The grounds of the former sugar beet factory in Groningen will once again be converted into an outdoor cinema this September.
Translation by Traci White
The Groninger Internet Courant reports that the programme for the eight edition of the Zienemaan & Sterren, which will be held from the 7th through the 9th of September, has been published. Good news for internationals in the region: all of the films are either in English or feature English subtitles. The three-day event will also host the kid-friendly Zienemini, screening children’s movies in the Wolkenfabriek restaurant on site during the day.
The film festival will feature three foreign films and will screen a different movie every night: “Salyut-7”, “Monterey Pop” and “How to Talk to Girls at Parties”.
Friday
On 7 September, the annual film festival will kick off with the Russian space travel thriller, “Salyut-7”, which was released in 2017 and tells the story of the 1985 Soviet space mission, Soyuz T-13. Think “Gravity” meets “Apollo 13” with a healthy dose of Russian melancholy and dark humour.
Saturday
“Monterey Pop” will be the feature film on Saturday evening. The movie is a compilation of performances by Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix and other rock gods at the Montetery pop festival, which is considered the birthplace of the modern music festival. Before Woodstock, there was Monterey Pop.
Sunday
Sunday night’s film is “How to Talk to Girls at Parties”, which also came out in 2017 and stars Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning. This interstellar love story filled with eye-popping wardrobe choices plays out in the London neighbourhood of Croydon in the ‘70s in the throes of the punk era.
Cinephiles can purchase tickets for each night of the festival for 9 euros a piece or a single ticket for all three nights for 22 euros on the Zienmaan en Sterren website. The grounds at Energieweg 10 will open to visitors at 6:30 p.m. and screenings will begin at 8:30 p.m. After each screening, guests can gather around a campfire for a chat about the films.
The first Zienemaan & Sterren event was held in the Ebbingekwartier in Groningen in 2011, and the outdoor film screenings have been held at the grounds of the former sugar beet factory since 2015. The event’s name is a pun based on the film screenings offered through the iconic Groningen performance venue, Vera – Zinema – and the outdoor setting, alluding to the moon and stars, both in the sky and on the screen.