[MUSIC]

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC and now part three for this hour of our spring fundraising party with another edition of things to do around here this summer. As I've been saying all week, along with summer, come all those festivals, concerts, movies, and more seemingly around every corner or on every rooftop or parking lot.

You know what? We're up to those rooftops today with a look at outdoor films this summer. We're joined once again by Steve Smith, the culture and art editor here at WNYC and Gothamist, who with reporter, Precious Fondren, has guided us to so many great things to look forward to this summer in this series. Hi again, Steve.

Steve Smith: Hi Brian.

Brian Lehrer: Let's start with maybe the one that has rooftop in its name, Rooftop Films, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is playing tonight and they officially open for the season on Thursday. Not all of these are up on the roof though, literally. How do these work?

Steve Smith: Well, as you said some of them are on roofs, others are in local parks, or even in one particular case, a cemetery. Puss in Boots is playing tonight at seven o'clock at Park of the Americas in Queens. That is one of many free offerings and one of many free family-oriented offerings, which is an especially nice touch.

The festival's official opening is on Thursday when a self-explanatory program called This is What We Mean by Short Films plays at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn. I think mostly these short film shows are the ones that are ticketed. A lot of the outdoor ones elsewhere are completely free of charge.

Brian Lehrer: One that you mentioned in Gothamist Guide was the Louie Armstrong Documentary outside of the Louis Armstrong House Museum but it's sold out Alas. What are some other highlights?

Steve Smith: Well, that one does appear to be booked up in advance, although one does always want to check on websites for last-minute tickets being loosed. If that one appeals, then there is a very similar event happening on June 17th, Max Roach, The Drum Also Waltzes, is screening at Vaughn King Park in Bedstuy, just blocks away from where that fable bebop drummer grew up.

On June 29th, there is a new documentary about the Pop duo, Wham, that's playing at Industry City in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. For a really complete list of family features, shorts, documentaries, and action films, it's worth taking a look at rooftopfilms.com. There is a lot there.

Brian Lehrer: There are other opportunities to watch movies outdoors, including at Lincoln Center and Dam Rush Park, I see. What are some of the films we can see there?

Steve Smith: Well, right you are. There's a series starting June 14th with a very quick focus on Terrence Blanchard. This is part of a larger festival that celebrates that trumpeter, composer, and band leader whose opera, Champion, just played really successfully at the Met Opera. The New York Phil Harmonic Jazz at Lincoln Center. Other Lincoln Center constituents are participating.

This free film focus offers some of the more prominent films that Blanchard has done the scores for. It's Eve's Bayou, Love and Basketball, and Defy Bloods. That series is followed almost immediately by a second series that highlights hip-hop in advance of hip-hop's 50th anniversary. You'll see films like Style Wars, Scratch, and Wild Style.

Brian Lehrer: Those are literally at Lincoln Center in Dem Rush Park. Then there's a series film at Lincoln Center, along with rooftop films joining forces to show movies outdoors pretty far south of Lincoln Center on Governors Island. Can you tell us about those?

Steve Smith: Absolutely. It's really, really a lovely setting. You get the nice boat ride to get out to the island and back. The scenery is gorgeous and then the films start at around 8:30. There are three films in the series announced literally within the last hour.

The series this year is called Rule Breakers and Troublemakers, and it includes F. Gary Gray's film, Set It Off, on June 9th, followed by Stephen Soderberg's Out of Sight in July and Gurinder Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham closing the season in August. Again, they're all on Friday nights, one a month, and screening at 8:30 PM, and just really a treat to be out there.

Brian Lehrer: The French Embassy puts on an annual program of films on the Green. That's free showings of French films in various parks around town, and I'm seeing that all the films are about dance this year.

Steve Smith: It's really, really a delightful series that's being produced by the French Cultural Institution, Villa Albertine, and its international selections in which dance plays some prominent role. The season starts at Central Park, Cedar Hill on June 2nd with Jacques Demy’s beloved Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, and then the festival will go on to serve up a little bit of ballet, some tango, flamenco hip hop, and more in parks and green spaces all over the city. The season runs through September 7th and you can learn more about what's specifically happening and where on the Villa Albertine website.

Brian Lehrer: I see there's also the movie night series at Brian Park will be back this summer. They haven't released their film lineup yet. Another one I want to ask you about before we run out of time is another sort of movie at Lincoln Center that we've touched on before the opera HD broadcasts on the plaza. Bit of a hybrid, right?

Steve Smith: That's absolutely true. These are the films- the leftovers, if you will, from the live opera broadcasts that the Met projects in high definition to cinemas all over the country and in fact all over the world. They bank these up and then during the late summer, they show them all on a huge screen on the face of the Metropolitan Opera.

The season starts this year, not with an opera, but with a screening of the very opera-friendly and evocative film Moonstruck on August 25th. Then after that, you can catch some classics like Traviata, Falstaff, and Cosi Fan Tutte, as well as some more offbeat fair that was featured this past season like Madea, The Hours, and Fedora.

Brian Lehrer: So many opportunities, folks, to see movies outdoors this summer. Who would've thank it, unless you're already an outdoor movie aficionado? All right, Steven, I'm going to take advantage of your presence to mention one other thing that doesn't fit into any of our categories but I'm such a fan, so you have to tell everybody else about the Kusama Infinity Room.

Steve Smith: Oh, absolutely. This is one of the biggest gallery shows that the Japanese artist, Yayoi Kusama, has had in her entire long career. It's titled, I spend each Day Embracing Flowers and it is taking up three gallery spaces run by David Swarner at 519, 525 and 533 West 19th Street. You can spend a whole day.

You should brace yourself probably for a long line because admission is free and she is an extraordinarily popular artist. The show features new paintings, new sculptures, and as you said, a new infinity mirror room, which is just such a dazzling experience.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Steve Smith, WNYC and Gothamist culture and art editor for all this great in info. You put the go in Gothamist. We'll be busy this-

Steve Smith: Thanks, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: -summer, I suspect.

Copyright © 2023 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.