Photos: Dangerous Docs 2026 to Return with Free Screening in Meatpacking District
Gansevoort Plaza will host the RSVP-only program featuring shorts by Michael Alexander Morris and Lutz Stautner.
Rooftop Films will host the return of DANGEROUS DOCS 2026: STATES OF EMERGENCY on Monday, August 17, at Gansevoort Plaza in the Meatpacking District. The short film program is free with RSVP.
The program is described as 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.
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
Event Details
Monday, August 17
Gansevoort Plaza, Meatpacking District
7:00 PM: Plaza Seating Opens
8:15 PM: Films Begin
9:45 PM: Q&A with Filmmakers
Free with RSVP
The screening is part of a broader schedule of upcoming Rooftop Films programming. Rooftop Films will close its 30th season with Rooftop Shots: Closing Night 2026 on Friday, August 21, at Green-Wood Cemetery. Tickets are $22, and rooftop members get a free pair of tickets to Closing Night 2026. The event is described as closing out Rooftop's landmark 30th season with a standout program of new short films after a summer of screenings across the city.
Featured Shorts (Closing Night)
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
Closing Night Event Details
Friday, August 21
Green-Wood Cemetery
7:45 PM: Doors Open
8:15 PM: Live Music
9:00 PM: Films Begin
10:30 PM: Q&A with Filmmakers
10:45 PM: Afterparty
$22 | Rooftop Members Get A Free Pair of Tickets to Closing Night 2026
Additional upcoming screenings include Trapped: Mind-Altering Shorts 2026 on Friday, August 28, at Industry City, Courtyard 5/6. Tickets are $22, with discounted tickets for rooftop members. The program is described as, through horror, satire, surrealism, and psychological unease, a mind-bending program of shorts that plunges into worlds where bodies mutate, belief systems fracture, and reality itself begins to slip deliciously out of reach.
Mad Hot Ballroom will screen as a community screening on Thursday, September 3, at Snug Harbor, free with RSVP. The film follows eleven-year-old New York City public school kids on a journey into the world of ballroom dancing, revealing pieces of themselves and their world along the way. Told from their candid, sometimes humorous perspectives, these kids are transformed, from reluctant participants to determined competitors, from typical urban kids to 'ladies and gentlemen,' on their way to try to compete in the final citywide competition.
Newlyweeds will screen as a community screening on Saturday, September 12, at Brower Park, free with RSVP. The release describes director Shaka King's feature debut as a thoughtful meditation on the habits that hinder modern relationships, navigating through the perilous and comedic with a natural ease and restraint.
Gorilla Gorilla will have its world premiere on Friday, September 18, at New Design High School, as part of a feature film program. Tickets are $22, with discounted tickets for rooftop members. The release describes the film: after her divisive debut feature, Anne, an up-and-coming filmmaker, sets out to make her sophomore film, In Memory of Anne Heche. However things quickly take a turn for the worse as scenes go awry, actors drop out, and Anne's prickly friendship with her lead actress becomes increasingly toxic.
Rooftop Treasure Hunt, described as a Rooftop Premium Event, runs Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4. Tickets are $90, with discounted tickets for rooftop members. Participants can solve puzzles, unlock clues, and explore the city through Rooftop Films' 30-year history, racing to claim a prize and gain access to a top-secret event for those who make it to the end.
