Rooftop Films

This Friday, the first-ever Rooftop Treasure Hunt kicks off all over NYC: a must-do citywide adventure spanning three decades of independent film history! And for the fastest team to complete all the challenges? There’s $5,000 cash waiting at the finish line. Plus, every single participant will receive free tickets to our 2027 season, so everyone goes home a winner!

🎟️ tinyurl.com/RooftopTreasureHunt

One Treasure Hunt ticket gets your whole crew in the game, with unlimited teammates, so recruit your best riddle-solving, trivia-acing friends and split the cost (and the grand prize!)—or buy multiple and compete against each other.

Take a leisurely weekend to experience it all, or knock the whole hunt out in a night.

Go as fast or as slow as you want, choose your own route, and play as much or as little as you like.

Trust us: there’s never been a puzzle quest quite like this. Come explore 30 years of Rooftop, one clue at a time.

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Puzzles created by David Wilson of Intoxicated by Riddles.

Thank you to our media partners and sponsors at Letterboxd, WNYC, Gothamist, and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein + Selz PC.

With additional treasures generously donated by Beacon's Closet, Books Are Magic, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Grandaisy Bakery, Joe Coffee Company, New York Transit Museum, Pixeldust, Pop Aire, Riders Alliance, Shake Shack, Shorts Movie Theater, and Variety Coffee Roasters.

Next weekend, the inaugural Rooftop Treasure Hunt will send participants on a citywide quest through our 30-year history—and, now, we’re incredibly excited to reveal what’s waiting at the finish line: a $5,000 grand prize for the fastest team to complete the adventure!

Gather your fellow indie film buffs, New York devotees, and urban explorers to untangle clues, visit iconic locations from our first three decades of exhibition, and discover the five boroughs in entirely new ways. Along the way, you’ll encounter filmmakers, Rooftop staff, and other treasures—with access to a top-secret event awaiting those who make it to the end in time.

It’s part puzzle hunt, part Rooftop Films-themed odyssey, part extremely elaborate excuse to spend a weekend running around the city like it’s all one big movie set and you’re the star.

Ready to play? Consider this your first clue: get your tickets now, via tinyurl.com/RooftopTreasureHunt.

Presented with generous support from our friends and media partners Letterboxd, WNYC, Gothamist, and Frankfurt Kurnit Klein + Selz PC.

This Friday, September 18th, meet us in the L.E.S. atop New Design High School for the world premiere of Tij D’oyen & Michael Calciano’s gonzo knockout GORILLA GORILLA! The official last screening of Rooftop’s landmark 30th Summer Series, trust us: this is one you can’t even entertain the thought of missing.

Featuring a post-show Q&A with the filmmakers alongside stars Betsey Brown & Emily DeForest, moderated by comedian Richard Perez—plus an afterparty at DCTV sponsored by Lake Hour & Singlecut Beersmiths, with a special B2B set by DJ USA & flirty800—tickets are available via tinyurl.com/GorillaGorillaWP. Secure your seats now, while you still can! 🦍

Tonight (Monday, September 14th), join us on the Gansevoort Plaza cobbles for a free screening of Noah Baumbach’s modern classic FRANCES HA (which Rooftop first screened as part of its 17th Summer Series in 2013), starring co-writer Greta Gerwig in a joyous breakout performance!

Presented in partnership with our friends at the Meatpacking District Business Improvement District, New York City Council Member Carl Wilson & Theory and featuring an extra special live pre-show performance from Diana Silvers, RSVPs are available via tinyurl.com/RFrancesHa.

From October 2-4, the first-ever Rooftop Treasure Hunt will transform New York City into a sprawling, indie cinema-fueled game board! tinyurl.com/RooftopTreasureHunt

Gather a team or play solo and chase clues inspired by movies we’ve screened, artists we’ve championed, and places we’ve been, piecing together a series of increasingly challenging puzzles as you go. Make it to the end and unlock access to a top-secret finale event *and* the chance to take home rewards from our pals at Books Are Magic, Shake Shack, Joe Coffee Company, and more—or the grand prize we’re still keeping confidential for just a little while longer (but trust us: it’s really worth the wait).

It’s part scavenger hunt, part Rooftop Films history lesson, part extremely elaborate excuse to spend a weekend running around the city like it’s all one big movie set and you’re the star.

Ready to play? Consider this your first clue: get your tickets now.

For the grand finale of Rooftop’s 30th season, seven bold new short films take on love, loss, ambition, identity, and the strange, exhilarating business of being human. After three decades, there’s only one thing left to do: celebrate.

ROOFTOP SHOTS: CLOSING NIGHT 2026 lights up historic Green-Wood Cemetery tomorrow (Friday, August 21st)! Including a pre-show performance from psych-rock powerhouses Düül Suns, a post-show Q&A with some of the spotlit filmmakers, and an afters sponsored by our friends at Lake Hour and Singlecut Beersmiths, tickets are available via tinyurl.com/RF30ClosingNight — but going extremely fast. Secure your seats now, while you still can!

FEATURED SHORTS:
• CALLBACK by Matthew Puccini
• GREETINGS FROM SEASIDE HEIGHTS by Klara Schmickler
• NERVOUS ENERGY by Eve Liu
• PANTHER PAT by Ashley Brandon
• SAMBA INFINITO by Leonardo Martinelli
• TODAY & TMRW by Mariales Diaz
• THE WADDLES by Max Jenkins

It's Closing Week. Help us raise $10,000 for what comes next.

For three decades, Rooftop Films has proudly brought independent cinema directly to communities throughout the five boroughs. As we head into the final week of our 30th Summer Series, we’re setting an ambitious goal: raise $10,000 in the next four days to help power all that comes next.

It's a lofty one, we know—but together? It’s well within reach.

Let's close out our 30th summer in style and help ensure that there's much, much more Rooftop to come on the horizon. Swipe through to find your way to help, and head to rooftopfilms.com/support to make it happen.

Tomorrow (Monday, August 17th), meet us in the Meatpacking District on Gansevoort Plaza for DANGEROUS DOCS 2026: STATES OF EMERGENCY, an evocative program of docu-shorts exploring catastrophe not as spectacle, but as lived experience—charting the emotional and physical aftermath of a world in constant upheaval. Including a post-show Q&A with some of the spotlit filmmakers, head to tinyurl.com/DangerousDocs2026 now time runs out!

FEATURED SHORTS:
• BREAK ALL THE VASES, STEAL ALL THE FLOWERS by Michael Alexander Morris
• CRYING GLACIER by Lutz Stautner
• A DERAILMENT by Nathan Truesdell
• DESERT ED by Christian Hurley & Bryan Taira
• ENDLINGS by María Luisa Santos
• A NEW INFERNO by Nita Blum-Reddick & Jonathan Pickett
• STILL STANDING by Victor Tadashi Suarez & Livia Albeck-Ripka