It’s time for all cinephiles to bask in the summer sun. Ben & Jerry’s Openair Cinemas will be returning to Bondi this week and boy, does the program look tantalising. Jam-packed with new releases, includingGone Girl,InterstellarandThe Imitation Game, cult classics and sing-alongs, plus music nights that will get your booty shaking to the likes of Dax Golding and Husky, this season is something to be excited about. In anticipation of Openair 2015, the BRAG caught up with film programmer Juliana Chin to talk movies and all the rest.
“[The regular cinema] is quite an isolated experience,” says the self-confessed film buff. “You know, at the cinema, you are in a room and sharing that experience with people you don’t know – but I think with Openair there’s definitely an environment cultivated for people communicating, engaging and interacting.
“We have a pop-up pizza [stand], so they’ll be cooked onsite, and we have salads as well – they’re really good. On Sundays we have unlimited Ben & Jerry’sice-cream and afternoon activities, so you can come down and get some food, bring your friends, have a drink, have a picnic if you want, or hire a bean bag or you can sit on a rug with your friends. It’s not just about seeing the film.”
Expect plenty of interaction and discussion around the cult classics on the program, like Dirty Dancing or The Breakfast Club. “As a rule across the board, we always have a really good mix of new releases and cult classics,” says Chin.
Openair has always been a strong advocate for environmental conscientiousness. All proceeds from this year’s Sundae Sessions Charity Launch, which will feature critically lauded UK film Pride and a performance from Melbourne’s Husky, will be donated to the WWF and their attempts to help conserve Australian marine turtles. Last year, Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt approved the development of Carmichael, the largest coal mine in Australia off the coast of central Queensland, whose establishment could mean great peril for the Great Barrier Reef’s fragile ecosystem and the habitats of the turtles that live there.
“I think it’s extremely important,” says Chin of the cause, adding that WWF will be screening its award-winning film, Sending The Gungu Home, about their turtle-saving efforts. “I think we should really get behind any organisation protecting animals or the environment.”
In the past, Openair has been supportive of many environmentally and charitably minded causes, including Sea Shepherd, Take 3 and OzHarvest. All these initiatives have one thing in common: minimising environmental damage and pollution.
“It’s [really] about how we are minimising the damage we do to the environment by resourcing. A really big part of Openair is getting behind and supporting these organisations, particularly the smaller ones that are growing and emerging, and helping nurture those relationships between our audiences and their work – so basically engaging the community and getting people aware and able to do something”.
Despite the seriousness of this message, Chin assures us that Openair is ultimately about “uniting together and having fun together. It’s not like sitting in a closed environment watching a film. It’s fun, summery and upbeat.”
Ben & Jerry’s Openair Cinemas atBondi Beach is running fromThursday January 22 – Sunday March 1, session times and tickets online.
