Black Barn OpenAir Cinema – A Festival Of Film Under The Stars

Hawke’s Bay is gearing up for its 17th OpenAir Cinema season starting on 27 December at the Black Barn Amphitheatre in Havelock North. Music featured prominently (and very successfully) during the last season. For this season, the team at Black Barn has secured a wide variety of movies to satisfy a broad range of film appetites, including another few that showcase the music genre in one way or another.

The new season is back and so is everyone's fa­vourite bear! Paddington 2 is THE movie experience for adults and kids alike. “Director Paul King has once again come up with the perfect antidote to the cynicism, selfishness and hatred of the times we live in. This is a light, touching, magical film with imaginative visuals, interesting characters and an uplifting message.” Laramie, Movie Scope

Saoirse Ronan is the leading woman in two fabulous movies this season. In May Queen of Scots she portrays the turbulent life of the charismatic Mary Stuart. Queen of France at 16 and widowed at 18, Mary Stuart defies pressure to remarry. Instead, she returns to her native Scotland to reclaim her rightful throne. However, Scotland and England fall under the rule of Elizabeth I. Rivals in power and in love; the two must decide how to play the game of marriage versus independence.

The story of The Post, starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, fits perfectly and scarily in our current (media) environment: "Truth be told". Which truth? The one that is shouted the loudest, the one that is given by the highest powers or companies? The Post follows a cover-up spanning four U.S. Presidents and pushes the country's first female newspaper publisher and her editor to join an unprecedented battle between press and government.

The stellar cast (Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Laura Dern, Timothee Chalamet, and Meryl Streep) of Little Women star in this magnificent cinematic rendering of Louisa May Alcott's immortal 19th-century novel. Greta Gerwig delivers the classic in a blissful and innovative screen adaptation that feels ageless and vastly of today.

Pavarotti opens the curtains again on the 2 January. Two-time Academy Award winning director Ron Howard’s documentary celebrates the life of the beloved opera star Luciano Pavarotti, who sold over 100 million records in his lifetime. The 1990 World Cup in Italy was the moment opera left the elite and hit the masses. Opera star Pavarotti joined fellow tenors Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras onstage in Rome watched by 1.4 billion worldwide. The voice. The man. The drama. The legend.

From writer/director Guy Ritchie comes a star-studded (Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant, Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Colin Farrell) and sophisticated action-comedy. The Gentlemen follows an American expat who built a highly profitable marijuana empire in London. When word gets out that he is looking to cash out of the business forever, it triggers plots, schemes, bribery and blackmail in an attempt to steal his domain out from under him.

Everyone has a motive. No one has a clue. "Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is one of the most purely entertaining films in years. It is the work of a cinematic magician, one who keeps you so focused on what the left hand is doing that you miss the right. Great mystery writers throughout history have dissected class in ways that were palatable to audiences looking for escapism, and Johnson is clearly doing that here too, using a wonderfully entertaining mystery structure that would make Agatha Christie smile. Directing a wildly charismatic cast (Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson) who are all-in on what he’s doing, Rian confidently stays a step or two ahead of his audience, leaving them breathless but satisfied at the end." Brian Tallerico

Best Actress in a Leading Role, Academy Awards 2020; Best Actress, BAFTAs 2020; Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Golden Globes 2020. Renée Zellweger gives us the performance of her life playing Judy Garland: singing and acting her heart out; portraying the bruised soul of "The legend behind the rainbow."

Closing the curtain of the 17th season sees Matt Damon and Christian Bale in the Bio-Action movie Ford v Ferrari taking the American dream for a ride. American automotive designer Carroll Shelby and fearless British race car driver Ken Miles battle corporate interference, the laws of physics and their own personal demons to build a revolutionary vehicle for the Ford Motor Co. Together, they plan to compete against the race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966.

The season will run over nine nights from 27 – 30 December and from 2 – 6 January.

“Everybody loves the experience of watching movies on the big screen nestled in the picturesque vineyard setting of the amphitheatre”, Urs Blum states. "It has perfect acoustics, great sight lines, the best of technology installed, and it offers views to die for."

Moviegoers can relax on grassed terraces, sip a glass of wine with friends, enjoy a nibble from the onsite caterers or bring their own picnic, and watch the sun set over Hawke’s Bay. It is the ultimate outdoor experience: great films, great technology, great sound, great food, and great company under the stars.

Admission:

Online: Adult $ 20 / Child (5-12 yrs): $10 plus ticket fee

Gate sales: Adult $ 25 / Child (5-12 yrs): $15

Gift tickets (available until 24 December and online only) are valid for any movie

The full programme, trailers, the print-your-own-ticket facility (booking fee applies) as well as movie and venue details are available on the Black Barn website (www.blackbarn.com).

Other selected ticketing outlets are:

Black Barn Vineyards, Black Barn Road, Havelock North, 877 79 85

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