LONG ISLAND CITY — Socrates Sculpture Park's annual outdoor summer movie series will kick off with a screening of a documentary about Russian punk band Pussy Riot, organizers announced this week.
Now in its 16th season, this year's Outdoor Cinemas festival — a collaboration between Socrates, Film Forum and Rooftop Films — will show a different international movie at the waterfront park every Wednesday in July and August.
The first screening on July 2 will be "Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer," a film by Maxim Pozdorovkin and Mike Lerner that chronicles the feminist rockers' protest performance at a Moscow cathedral and their subsequent arrest and trial.
This will be the first outdoor screening for the award-winning documentary and its first public showing since it was banned in Moscow in December, according to organizers.
In all, this year's Outdoor Cinema lineup includes eight films from around the world — Argentina, central Africa, France, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Senegal, Sweden, and the U.K. — selected by Film Forum programmer Mike Maggiore and Rooftop Films' artistic director Mark Elijah Rosenberg.
Each movie will be shown in its original language with English subtitles, and screenings will be paired with public performances and regional cuisine that will celebrate the culture of the film.
"With this impressive roster of foreign films, Film Forum has once again put forth an extraordinary season that truly reflects the cultural diversity of Queens," Socrates Sculpture Park executive director John Hatfield said in a statement.
Admission to the events is free. Performances begin at 7 p.m., and the films start at sunset. For a full schedule and list of movies being shown, visit Socrates Sculpture Park's website.
