My favorite thing to do in Los Angeles...
...is going to the Cinespia cemetery screenings.
Held every Saturday night at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Cinespia is an outdoor film screening series/massive picnic. Basically, a few hundred folks get together around 7:30 and eat tacos/goat cheese/grapes/fried chicken/whatever, get drunk on cheap beer and wine and enjoy the collective contact-high from tons of, ahem, hand-rolled cigarettes, listen to catchy music from a great DJ and then, at 9, the movie begins, projected onto the side of a giant mausoleum.
These movies run the gamut, from "Psycho" to "Repo Man," "Manhattan" to "Dressed To Kill," "A Place in the Sun" to "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure," "Over the Edge" to "Chinatown," and so on...
It's a film-lovers paradise, and for the those that criticize Los Angeles for having no sense of community, it's a perfect example of a diverse group of people unifying over two simple things: picnics and great flicks.
And...it's in one of the most historic, eye-opening cemeteries in America. That, I think, is the most unique aspect of Cinespia--it manages to transform a cemetery into a vital, public space. The United States, which I believe has an overt fear of death--quite different from the rest of the world, where death is more openly discussed, seen as part of a natural cycle, and therefore not a paralysis-inducing concept--seldom uses cemeteries for much other than, well, funerals.
It's funny to me that the most communal activity I've taken part in while in Los Angeles is in a cemetery. And it's inspiring to me that the thing that brings these people together is good movies (and the occasional so-bad-it's-good movie).
Stop by if you're in town...this coming Saturday they're showing "The Searchers"...!
Held every Saturday night at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Cinespia is an outdoor film screening series/massive picnic. Basically, a few hundred folks get together around 7:30 and eat tacos/goat cheese/grapes/fried chicken/whatever, get drunk on cheap beer and wine and enjoy the collective contact-high from tons of, ahem, hand-rolled cigarettes, listen to catchy music from a great DJ and then, at 9, the movie begins, projected onto the side of a giant mausoleum.
These movies run the gamut, from "Psycho" to "Repo Man," "Manhattan" to "Dressed To Kill," "A Place in the Sun" to "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure," "Over the Edge" to "Chinatown," and so on...
It's a film-lovers paradise, and for the those that criticize Los Angeles for having no sense of community, it's a perfect example of a diverse group of people unifying over two simple things: picnics and great flicks.
And...it's in one of the most historic, eye-opening cemeteries in America. That, I think, is the most unique aspect of Cinespia--it manages to transform a cemetery into a vital, public space. The United States, which I believe has an overt fear of death--quite different from the rest of the world, where death is more openly discussed, seen as part of a natural cycle, and therefore not a paralysis-inducing concept--seldom uses cemeteries for much other than, well, funerals.
It's funny to me that the most communal activity I've taken part in while in Los Angeles is in a cemetery. And it's inspiring to me that the thing that brings these people together is good movies (and the occasional so-bad-it's-good movie).
Stop by if you're in town...this coming Saturday they're showing "The Searchers"...!
posted by James Ponsoldt at 7:19 PM
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