose and imprecise in its pursuit of perfection. Gabriel opens on a little boy surveying the ocean, then follows him as he wanders freely through the desert landscapes of New Mexico. It is a film embodying happiness and innocence amid natural beauty. Silent except for several passages from Bach’s Goldberg Variations, we are thrilled to present this rarely-screened film with a live score performed by Rockaway Chamber Music. 

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