Courtyard only tickets available at the door for $13, cash only. The film screens simultaneously down in the courtyard at the same location—still outdoors, still beautiful, but at street level.
Friday, August 16
On the roof of the Old American Can Factory
232 3rd St. @ 3rd Ave. (Gowanus/Park Slope, Brooklyn)
8:00PM: Doors open
8:30PM: Live music
9:00PM: Film
11:00PM–12:30AM: Reception in courtyard
SXSW WEEKEND. Can sex save the planet? Could liberating our bodies help us reconnect with nature? Fuck for Forest think so.
(Michal Marczak | 83 min.) Fuck For Forest, the environmental group that lends its name to this documentary, describes itself as an erotic non-profit ecological organization. Underpinned by the universal understanding that sex sells, Fuck For Forest creates and distributes DIY, eco-friendly erotica online, all of which can be accessed for a tax-deductible donation. Think: hairy porn, but with a conscience.
As the film begins, we meet Danny—once an Olympian show-jumper, Danny abandoned his bourgeois upbringing and uprooted to Berlin. After meeting the founders of FFF, Leona and Tommy, he quickly surrendered himself to their quest to save the planet. Without judgment or mockery, Rooftop alum Michal Marczak’s documentary quietly observes the lives of this small group of activists, offering a fascinating glimpse into their thriving neo-hippy subculture. Fuck For Forest weaves through a world of underground folk gigs and sex clubs with dizzying intensity, exposing copulating flesh and environmentalist rhetoric with a sordid curiosity that is at once strangely appealing and downright bizarre.
As the group journeys down the Amazon into the heart of the rainforest in the hope of donating the money raised from their website to local projects, the film takes a murky turn. The native population is not accustomed to the group’s wide-eyed, no-strings-attached altruism. Confronted with the stark reality of the people they encounter, FFF’s self-deluding idealism rings hollow. Deep-seated cultural differences reveal themselves and the intractable imbalance of charity itself is laid uncomfortably bare.
Regardless of whether you agree with their means, the unwavering sincerity of FFF is admirable. And although saving the planet may be more complicated than just getting naked and having sex, the members of Fuck For Forest remain ardently committed to their cause. As for Danny, he continues to roam the urban sprawl, ukulele in hand, spreading the word about liberating your body to anyone who’ll lend an ear. His family still thinks there’s something wrong with him, but he says he’s happy being misunderstood.
- Cressida Greening
PRECEEDED BY:
Tina Delivers a Goat (Joe Callander | 2‘)
Through taking council with a local village elder, Tina discovers the benefits of a goat, delivers the goat, says hi to mama and papa and behbeh, takes a photo, and leaves. Global generosity in all its blunt simplicity.
