Queens Drive-In coming to Flushing
Meadows Corona Park in August
Photo via Wikimedia Commons
BY BILL PARRY
The New York Hall of Science
will remain closed until
mid-2021 due to the COVID-19
pandemic, but its vast parking
field in Flushing Meadows
Corona Park will not
go unused. It will house the
Queens Drive-In, which will
start next month and offer free
and ticketed screenings of new
independent films, as well as
recent and classic films of all
genres.
Rooftop Films, in partnership
with the Museum of the
Moving Image, the Hall of Science
and the city’s Economic
Development Corporation,
will present films throughout
the remainder of the summer
and in the fall.
“For 24 years, it has been
Rooftop’s mission to bring
New Yorkers together via the
media of film,” Rooftop Films
Artistic Director Dan Nuxoll
said. “With theaters shuttered
and most festivals postponed
or moving to streaming, we
hope that these events will be
part of a collaborative healing
process for our neighbors, and
give us an opportunity to once
again spotlight the most daring
new films from around the
world.”
Rooftop will also present a
drive-in festival at The Brooklyn
Armory working with Mutual
Aid Risk and Safety to ensure
both sites meet city and
state safety protocols. Screenings
will be available only to
those in an enclosed vehicle
at first but the partners will
continue conversations with
the proper agencies to determine
whether in the future it
will be safe and legal to adapt
event spaces to accommodate
socially distanced walk-up attendees.
“In this unusual New York
summer without concerts and
other large-scale events in the
parks, Queens is proud to partner
with Rooftop Films and
others to present this drive-in
movie series as an option for
families and friends to enjoy
together while still prioritizing
safety,” Acting Queens
Borough President Sharon Lee
said. “We are especially delighted
to bring New Yorkers
a number of these films free of
charge here in the ‘Borough of
Families.’”
A portion of public ticket
sales will be donated to Elmcor,
the youth and adult social
services organization serving
Elmhurst and Corona, and
free tickets to most programs
will be made available to residents
of Corona and Elmhurst,
the neighborhoods that were
hardest hit by the coronavirus
crisis.
“After months of stay-athome
orders and social distancing,
New Yorkers are
craving the opportunity to
safely go out and seek entertainment,”
Councilman Francisco
Moya said. “I’m thrilled
to see Rooftop Films team up
with the Museum of the Moving
Image and the New York
Hall of Science to provide both
its first-ever drive-in festival,
and I’m proud to support this
fantastic initiative.”
Programming will include
screenings of new independent
and foreign films, new
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.2 COM | JULY 31-AUG. 6, 2020
and classic family films, and
classic repertory and thematic
programming by the New
York Hall of Science and the
Museum of the Moving Image.
“At MoMI, we believe in
the excitement of being in the
same space to watch movies,
and in continuing the legacy
of cinema as a shared experience,”
MoMI Executive Director
Carl Goodman said. “We
are also pleased to partner
with Rooftop Films and NYSCI,
as it allows us to bring
communal moviegoing back
to Queens during a time when
many have been hit hard, including
independent filmmakers
who have lost the venues
for their work.”
Visit the Queens Drive-in
website in the coming weeks
for schedules and ticket sales.
“It is our hope that the
Queens Drive-In will help in
the process of revitalizing
culture in the borough,” NYSCI
President and CEO Dr.
Margaret Honey said. “We’re
beginning by showing films,
but as we are able, we hope to
feature cultural programming
from Queens organizations.
This partnership among the
Museum of the Moving Image,
Rooftop Films and the New
York Hall of Science has made
an additional commitment to
use a portion of the drive-ins
proceeds to go to Queens organizations
that are helping the
communities most afflicted by
COVID-19 recover.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by
e-mail at bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718)
260–4538.
Photo by Todd Maisel
Three ‘Play Streets’
to open in Jax Hgts
BY JACOB KAYE
Three Jackson Heights
streets will be among the
first in the city to be dubbed
“Play Streets,” a new car-free
street initiative designed to
provide open space for children
to play outdoors to prevent
the spread of COVID-19
beginning on July 30, Mayor
Bill de Blasio announced on
Friday, July 24.
All three Play Streets in
Queens will be open to children
to participate in independent
arts and crafts projects,
giant board games and
games of basketball, frisbee,
Wiffle ball, kickball and laser
tag. Reading corners, dance
classes and yoga will also be
available.
The program supplements
the Open Streets and Open
Restaurants programs created
this summer to provide
space for people to safety
social distance and help prevent
the spread of the novel
coronavirus.
The three Play Street locations
in Jackson Heights
will all be on 34th Avenue, a
street that’s currently being
utilized for the Open Streets
program. Kids will be free
to play on 34th Avenue from
72nd Street to 74th Street,
79th Street to 80th Street
and from 92nd Street to 94th
Street from 10 a.m. until 4
p.m., on Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday.
The program will run until
Sep. 4.
In addition to the sporting
and craft equipment, nonprofit
Street Lab will provide
160 benches to Play Streets locations
throughout the city.
While the mayor plans
to add more throughout the
summer, there are 12 Play
Streets slated to open at the
end of the month – four will
be in Brooklyn, two in the
Bronx, two in Manhattan,
three in Queens and one in
Staten Island.
“Young people deserve the
chance to play freely in their
neighborhoods while staying
safe from COVID-19, and Play
Streets will go a long way toward
easing the burden of a
summer unlike any other,”
de Blasio said. “Rebuilding a
fairer and better city means
using our urban landscape
creatively, and I’m proud to
build on the success of our
Open Streets program by
finding exciting and productive
uses for city streets.”
In addition to the three
Play Streets, four new stretches
of Open Streets will come
to the borough, the mayor announced.
In Long Island City, Dutch
Kills Street from Jackson Avenue
to Thomas Avenue will
be closed to traffic and open
to pedestrians and cyclists.
In Astoria, 31st Avenue
from 31st Street to 36th Street
will be added to the Open
Streets program, as well as
47th Street from 39th Avenue
to Skillman Avenue and 49th
Street from 39th Avenue to
Skillman Avenue in Jackson
Heights.
While the borough is gaining
three-quarters-of-a-mile
of car-free streets, it will also
be losing three Open Street
locations.
Long Island City’s Center
Boulevard and 43rd Avenue
locations and East Elmhurst’s
85th Avenue location will reopen
to normal traffic.
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