One of the longest running summer film festivals takes place in Long Island City, and this year Outdoor Cinema at Socrates Sculpture Park will present eight movies that celebrate the cultural diversity of Queens.
Now in its 19th season, the festival will feature eight weeks of movies from July through August from an array of countries including Mauritania, Greece, Sweden, Venezuela, Spain, America and more. Each movie will be accompanied by a musical performance by artists from each respective country. Performances will start at 7 p.m. and the movies will be screened right after.
In addition to the music, local restaurants will offer cuisine from each film’s country at Socrates Sculpture Park, which is located at 32-01 Vernon Blvd. The musicians and food vendors will be announced one week before each screening takes place.
The festival will open on July 5 with a screening of Timbuktu, a film from Mauritania and France about a family of shepherds whose neighborhood is overtaken by a group of radical jihadists who impose Sharia law.
“Easy Money,” a Swedish film, follows JW as he becomes a drug runner to make money. As the movie progresses, his fate becomes entangled with two other characters including a crook and mob hit man.
Other films include “Chevalier” from Greece, which is a story about several men on vacation on a luxury yacht who compete to see who is “the best in general” to ward off boredom.
The 2005 film Romance & Cigarettes, starring James Gandolfini, Astoria native Christopher Walken, Kate Winslet and Susan Sarandon, will be screened on Aug. 16.
For a full list of movies and showtimes, visit the Socrates Sculpture Park website.
