Sean Baker and Yance Ford To Be Honored at 2nd Annual Rooftop Films Gala

Rooftop Films is excited to host their second annual Gala on Thursday, February 15, 2018 at Saint Bartholomew's Church in Manhattan. The evening will raise funds for Rooftop's vital community programs as well as celebrate two gifted, creative and fearless artists who have made a contribution to the art of filmmaking this past year: Sean Baker , whose film The Florida Project was nominated for four Gotham Awards in 2017, and Best Supporting Actor at the 2018 Academy Awards, and won the Heterodox Award at the 2018 Cinema Eye Honors Awards and Yance Ford , whose feature Strong Island was awarded Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking, Outstanding Achievement in a Debut Feature Film, and Outstanding Achievement in Direction at the 2018 Cinema Eye Honors, and has been nominated for best documentary at the 2018 Academy Awards.

In addition to Baker and Ford, various Rooftop Films alumni and Filmmakers' Fund Grantees will be in attendance, including Kitty Green (2017 AACTA Award-winner for Casting JonBenet), Eliza Hittman (2017 Sundance Film Festival Directing Award-winner for Beach Rats), Andre Hyland (The 4th, Mr. Roosevelt, Funnel), Michael Tyburski (Rooftop Filmmakers Fund grantee for the upcoming film Palimpsest ), Joshua Z Weinstein (2017 Gotham Award and Independent Spirit Award nominee for Menashe), and Jeremiah Zagar (2018 Sundance Film Festival NEXT Innovator Award-winner for We the Animals). The event will also feature live music from the NYC-based instrumental trio Big Lazy .

The 2018 Rooftop Films Gala is sponsored by Beachside Films, Franklin Weinrib Rudell & Vassallo, lululemon, Alliance Bernstein, Candy Factory Films, Cinereach, Fork Films, IFC Films, Archer Gray, FilmRise, Freixenet, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein + Selz, Threes Brewing, Oscilloscope Laboratories, Tanqueray, and The William Vale.

Rooftop Films is a non-profit organization whose mission is to engage and inspire the diverse communities of New York City by showcasing the work of emerging filmmakers and musicians. In addition to their annual Summer Series - which takes place in unique outdoor venues every weekend throughout the summer - Rooftop provides grants to filmmakers, rents equipment at low-cost to artists and non-profits, and supports film screenings citywide with the Rooftop Films Community Fund. At Rooftop Films, we bring underground movies outdoors. For more information and updates please visit their website at www.rooftopfilms.com.