Rooftop Films is launching a new Brooklyn Drive-In festival which will run through October, and the whole thing kicks off this weekend on the pier of the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park.
The opening night film on Friday evening will feature Magnolia Pictures documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble by director Dawn Porter, a chronicle of the life and career of the legendary civil rights advocate Congressman John Lewis. The event will feature an intro by the director and a pre-recorded Q&A discussion between Congressman Lewis and Oprah.
Then on Saturday, they will be showing the New York premiere of IFC Films' The Rental, directed by actor Dave Franco and starring Alison Brie and Dan Stevens. The event will include a pre-recorded intro and Q&A with Franco.
For all of their events, doors will open at 7:30 p.m., and films begin at 8:30 p.m. The entrance is at 80 58th Street in Brooklyn, tickets cost $45 per car (tickets are only available by purchasing them online here), and the movie showings will feature most of the same safety precautions as the other drive-ins which have popped up this summer. You have to wear a mask during the check-in process and whenever you're not in your vehicle; bikes, motorcycles and buses are not allowed. There are toilets on site you can use, but you have to bring your own food and drinks. You can check out the rest of the guidelines here.
More screenings and locations will be announced in the coming weeks, but three other newer films have been revealed: The Fight, a documentary about four ACLU cases, will be shown on July 23rd, Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets will be shown on July 24th, and Relic will be shown on July 25th.
In early May, The Bel Aire Diner in Astoria started hosting drive-in movie nights in their parking lot which became wildly popular. Then the Skyline Drive-In opened in Greenpoint with a slate of classic movies; theirs is one of the pricier drive-ins ($54.99 per car) but also allows people to sit outside their vehicles. And more recently, Tribeca Enterprises, the company cofounded by Robert De Niro that puts on the Tribeca Film Festival every year, announced that they will be showing outdoor films at Orchard Beach in The Bronx and Nickerson Beach in Nassau County as part of their Tribeca Drive-In series throughout July.
