Biography
Mark Elijah Rosenberg is a filmmaker, writer, editor, and producer, known as the Founder and former Artistic Director of Rooftop Films.
His feature film, "Approaching the Unknown," follows a man on a solitary one-way space journey. This philosophical sci-fi explores the boundaries of human experience and the enduring mystery of the universe. Distributed theatrically by Paramount Pictures, the film is available on iTunes and Amazon. Originally titled "Ad Inexplorata," it was selected for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, received the NHK Screenwriting Award and Indian Paintbrush Award, and was supported by Creative Capital, the San Francisco Film Society, The Jerome Foundation, and Cinereach. The cast includes Mark Strong, Luke Wilson, Sanaa Lathan, Anders Danielson Lie, and Charles Baker.
Mark also directed, co-produced, and created the story for "Year Million," a six-hour hybrid fiction/documentary mini-series about technology's impact on humanity’s future. It aired on National Geographic and earned two Emmy nominations.
His film "New Partner" screened at the Montclair Film Festival, the Bicycle Film Festival, and others, while "_____ in Paris" premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival. Commissioned by The Simons Foundation and Science New Wave, he made the short film "A Tremendous Explosion of Stillness and Quiet," exploring psychedelic research for clinical depression treatment.
Working with non-traditional formats and audio, Mark created "I’m Not Bad...," a live documentary performance with multi-screen video projections and physical props, depicting revelations during his father's cancer diagnosis; it was performed at wav.pool in Brooklyn. He also produced "What Used to Be Here?," an 8-channel video installation featuring abstract textures from around the world paired with micro-narratives, exhibited at the Fridman Gallery in Manhattan. His audio series "The Past And..." blends personal histories with interviews on science, art, and history; one episode was featured in the audio performance series "Spectral Transmissions."
Mark favors low-budget, personal cinema. He has directed, shot, and edited numerous shorts and worked as producer-editor on the Emmy-winning WNYE show "IMNY," where he taught video production to New York City public school students. He co-produced "Orbit(Film)," an omnibus about the solar system, directing the Mars segment titled "No Message Received." He is currently developing a screenplay about a man with a limited yet remarkable superpower, a comic book series about a man who reads others’ journals, and additional magical realist films.
Born and raised in New York City, Mark earned his BA from Vassar College. In 1997, he founded Rooftop Films, a non-profit dedicated to fostering community through film by screening independent movies outdoors, supporting new projects, coordinating youth media education, and offering low-cost equipment rentals. Under his leadership, Rooftop Films grew into one of the nation’s most innovative film organizations, hosting hundreds of unique events yearly and drawing over 40,000 attendees annually.
Mark has published on filmmaking and programming and lectured at institutions including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Texas. He has served on grant panels for Cinereach, NYSCA, LMCC, and Renew Media, programmed film series worldwide, and served on juries at festivals such as Sundance and SXSW. He teaches film production and theory at Hunter College.
In his personal life, Mark plays in the Ramblers amateur baseball team, formerly played as a receiver for a nationally traveling NYGFL flag football team, is the proud owner of dogs Dizzy (RIP) and Zig-Zag, as well as a Little Planet named Elliot. He is married to Stephanie Skaff, a musician, writer, and Executive Director of play:ground NYC.
