Rendering courtesy Rooftop Films
Returning for its 24th summer season, non-profit organization Rooftop Films, in partnership with the Museum of the Moving Image and the New York Hall of Science, recently announced the opening of the Queens Drive-In on the grounds of the New York Hall of Science. Like the Brooklyn Drive-In, which just opened on the pier of The Brooklyn Army Terminal this past weekend, the Queens Drive-In will present films throughout the summer and fall of 2020. Rooftop Films will be showcasing projects by filmmakers from a diverse range of backgrounds.
“For 24 years, it has been Rooftop’s mission to bring New Yorkers together via the medium of film,” said Rooftop Films Artistic Director Dan Nuxoll in a statement. “With theaters shuttered and most festivals postponed or moving to streaming, we hope that these events will be part of a collaborative healing process for our neighbors, and give us an opportunity to once again spotlight the most daring new films from around the world.”
The Brooklyn Drive-In this past weekend
The festival opened last weekend in Brooklyn with Dawn Porter’s documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble and the New York premiere of the thriller The Rental. The Brooklyn Drive-In screenings continue this weekend with the New York premieres of The Fight, directed by Elyse Steinberg, Josh Kriegman, and Eli Despres, Utopia’s Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets, and IFC Midnight’s Relic. Rooftop films and its collaborators will be showing new independent and foreign films from 2020, and many film screenings will be accompanied by pre-show experiences, talks and videos, and a showcase of local and emerging artists.
The New York Hall of Science and Museum of the Moving Image will also be planning screenings of science presentations and films, sci-fi movies, and a special presentation of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. To connect with and contextualize the films’ themes, experts will lead conversations regarding topics from horror to climate change.
In order to provide a safe space for film screenings and cultural events, the participating organizations will utilize the drive-in venues to provide additional resources to the community. For example, a portion of public ticket sales from the Queens Drive-In will be donated to Elmcor, a long-standing youth and adult social services organization serving East Elmhurst and Corona. There will be a number of free screenings for the community throughout the summer at the Queens Drive-In, as well as additional free tickets to made available to Corona and Elmhurst residents.
Tickets are now on sale for select upcoming screenings at the Brooklyn Drive-In on the Rooftop Films website and will be available for purchase for the Queens Drive-In next week. Tickets will be priced starting at $35 per car, with a maximum of four people per car. Members of presenting organizations will receive a 15% discount. Doors will open each night around 7:30pm, events will begin at 8:30pm and end by 11:00pm.
According to the festivals’ promotional material, the Queens Drive-In festival “will be a safe gathering place for city residents; provide jobs for staff to help offset the loss of work for workers in the film exhibition, event production, and museum industries; raise funds for local community organizations; create a hopeful and creative environment for some of the hardest hit areas of the City; and bring film, music, art, and eventually performance to as wide a variety of New Yorkers as possible.”
Next, check out 15 Drive-In Theaters Across New York State!