Kennedy Center Reveals Lineup of Summer Films at The REACH

The Kennedy Center has announcedits highly anticipated Summer Film Series @ The REACH. Featuring a diverse selection of beloved films, the Summer Film Series offers something for everyone: classics, family films, action, and a special evening of short films presented as a part of the Kennedy Center's 10,000 Dreams: A Festival of Asian Choreography. 

Guests will have the opportunity to experience the magic of the big screen while enjoying the beautiful surroundings and vibrant atmosphere of the Kennedy Center's REACH campus, with films shown every Friday evening at sundown on the REACH video wall from May 31–August 30, 2024.

"We are thrilled to move to the Kennedy Center's outdoor plaza with our Extraordinary Cinema Series this summer," said Thérèse LaGamma, Director of Public Programs at The Kennedy Center. "This series is an opportunity for the D.C. community to come together, connect, and enjoy the magic of cinema in a welcoming and vibrant setting under the stars. We invite everyone to join us for these wonderful events that embody the spirit of good-spirited fun and laughter."

The Summer Film Series schedule is as follows:

Friday, May 31, 2024: JURASSIC PARK

Friday, June 7, 2024: DREAMGIRLS

Friday, June 14, 2024: 10,000 DREAMS: A FESTIVAL OF ASIAN CHOREOGRAPHY

Curated by the Kennedy Center and Phil Chan, 10,000 Dreams spotlights Asian and Asian American choreographers. This week's film screening presents a series of short films—some dance films, and others dance documentaries all led, directed, choreographed, or featuring the stories of Asian creatives in dance. Throughout the night, experience 10 independent films representing a wide variety of dance styles and stories told by artists coast to coast across the U.S.:

LE BALLET DES PORCELAINS[: The Kennedy Center's NEXT 50 member Phil Chan and NYU Associate Professor Meredith Martin (CBA '21) have reimagined this lost Baroque work with an all-Asian American creative team, aiming to make it meaningful and relevant for a multiracial and contemporary audience. The piece centers around characters confined within a porcelain pot and was performed by Italian musicians and American dancers. The story seamlessly transitions between various locations.

NECESSARY DEATH: Direction and Choreography: Ishita Mili; Featuring: Krishna Basude

Through the kaleidoscopes of a desolate world, “Necessary Death,” follows the last 2 people alive trying to escape an apocalyptic chemical wasteland.

EXCERPT FROM RECLAIMING US: Created and Directed by Lauren DeVera

A short dance film is dedicated to the AAPI community. This song, in Tagalog (Filipino Language) and English, represents both the privilege and price of being from a marginalized community. It's a reclamation of our power, pride in our Filipino and Asian culture, and a reminder to be bold, take up space, and share your story.

LOVE LETTER: Choreographed by Caili Quan Filmmakers: Nathaniel Brown & Elliot deBruyn

Love Letter is a tribute to Filipino choreographer and dancer Caili Quan's family and upbringing in Guam. This excerpt is inspired by my mahålang for home, the Chamorro word that encompasses the longing and missing of someone, something, or someplace.

OUT OF THE DUST: Co-created by Yayoi Kambara and Brian Staufenbiel

Out of the Dust is a dance film, dedicated to the memory of Japanese American poet and child incarceree Janice Mirikitani, where ghosts of Manzanar Detention Camp come to life through poetry, music, and movement. After closing the camps, who and what memories were left behind in the windy dust-laden desert of Manzanar?

HÁI HOA: Filmmaker: Loan Hoang

"Hái Hoa" is a reclamation of what it means to be femme by reimagining traditional constructs of Vietnamese femininity through music, fashion, and representation. Filmmaker: Loan Hoang

BINI-BAE-LAKI: Directed by Marc Nuñez

“Bini - Bae - Laki” is inspired by our Filipinx 2-spirit ancestors, who are neither male nor female. The movement is a fusion of Filipinx folk dance, contemporary and street styles, choreographed and danced by Marc Nuñez and Michaela Ternasky-Holland; filmed and edited by Grant Hao-Wei Lin; and music by Gingee.

IN-VISIBLE: Directed and Choreographed by: Jesse Obremski

Stemming from the AAPI hate crimes of 2021, In-Visible touches on all-too-common experiences of AAPI individuals of feeling unheard, unrecognized, and unseen. Many say that invisibility is a fabulous superpower, but this work questions how ‘super' it is when it is oppressed onto you. 

SUNRISE ON RED: Directed, Choreographed, and Starring Lam Nguyen 

SUNRISE ON RED was an official selection of Dare to Dance in Public Film Festival (D2D), where it was screened at RED CAT in Los Angeles, in January 2020, and won an Award for Most Original Movement. Directed, choreographed, and starring Lam Nguyen

TEN TIMES BETTER: Directed by Jennifer Lin

Ten Times Better tells the astonishing story of an 89-year-old Chinese American blackjack dealer in Las Vegas with an unheralded place in ballet and Broadway history. His remarkable past spans dancing as a child in Shanghai nightclubs in the 1940s to originating the "Tea" dance in George Balanchine's 1954 premiere of The Nutcracker, before catching the eye of Gene Kelly who cast him in Rodgers & Hammerstein Flower Drum Songs.

Friday, June 21, 2024: ELEMENTAL

Presented in honor of World Refugee Day in partnership with UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency.

Friday, June 28, 2024: RATATOUILLE 

Friday, July 5, 2024: IN THE HEIGHTS

Friday, July 12, 2024: THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON

Friday, July 19, 2024: A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT

Friday, July 26, 2024: THE SCHOOL OF ROCK

Friday, August 2, 2024: Dr. Seuss' THE LORAX

Friday, August 9, 2024: REAR WINDOW

Friday, August 16, 2024: FREE SOLO

Friday, August 23, 2024: LINCOLN

Friday, August 30, 2024: CHOCOLAT

For Millennium Stage Outdoor Film screenings on the REACH Video Wall, no tickets are required but Registration is encouraged so you can get the most up-to-date status of the films. If not registered, please check the website on the day of the film screening for cancelation or location changes. A limited number of seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis for our guests with disabilities. Films start at sundown or around 8:30 p.m.

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