Noting the growing popularity of outdoor film series, Rosenberg remarks, “Mainstream theater attendance is down and people are looking to recapture the magic of cinema. One thing lacking is a sense of community.”

Certainly outdoor screenings create opportunities to interact with your neighbors, and events like Rooftop’s—often with filmmakers in attendance, Q&As and after-parties—emphasize the interaction. “It’s not like going to a multiplex for 90 minutes and getting up and going home,” says Rosenberg.

This summer, whether you're looking to take in some great films, get your own film seen or even start an outdoor cinema event of your own, the possibilities are as endless as the starry skies above. Check out these sites, or search your local paper for listings in your community.

The Rolling Roadshow Tour
(locations nationwide) In the summer, Austin's Alamo Drafthouse Cinema leaves town on a whirlwind tour of the U.S., hosting 35mm screenings of famous movies in famous places. This summer you’ll find them in Almeria, Spain with the Sergio Leone Dollars trilogy and in Morgan, UT co-hosting the Nilbog Invasion, a film festival devoted to all things troll!

Mobile Movie
(locations worldwide) MobMov is a global guerilla drive-in movement. MobMov organizers throughout the U.S. and 26 other countries publicize their drive-in locations to local email lists. Outfitted with projectors, DVD players and low frequency FM transmitters, they screen films on warehouse walls or wherever they can find a free space, with audio piped in through car radios. "It's a new technological twist to a nostalgic idea."

Boulder Outdoor Cinema, Boulder, CO
This Boulder institution offers something for everyone over the course of its 20-week season—from indie gems The Big Lebowski and Juno to family favorites Babe and The Princess Bride. All programs are preceded by indie shorts.

Rooftop Films, Brooklyn, NY
Rooftop Films is a premiere venue for new, underground and independent shorts and underexposed feature films. Screened on rooftops, lawns and piers in Brooklyn and Manhattan, the films are often “deeply personal,” notes Rooftop’s founder, and many are specific to the sites where they are screened. Can’t make it to New York? Check out the Rooftop Films online showcase.

Santa Cruz Guerilla Drive-In, Santa Cruz, CA
The Guerilla Drive-In (technically more of a walk-in or bike-in) springs up unexpectedly in the fields and industrial wastelands of Santa Cruz, reclaiming public space and transforming the urban environment. Films screen every other Friday all summer, preceded by shorts and followed up by "a rollicking bike ride." This season’s line-up includes an evening of silent cinema and the popular Subversive Shorts Film Fest.

Bernal Heights Outdoor Cinema, San Francisco, CA
This mini-festival celebrates the talent of local filmmakers in September and October (that’s summer in San Francisco, by the way). Screenings include works in all genres, with a focus on works that “speak to the political, social and artistic sentiment” of the neighborhood. Meet-the-Filmmaker receptions add to the fun.

Missoula Outdoor Cinema, Missoula, MT
On Saturday nights this summer, Missoulians will gather at a school playground for this 12-week showcase of classic films, shorts and works by local filmmakers. Highlights include perennial summertime favorite National Lampoon’s Vacation and an evening devoted to short films.

Sundance Institute Outdoor Film Festival, Park City, UT
Held from July 11 to August 27, this series features films from the annual Sundance Film Festival as well as hidden gems and overlooked classics that deserve to be dusted off and enjoyed again. Among this year’s offerings are the Coen brothers’ 1987 hit Raising Arizona and the 2008 Sundance Film Festival audience favorite Adventures of Power, directed by Ari Gold.

Wex Drive-In, Columbus, OH
The Wexner Center hosts free open-air film parties in their plaza the third Thursday of the month throughout the summer. As a special event this summer, the Wex hits the road to screen Talk of the Town, a 1942 political/romantic comedy, on the grounds of the Ohio Statehouse.

Elizabeth Meyer is a staff writer for the Independent Television Service (ITVS)

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