Action! Annual Summer Movie Fest Kicks off with LEGO Batman

  • CSUN community members show off their pups at Summer Movie Fest. Photo by Lee Choo.

  • CSUN community members lay out on the grass waiting for this year's Summer Movie Fest to kick off with The LEGO Batman Movie. Photo by Lee Choo.

  • AS Productions encourages guests to attend screenings with their families and will have games and activities just for kids. Photo by Lee Choo.

  • A band played before the first screening of this year's Summer Movie Fest. Photo by Lee Choo.

  • Summer Movie Fest began last Thursday, but there are screenings every Thursday at dusk from now until Aug. 31. Photo by Lee Choo.

California State University, Northridge’s Associated Students (AS) Productions kicked off the university’s seventh annual free Summer Movie Fest by screening The LEGO Batman Movie on June 15. At dusk, approximately 2,500 people enjoyed food truck goodies and spread picnic blankets and lawn chairs on the Delmar T. Oviatt Library lawn to watch the computer-animated superhero comedy.

Taline Kazandjian, a community member who attended the movie with her family, said that while there are many outdoor movie screenings in the Los Angeles area, CSUN’s weekly event is unique.

“The movie selection is great because it has a large variety of movies, you can bring your pups, and a huge plus is that it’s free,” Kazandjian said.

Similar to previous summers’ movie series, this year’s schedule — every Thursday evening through Aug. 31 — has something for everyone, including blockbusters such as Captain America: Civil War and La La Land, animated family films such as Moana and Sing, and classics such as The Breakfast Club and Psycho.

One new aspect guests can expect at this year’s Summer Movie Fest is a musical performance before every screening, according to Dylan Haerle, one of five Summer Movie Fest producers. A band will warm up the crowd before each movie, starting around 5 p.m. every Thursday, Haerle said. 

The Summer Movie Fest started as an effort to strengthen the sense of community at CSUN, he noted.

“[We started Summer Movie Fest] to create an environment for students and [neighbors] to come and enjoy the atmosphere with their local community,” Haerle said. “But we also want to give back to the community.”

To achieve this goal, AS Productions will be having raffles at every movie screening. All proceeds from raffle ticket sales will go to the San Fernando Valley Rescue Mission. Guests can get tickets by donating goods such as clothes, food items or hygiene products before each movie or by purchasing tickets for $1 each. Raffle prizes will include DVDs and Disneyland tickets — two at the June 29 screening of Beauty and the Beast and two at the July 13 screening of Moana.

AS Productions encourages guests to bring blankets and short lawn chairs. Pets are welcome when leashed. This event is open to the public and free of charge. Parking on campus for those without a valid CSUN parking permit is $8 and available at kiosks around campus.

For more information and a complete listing of movies, visit the Associated Students Summer Movie Fest website.

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