Screen On The Green Is Back!

When news spread that the sponsors of the annual summer tradition backed out there was a large outcry over the thought of a summer without a weekly visit to The Mall to watch a movie. I was one of them- I never got the chance to experience what thousands of Washingtonians have, and I was afraid I never would.

Up until now.

“Trust for the National Mall Partners to Bring Back Screen on the Green” read the e-mail subject that caused me to drop what I was doing and write this post. My friends over at the Trust for The National Mall gave me heads up that they are teaming with Comcast to help HBO bring the series back for a 10th year.

The city was screaming for an outdoor movie series and HBO was listening. In the Washington Post article that also just published Quentin Schaffer, HBO’s executive vice president for corporate communications said, “there was an outpouring of people concerned that this wasn’t happening…” The release I received reads, “fervent fans of Screen on the Green expressed strong support and enthusiasm for continuing the event . On Facebook, local blogs and Twitter, the Washington, DC community resoundingly asked for the popular series to continue this year.”

The power of the people… and the Internet… and blogs…coming together for the greater good.

Ok so here’s what you need to know about the series:

• Screen on the Green will be back on Monday evenings at sunset from July 20th – August 10th.
• Classic films will once again be shown on a giant 20′ x 40′ outdoor screen on The National Mall between 4th and 7th Streets.
• The screenings will remain free and open to the public.
• The first film will be Close Encounters of the Third Kind, with the remaining movies to be named at a later date

(UPDATE: WP speculates that HBO may take from the lineup of Bryant Park’s Screen on the Green and include films Dog Day Afternoon or Rebel without a Cause.)

By Patrick
Source: http://dc.metblogs.com/2009/06/10/screen-on-the-green-is-back

The NoMa (north of Massachusetts Avenue) Business Improvement District (BID) will host a summer-long outdoor film series titled “NoMa Summer Screen” June 10 through July 29, 2009, every Wednesday night from 7:00 until 11:00 p.m. The theme of NoMa Summer Screen’s outdoor movies, which promises to be the city’s premier summer film and cultural event, is “Music in Pictures,” films about musicians and bands.

Free and open to the public, the outdoor cinema event will be held on a large grassy lot on L Street between 2nd and 3rd Streets, N.E. in Washington, D.C., just one block from the New York Avenue station on Metro’s Red Line. The site is adjacent to Union Place, a new apartment building being developed by The Cohen Companies that will deliver later this year.

Each outdoor film screening will be preceded by live DJs, special guests, barbeque,and surprises. Funk, soul, boogaloo, and other types of music will be provided by local DJ collective Fatback.

“Building on the success of last summer’s James Bond Film Festival, the NoMa BID is offering a fresh new concept in 2009″ said Elizabeth Price, President of the NoMa BID. “Filmgoers will be able to enjoy music, food, films, and dancing under the stars, all while seeing first-hand NoMa’s rapid and dramatic transformation.” A full film schedule (see below) will be posted shortly at www.nomasummerscreen.com.

June 10th- No Direction Home, A chronicle of Bob Dylan’s strange evolution between 1961 and 1966 – Directed by Martin Scorsese

June 17th- Buena Vista Social Club, Rediscovery of a legendary, members-only club in 1940’s Havana, Cuba, as documented through the music and lives of veteran performers

June 24th- Ray, Extraordinary life story of Ray Charles, a man who fought harder and went farther than anyone thought possible

July 1st- Lady Sings the Blues, Loosely based on her 1956 autobiography, the story of legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday, as portrayed by Diana Ross

July 8th- I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, Documentary about the making and the conflicts of Wilco’s fourth studio Album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot.

July 15th- Standing in the Shadows of Motown, History of the Funk Brothers, a group of Detroit musicians who backed up dozens of Motown artists

July 22nd- Scratch, Documentary about hip-hop DJing, the birth of turntablism, the legends and the culture

July 29th- DIG! Story of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, a band with critical acclaim but no commercial success, as told by arch-nemesis and biggest fan, The Dandy Warhols

Excerpt from: Bloomingdale blog. http://bloomingdaleneighborhood.blogspot.com/2009/05/nomas-outdoor-movies-series.html.

The NoMa Summer Screen outdoor movies will be shown in a large lot on L St. NE, between 2nd and 3rd streets on Wednesday nights, beginning June 10.

The films are primarily documentaries on topic ranging from Motown (“Standing in the Shadows of Motown”) to hip-hop DJs (“Scratch”) and individual bands like Wilco (“I Am Trying To Break Your Heart”) and the Brian Jonestown Massacre (“DIG!”). However, there are fictional biographies sprinkled in, including “Ray,” “Lady Sings the Blues” and “No Direction Home.”

DJs from the popular funk and soul DJ night Fatback will spin before and after the films, and barbecue will be served. The movies are only one block from the New York Avenue Metro station.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/misc-events/noma-summer-screen,1156704.html

No need to funnel your wine into a coffee thermos this summer. There is no more Screen on the Green.

HBO will not sponsor the five-week outdoor cinema series on the Mall this July and August because it could not find co-sponsors.

“HBO has been proud to host Screen on the Green for the past nine years,” was the official statement from the company. “Unfortunately, we can’t do everything we’d like to do and were unable to find a partner to continue this D.C. tradition.”

A small virtual riot ensued after news broke yesterday on the blog We Love D.C.

“Noooooooooooo!” was the first comment posted to DCist’s blurb yesterday morning. “HBO, why are you trying to kill our summer?”

Bloggers blogged: “We are in a period of mourning” was the report from http://DC365.blogspot.com.

Twitterers twittered: “Jeff and I had our second date at Screen on the Green,” sighed one woman.

A Facebook group titled “Save Screen on the Green!” popped up to call for a substitute sponsor, and for sharing memories and photos.

Ah, memories. The persistent bugs, the hateful humidity, the evening thunderstorms rumbling in the distance, the veggie plates and the contraband alcohol — Screen on the Green allowed us to experience all the hallmarks of a summer in D.C. at once, with a classic film unspooling on a giant screen on the grassy expanse between Fourth and Seventh streets NW. It was fine viewing on prime real estate.

“Screen on the Green is not really about the movie,” says District resident Tony Altimore, 30, who tipped the news to local blogs after talking yesterday to the National Park Service. “The fun is the whole picnic on the National Mall. The sun goes down behind the Washington Monument and the Capitol building is lit up. It’s the atmosphere. I don’t know that I get that outside a shopping mall in Crystal City.”

Outdoor cinema series have grown like weeds in the suburbs. Rosslyn is running movies from the ’80s every Friday through September at Gateway Park near the Key Bridge. Crystal City is doing the same thing with superhero movies. Other outdoor festivals are hosted in Bethesda, Rockville and elsewhere in Arlington.

The closest geographical alternative to Screen on the Green will be NoMa Summer Screen, held in the grassy lot on L Street NE between Second and Third streets, and sponsored by the NoMa Business Improvement District. It will screen movies about music (like “Ray” and “Lady Sings the Blues”) every Wednesday from June 10 to July 29.

By Dan Zak
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/12/AR2009051203380.html?hpid=artsliving

Looks like free outdoor movies are joining music festivals on the list of things that won’t live through the recession. HBO has announced that it’s pulling the plug on DC’s popular Screen on the Green series, which brings out thousands every summer for free classic movie screenings on the National Mall.

In what could be construed as a diss to DC, HBO will continue to sponsor this year’s Bryant Park Film Festival, which is basically the exact same event, but in Manhattan, and kicks off with a showing of The Sting on June 15th. Given that DC already copes with a minor New York inferiority complex, Washingtonians are not happy, and nearly 2,000 of them have joined the Save Screen on the Green facebook page.

No word yet on whether Obama plans to bailout the film festival, but rumor has it The Kennedy Center is planning to step in with its own summer film series on their terrace level·also a picturesque spot, although considerably smaller than the Mall.

Source:http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/5/20/171930/541/travel/The+Recession+Puts+a+Kibosh+on+DC%27s+Outdoor+Film+Festival

We’re still a little heartbroken over yesterday’s news that HBO has left us high, dry, and movie-less on the National Mall this summer. Seriously, HBO, was it that much of a financial burden? You couldn’t have just trimmed back Alan Ball’s fake blood budget for season two of The Sookie Stackhouse Soap Opera Hour? I think that would probably have covered it. They may have sacked the best of D.C.’s outdoor film series, but that doesn’t mean that we’re without options. An abundance of them, it turns out. So to soothe those wounds from yesterday, we present as comprehensive a list as we can come up with at the moment of places where you can see movies outside this summer. If we’ve missed anything, please add them in the comments.

* NoMa Summer Screen: Summer movie programs are usually heavy on summer blockbusters and family classics. One of the nice things about Screen on the Green was that they could always be counted on to throw a few curve balls into the mix, so it’s nice to see NoMa’s series not just doing the same old thing. They’re screening nothing but music-related films, and not just biopics, either. In fact, most of the selections are documentaries, and excellent ones at that, such as Buena Vista Social Club, I am Trying to Break Your Heart, Scratch and Dig!. Every Wednesday starting June 10 at the New York Avenue Metro station.

* Crystal Screen – Superheroes: There’s an admirable geekery at work in the commitment to completism on display in this series, which shows every film, in sequence, in each of five different comic book hero film franchises. Mondays starting on May 4 at 18th and Bell Street, across from the Crystal City Metro station.

* “I ♥ the ’80s” Rosslyn Outdoor Film Festival: Nineteen ’80s classics will be served up, spanning from The Goonies to Ferris Bueller. Actually, make that 18 — Meatballs is from 1979, but I guess most of us saw it during the ’80s. Fridays beginning on May 4 at Gateway Park.

* Riverfront Reel: Also getting in on the ’80s action is the Capital Riverfront, who, you may remember, chose their selections via internet poll back in February. The results are in, and it appears that my attempt to initiate a write-in campaign for Blue Velvet has failed miserably. There’s some overlap with the Rosslyn festival, but not too much. Thursdays Wednesdays starting June 4 at the Plaza behind the U.S. DOT located at New Jersey Avenue & Tingey Street SE.

* Comcast Outdoor Film Festival at Strathmore: This festival, like most of these, is free, but they will be asking for donations, and all proceeds benefit the NIH Children’s Charities. All of the films are big hits from last year, except for Singing in the Rain. One screening every night from August 14-21 on the lawn at Strathmore.

* Bethesda Outdoor Movies: Stars on the Avenue: Bethesda will screen five movies between July 28 – Aug 1 at the corner of Norfolk and Auburn Avenues in Bethesda. They have yet to announce this year’s line-up, but last year’s was an eclectic mix ranging from The Wizard of Oz to An Inconvenient Truth.

* Divas Outdoors at the Hillwood Museum: The Hillwood Museum continues its popular screenings of films aimed at the GLBT community with two screenings this summer. On May 29, That Touch of Mink, and on June 12, How to Marry a Millionaire. Admission is $15, which also includes admission to special exhibitions at the mansion.

* Outdoor Movies on Rockville Town Square: A theme-less mix of nine movies, focusing mostly on family-friendly fare. Saturday nights starting on May 17 at Rockville Town Square.

* Columbia Lakefront Festival: A five film series from the last couple of years: Transformers, Kung-Fu Panda, Mamma Mia, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Ghost Town. Fridays and Mondays from June 19-July 3 at the Columbia Lakefront.

* Montgomery County Agricultural Fair: A family-oriented selection every night during the fair, August 8-16.

* Movies Under the Stars: The Village at Shirlington: They have yet to announce this year’s lineup, but last year saw stuff like Shrek 3, 27 Dresses, Spiderman 3, and The Bourne Ultimatum. Typically every Wednesday in July on Campbell Street in Shirlington Village, in front of Guapo’s.

* DPR’s Family Movie Night Series: The D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation usually holds a Family Movie Night series on a rotating schedule at the city’s various recreation centers starting in late June. A screening from last summer at the Stead Recreation Center on P Street near Dupont Circle is pictured above. This year’s series has yet to be announced, but we’ve got a call in to DPR to see what’s in the works, and will update when we get more details.

Source: http://dcist.com/2009/05/screens_on_other_greens.php