Drive-in cinema doesn’t exist in the UK, but the opportunity to see films al fresco will once more be open to movie-goers this summer when Film4 SummerScreen returns to Somerset House for 12 nights in August. Films shown on the giant 17 x 8 metre screen (with full surround sound) include three UK premieres.

Walter Salles’ version of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road  stars Kristen Stewart, Sam Riley and Garrett Hedlund. The Watch features Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and The IT Crowd’s Richard Ayoade in a comedy about four men who form a neighbourhood watch group only to discover that their town has been invaded by aliens pretending to be regular suburban residents. Lawless is a 1920s bootlegging saga from John Hillcoat, the director of The Road, starring Tom Hardy, Guy Pearce, Shia LaBeouf, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska.

Other highlights include a first UK screening of the newly restored digital print of The Birds, which will be introduced by its female lead Tippi Hedren herself. There is a strong hedonistic flavour to other films being shown in a series of double bills: Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void is twinned with the Chemical Brothers concert film Don’t Think, while Russ Meyer’s Beyond the Valley of the Dolls will be shown alongside Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights. The programme also includes Vittorio de Sica’s neo-realist classic Bicycle Thieves, Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Wenders’ Paris, Texas.

• Film4 SummerScreen at Somerset House from 16 to 27 August. Tickets for screenings and talks go on sale on Friday 18 May