Cinema in the Sky

Written by Tami Mnoian on Tuesday, 30 June 2009 22:56

“It’s sort of notorious for being the worst horror film ever made. And it is really atrociously bad,” laughs Rooftop Films Program Director Dan Nuxoll of the film Troll 2. Other critics’ descriptions of the flick include: “majestic badness,” “a travesty,” “it's so bad it's fantastic,” “absolute trash,” and then unexpectedly, “one of the most unintentionally brilliant accomplishments in cinema.”
Troll 2 does not involve trolls nor is it related to the first edition from which it takes its name. Nuxoll explains, “Michael Stephenson wanted to be an actor, and when he was a kid he got a part in Troll 2, which he thought was going to be awesome. As soon as he saw it, he decided that he was never going to act again. It totally ruined his career and pretty much everyone who was in Troll 2 had the same feeling.”
Weirdly, in the last few years a new generation of kids has begun to discover Troll 2. Stephenson started to receive fan letters from all over the world from adolescents professing their adoration for the film. So Stephenson re-watched it and “realized it’s kind of this amazing work of accidental genius,” Nuxoll says. He decided to document its resurgence and the result is appropriately titled, Best Worst Movie. Both films, Troll 2 and Best Worst Movie, will have their New York premieres July 30 and 31st as part of Rooftop Films summer program.
For the last 13 years, Nuxoll, along with Artistic Director Mark Rosenberg, have been screening films on various rooftops throughout New York City. “It started as a hobby more than anything else,” he says. “The first screening was on Mark’s roof in the East Village and then for five years after that it was on the roof of a building that I had been converting from warehouse space to loft apartments in Bushwick.”
Rooftopfilm front

Based in the Old American Can Factory near the Gowanus Canal, Nuxoll easily summarizes the mission of Rooftop Films. “We have a pretty distinct vision of what we want to do. Early on we kind of realized there should be a marriage between what we’re showing and the communities in which we’re showing them. The broader theme of the festival is about movies that show people where you live and how you live. We don’t do a lot of historical documentaries. We don’t do documentaries about famous people. It’s much more personal stories and how personal people live their lives within their communities and their time.”

For the complete July schedule and more information, go to: www.rooftopfilms.com

Written by Tami Mnoian

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