Film / News
Bristol’s essential 2016 outdoor cinema guide
Incredibly, those outdoor film screening data-mining scams are still all over the internet, making life difficult for genuine organisers of such events. Here’s a quick guide to what to watch out for, though it’s all pretty obvious. If an event is advertised only on Facebook, or a website with no contact address, and the alleged organisers are asking you to ‘register your interest’ and suggest both a film and a screening venue, chances are that it will never happen. You part with your personal data at your peril.
On a more positive note, the al fresco screening season gets into gear in August. Here’s our round-up of events run by reputable organisers with a proven track record.
Bristol Sunset Cinema follows the success of last year’s screenings of The Princess Bride at Blaise Castle and Flash Gordon at the Clifton Observatory with six events on the south lawn at Ashton Court Estate in September and October. Organiser Ti Singh has deliberately avoided the lazy selections that usually crop up (Dirty bloody Dancing, and so on) in favour of an eclectic bunch of films for all ages, from nippers to gore-loving adults. Here’s the line-up in full:
is needed now More than ever
Sept 2: The Goonies (sold out)
Sept 4: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Sept 23: The Lego Movie
Sept 25: Starship Troopers
Oct 14: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Oct 16: The Matrix
Tickets cost £12.50 for adults and £8 for under 12s. Under-fives get in free, the lucky little buggers. Note that only £12.50 tickets are available for the screenings of Starship Troopers and The Matrix, as these aren’t suitable for kids. Go here for more info.
For its annual outdoor bash, The Bristol Bad Film Club brings Renny Harlin’s hugely enjoyable mega-flop pirate flick Cutthroat Island to Bedminster’s Victoria Park on Saturday 20 August. Admission is just £5, though kids under 10 get in free. Polish your plastic cutlass and head thisaway for tickets.
Reading-based Cult Screens comes to Bristol for the first time this month for five days of screenings at Clifton College. This lot bill themselves as offering “the country’s most luxurious and comfortable open air cinema experience” and promise a fully-stocked bar, including pitcher cocktails and craft beers, plus street food stalls and fresh popcorn. Take your pick from the following:
Aug 24: Labyrinth
Aug 25: Top Gun
Aug 26: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Aug 27: Pulp Fiction
Aug 28: Dirty Dancing
Ticket prices range from £32 (double beanbag and blanket) to £9.50 (humble cushion, concessionary price) – all plus inevitable booking fees. Go here for more details.
Moonlight Movies has a bunch of screenings in the not-wildly-scenic surroundings of the outdoor bit of the Motion nightclub. Still, at least the tickets are cheap at £8 a pop here.
Here’s the selection:
Aug 14: Jaws
Aug 29: Frozen
Aug 29: Fight Club
If you’re prepared to travel a little further afield, there are more options on offer. The Bath Film Festival has family screenings of Disney flicks The Jungle Book (a pedal-powered outing for the new live-action version) at Springfield Park on Sept 2 and Zootropolis at Bath City Farm on Sept 3. Weston-super-Mare’s Backyard Cinema, who do those occasional screenings at Arnos Vale Cemetery, has three outdoor events in August: Magic Mike at Weston’s Old Town Quarry on Aug 6, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at Kilver Court in Shepton Mallet on Aug 13 and Grease at something called the Mendip Mower Racing and Family Festival nr. Axbridge on Aug 26.
If You’d Rather Stay Indoors . . .
Following its successful launch back in March, the Bristol Film Festival is heading down to the Arnolfini on Aug 20 for an immersive screening series billed as “a sensory cinema experience that will bring the sights, sounds and smells of some much loved films to life”, with appropriate “real-time lighting, sound and smell effects during the movie.” That’s right: smell effects. They’re showing four films starting at 10am with Disney’s The Lion King, followed by Jurassic Park, Goldfinger and This is Spinal Tap. Let’s hope the audience will have an opportunity to smell the glove. There are three accompanying events over in the ‘fini’s Dark Studio: a presentation by Bristol-based Icon Films, makers of such hit wildlife documentaries as River Monsters; Bristol History on Film, drawn from the archives of the Bristol Record Office; and The Movie Lover’s Guide to Wine-Tasting – a boozy, tongue-in-cheek look at movies and plonk in partnership with Avery’s, including the inevitable Silence of the Lambs Chianti.
Read more: Scrumdiddlyumptious summer of Dahl
Read more: Our detailed daily film listings start here
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