The Fremont “Almost Free” Outdoor Cinema

The Outdoor Cinema began one summer Saturday night in 1992, as the Fremont Almost Free Outdoor Cinema; an experiment in old-fashioned summer fun, with an audience of about two hundred hearty film enthusiasts.

Bringing along lawn chairs, the occasional stuffed couch, here and there a rug, a claw-footed floor lamp, and one iron bed on wheels. They gathered at the slightly off-beat Seattle neighborhood of Fremont to watch high-camp bad “B” movies against a wall in a parking lot.

The original idea was to have fun and watch movies in an unstructured atmosphere of irreverent, laid-back, good humor. It became a zany, community-spirited celebration of big screen cult classics spiced with interactive audience games and contests. From opening night, the format was bring your own chair and make a suggested donation of $5. Proceeds after event costs were covered, were shared with designated local worthy causes. People liked that.

The format remains the same today. Our audiences have grown. Locations keep sprouting up, starting with Boulder, Colorado, in 1995 and Berkeley, California in 1997. Since 1998, there has been interest to expand the concept and the festival to Los Angeles. With growing popularity, the Outdoor Cinema has expanded its concept and its cinematic offerings as well. Whereas a couple of hundred first gathered at the Outdoor Cinema, many now attend the Outdoor Cinema weekly in standing-room-only crowds of several hundred.

What was originally a neighborhood oddity has become a much anticipated summer institution. To the predictable fun and popular feature-length pop classics, we have added the showcase of exciting new short subjects in film, video and computer-animated genre rarely or never seen by general audiences.

The Fremont Outdoor Cinema is intent on creating a network of national and international venues. For the festival in which the works of talented new filmmakers can be critically reviewed and appreciated, in a relaxed atmosphere of fun and mutual enjoyment.

Each week, in each venue, we will be blending enthusiasm for pop favorites and cult classics with the fresh perspectives of new film shorts.

The rest is synergy.

Jon Hegeman
Co-Founder
Fremont Outdoor Cinema