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 [1], Sam Riley and Garrett Hedlund. The Watch features Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and The IT Crowd [2]’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 [1], 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 [3] is twinned with the Chemical Brothers concert film Don’t Think [4], 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 [5] from 16 to 27 August. Tickets for screenings and talks go on sale on Friday 18 May