On July 7th Rooftop Films Socrates Sculpture Park and Museum of the Moving Image will present Flood Tide director Todd Chandler’s movie about a ramshackle river raft journey in the midst of ongoing economic and ecological collapse. It was the summer the gas stations closed. The summer they played music in the old mill. The summer they built a boat. The summer they left. Flood Tide is a road movie on a river. It tells the story of four musicians who create extraordinary boats out of ordinary junk and set out for open water fueled by dreams desperation and a sense of adventure. Flood Tide is a collaboration with the Swimming Cities of Switchback Sea a project dreamed up by the artist Swoon and built by an eclectic group of artists and performers. In the summer of 2008 the crew built and floated seven large boat-sculptures down the Hudson River putting on performances in towns along the way. The fleet made an imaginary port in the East River docking the boats right near Socrates Sculpture Park making this film a perfect selection for Rooftop Museum of the Moving Image and Socrates to kick off this summer screening series. The tale of these unlikely rafts and their crews is told by one friend who remains at home. One day a package for him arrives containing artifacts from the boats: a glass bottle a piece of lace a diary an envelope of snapshots. Each object reveals the destinies of two divergent but inextricably linked journeys. The film's quiet narrative unfolds through fragments of memories songs letters and diary entries. Characters played by non-actors from the bands Dark Dark Dark and Fall Harbor chase jobs dig through the past and eventually float out of town in an attempt to escape a life that doesn't make sense. They drift past empty new condo developments anchor to explore crumbling castles and swim in iridescent green quarries. They get stopped by torrents of rain and groaning broken-down motors. Flood Tide follows an unpredictable voyage down a strange and meandering river a search for a new life along a polluted estuary that is tidal and flows both ways. While documenting the real life journey Flood Tide is an independent fictional feature film that uses the voyage as its centerpiece. The film and its small crew traveled down the Hudson River shooting verité footage of the boats underway as well as staging structured fictional scenes in the middle of the activity on board and on shore. Music is an integral part of Flood Tide both onscreen and off. In addition to featuring live performances and original soundtrack by Dark Dark Dark and Fall Harbor the film includes music by Jolie Holland and Nathan Salsburg and an onscreen performance by sound artist Pauline Oliveros. Rooftop Films 2010 Schedule