Athens Open Air Film Fest Kicks Off

Athens Open Air Film Festival: over 20 film screenings will take place at Athens’ open air cinemas in September.

The 5th Open Air Film Festival featuring screenings of popular movies at outdoor venues city-wide kicks off tomorrow with 1928 silent movie The Cameraman starring Buster Keaton, at the Temple of Olympian Zeus in the heart of Athens.

Through to September, with the support of the Greek National Tourism Organization (GNTO) and the City of Athens Cultural, Sport & Youth Organization, the 5th annual film fest will this year bring some of cinema’s favorite films to be screened at open-air locations throughout town free of charge.

Outdoor venues include historic spots such as the Ancient Kolonos Theater and the Temple of Olympian Zeus, at parks, pedestrian walkways, the Numismatic, Byzantine and Benaki museums, as well as at Athens’ trademark summer cinemas (therina cinema) the Cine Dexameni in Kolonaki, the Cine Zephyros in Petralona and the Ellinis Cinemax.

Films to be screened include The Trouble with Harry (Alfred Hitchcock), The French Connection (William Frintkin), Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick), After Hours (Martin Scorsese), Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The Rocky Horror Picture Show by Jim Sharman.

Launched in 2011, the Athens Open Air Film Festival aims to promote historic monuments of Athens by organizing film happenings on the premises. The annual happening won a 2015 Tourism Award in the “cultural tourism” category.