New Yorkers who love both movies and the outdoors don't have to choose between them during the summer. Rooftop Films, the annual, ongoing festival of independent films, shorts, live music and more, takes to the great outdoors every weekend, showing movies you won't see anywhere else with views you simply cannot beat. This weekend they're at the rooftop of Open Road in the Lower East Side with a series of short documentary films all set in the city they call home. New York Non-Fiction features a variety of only-in-New-York stories, from a man who found a lost roll of film in Prospect Park and went on a journey to return it that led him to Paris, to a DJ whose career was cut short by a cocaine habit.
For a preview of what else you might see tonight, we're exclusively running one of the shorts, "The Bowler," about a unique New York character named Rocky Salemmo-- he's just as big a personality as the name suggests. Here's the short description:
Rocky Salemmo makes his living as a bowling alley hustler. It’s not for the money. It’s about the feeling of winning. Or so he says in this colorfully candid profile, in which Rocky talks a mile a millisecond about booze, “broads” and the bowling balls he’s left behind while climbing out windows to duck bet collectors. He’s like a Scorsese character, come to life.
Watch the film below, and if you like what you see, check out New York Non-Fiction tonight. For all the information you need and to buy tickets, visit Rooftop Films.
The Bowler from Rooftop Films on Vimeo.
