What: 15th Annual Rooftop Films Summer Series
When: Starting May 13th–August 20th; doors at 8p.m., live music at 8:30p.m., film at 9p.m., after party to follow
Where: On and off Manhattan
Why: There’s a signal for summer and it can be heard at the opening of the 15th Annual Rooftop Films Summer Series starting tomorrow tonight. Over the next 15 weekends, 15 rooftops across four boroughs will screen more than 50 programmed shows. There will be 23 feature length films including two world premieres and 16 U.S. and N.Y. premieres.
This Friday, consider viewing This is What We Mean, a collection of big stories in small packages. Saturday continues with the premiere of local New York filmmaker Zachary Raines’ black comedy, Freeloader, about a sycophant whose situation is serious to everyone but himself.
Films to bookmark include the SXSW and Rooftop Films presentation of The Dish and the Spoon with indie starlet Greta Gerwig on June 3rd, free show Battle for Brooklyn about the fight against the Atlantic Yards Project on June 9th in Fort Greene, the collection of new shorts from the 2011 Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Fest on July 6th in Long Island City at the Socrates Sculpture Park, and the annual Animation Block Park debuting indie shorts of all genres in Williamsburg on July 29th.
Of special note this year is the addition of the new rooftop location, The Brooklyn Grange. It is located on an organic rooftop farm in Long Island City and will appropriately screen Rural Route, a program surveying the decline of green life from Finland to Chile on August 7th. The City Dark is a film about the effects of light pollution on our natural environment, June 5th. Then on July 23rd, Orbit examines the stars and planets in our solar system as singular subjects.
For a full schedule of films, visit rooftopfilms.com
Cost: $10 online or at the door.
How to Get There: All venues are easily accessible by subway or bike.
Photo: Courtesy of bensisto
Sarah Knapp is a Brooklyn based entrepreneur whose love for the outdoors and community building led her to the October 2013 creation of OutdoorFest. She has a BA in History, is a Wilderness First Responder and a NY state hiking, camp and boating guide. Her proudest achievement to date is reading the Aeneid in Latin. 
Allison was one of our first top writers and Chief Editor but is no longer working with offMetro. Allison is a native New Yorker, who has lived in Rome, Tuscany, Melbourne, Toronto and Los Angeles. She frequently contributed travel pieces to Family Travel Forum, using her own children as guinea pigs as they travel the globe. She never missed a chance to sample local delicacies, as her love for travel goes hand-in-hand with her love for food and wine. 
Josh Laskin is a freelance travel writer and photographer based in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. When he is not at work or on the road, you can find him in the mountains snowboarding, climbing, hiking, fly fishing, mountain biking, and eating bagel bites.
Annie is a travel writer, environmentalist, and surfer based in Venice, CA. She heads up our West Coast team, keeps our grammatical errors in check, and makes sure our California writers always have a plan for their next adventure. Follow Annie’s travels @annelisemcb.
Carly Pifer is a freelance writer who has been known to follow whims inspired by romantic movie scenes or colorful street style shots to India, Japan, Tunisia and Argentina. After stints living in Seoul, Boston, Paris and Los Angeles, writing and searching for something intangible, she landed somewhat steadily in Brooklyn and has begun to find inspiration in her more immediate surroundings. 
Kate E. O’Hara is a New York based freelance writer and photographer who loves all things food—especially the people who make it and market it. Her writing aims to capture the essence of the food experience; the stories that go well beyond a plate of ingredients. In addition to her love of food, Kate is also known to have a hankering for red wine and craft beer. You can also find Kate on Instagram