Kicking off tomorrow, Saturday, February 4, and running for a full 24 hours, Sydney will host a free outdoor cinema near Hyde Park running through a list of cult classics as part of the Mopoke festival. And while that’s not really new for the harbour city – outdoor cinemas, albeit usually ticketed, are a dime a dozen throughout the year – this one will have the distinction of moving away from blockbusters and focusing on a hefty, diverse lineup running through the likes of Studio Ghibli, Wes Anderson, and Sofia Coppola.
Nocturnal cinephiles or anyone who isn’t ready to call it a night will get the most use out of this one, given this is one of those rare times when you could head on out at 3 AM to catch a film, right up until the final film screening at 3:30 PM on Sunday, February 5.
Mopoke, a free 24-hour cultural and food festival taking over Macquarie Street East with various pop-ups and activations, will run alongside the free outdoor cinema. It’s part of a push to make Sydney feel a bit more lively after-hours, taking place between Shakespeare Place and Hyde Park Barracks while the eastern stretch of Macquarie Street becomes a pedestrian-only all-ages playground.
It all kicks off at 6 PM on Saturday and, while it’s free to all, bookings will be required for each screening. Some have already been sold out, like the opening screening of Tom Gleeson’s Secrets of the Australian Museum documentary, the midnight screening of Lost In Translation and the 6 AM screening of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away.
We’ve included the full schedule below so you can, as well as listed which ones are currently sold out, so you can plan ahead. Booking as soon as you can is encouraged though since demand is already quite high.
Mopoke Festival’s Free Outdoor Cinema Schedule (From Saturday, February 4)
- 6PM – Tom Gleeson’s Secrets of the Australian Museum (Sold Out)
- 7PM – Mopoke Short Film Festival (Sold Out)
- 10PM – Whiteley (Sold Out)
- 12AM – Lost In Translation (Sold Out)
- 2AM – Show People
- 4AM – The Artist
- 6AM – Spirited Away
- 8:30AM – The French Dispatch
- 10:30AM – Tom Gleeson’s Secrets of the Australian Museum
- 11:30AM – My Neighbour Totoro (Sold Out)
- 1:30PM – Midnight In Paris
- 3:30PM – At Eternity’s Gate
