What better way to celebrate the dregs of a summer that never quite made it than a lingering hymn to outdoor cinema, I thought. There's no pleasure quite like it - though my experiences are almost exclusively bound up with being abroad and in holiday mode. It's something to do with being caught up with what's up there on the screen while remaining aware of your surroundings at the same time, light fading, cricket noises, smells, pulses of hot air. And like Flicks in the Sticks there's always an interval for refreshments. Just love it, I'll go see anything, anything at all.
So here's Cine-Paris, a rooftop summer cinema in the centre of Athens (ramparts of the Acropolis just over the wall). More pics on our Flickr stream.
Nearer to home, Garway Flicks promoter, Magaret Oke recalls one memorable August screening of Shrek on Garway Common at the close of the village fete. The film was projected on the side of a lorry with seating on straw bales. "Wonderful atmosphere" unlikely to be repeated because of health and safety and the vagaries of the weather.
Regular outdoor screenings in this country include the Film4 Summer Screen events July/August at Somerset House. Plus this very Bank Holiday weekend, the Sunset Screenings on Grantchester Meadows in Cambridge, a prelude to the Cambridge Film Festival towards the end of September, Mamma Mia! on Saturday 30th and on Sunday 31, intriguingly, Big River Man starring endurance swimmer, Martin Strel, who'll be present (swimming?).
A long way to go, though my obsession has led me to the far reaches of the Open Air Cinema Blog where the possibilities are seemingly limitless...
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