The Governors Island Outdoor Summer Movie Lineup Is Here

May 29, 2019, 11:50 a.m.

This year's theme is Escape IN New York.

Swooooooon.

Swooooooon.

Last year Governors Island brought movies to the lush green lawn that once served as home to Manhattan’s only golf course (a 9-hole course built in the 1930s). And they've just announced that they're bringing the big screen back this year, with a little help from Film at Lincoln Center.

This year's theme: Escape In New York. Each picture was chosen as a way to "celebrate all the ways in which our city, like cinema itself, provides visitors, new arrivals, and lifelong residents alike with infinite avenues of escape: from the humdrum routines of a straitlaced existence, from the frustrations and indignities of childhood, and from the pain of one's own past."

The series features just one movie screening per month, for a total of 3 all season... which is unfortunate, as this is the best outdoor summer movie screening in the city, with a relaxed vibe and plenty of space to sprawl out on the Parade Grounds. Not to mention the iconic backdrop of the Lower Manhattan skyline, all taken in from a bucolic setting.

Here's the lineup:

  • June 14th: Men in Black (Barry Sonnenfeld, 1997, 98m) Update, they have replaced this with School of Rock, preceded by Mr. Yellow Sweatshirt (Pacho Velez & Yoni Brook, 2017, 8m)
  • July 12th: After Hours (Martin Scorsese, 1985, 98m), preceded by Ada (Eleanore Pienta, 2018, 11m)
  • August 9th: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004, 108m), preceded by To the Unknown (Michael Almereyda, 2018, 6m)

The screenings are free, and food and drinks will be available for purchase at each screening from Threes Brewing, Perros y Vainas, People's Pops, Melt Bakery and more. Festivities (including music) begin at 6 p.m., with the show kicking off at dusk.

While the island typically closes at 6 or 7 p.m., on movie nights (and all Fridays and Saturdays between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend), they keep things open until 10 p.m. Here's a guide to Governors Island's 2019 season, which includes a guide to getting there on the ferry.