History
Screen on the Green is an annual summertime outdoor film festival held on the National Mall between 4th and 7th Streets, NW. The free screenings are held on Monday nights in July and August and start at sunset (roughly 8:30 pm). In its 12th year, nearly 15,000 people were attending each showing.
Since 1999, tens of thousands of residents of – and visitors to – the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region have attended Screen on the Green presented by HBO. In 2009, right before it’s 10th Anniversary, the landmark event was almost canceled for lack of funding.
By forming Facebook groups, Tweeting and writing letters to potential sponsors, the local community played a key role in helping secure additional sponsorship funding and reinforcing the event’s importance to the community-at-large in 2009.
Recognizing the role that “Screen on the Green,” plays in the community and demonstrating the event’s continued popularity and demand, Washington City Paper readers voted Screen On The Green first runner-up for “Best Festival.” Moreover, as a tribute to our grassroots efforts last year, the editors of the Washington City Paper selected Screen on the Green as the “Best Thing to Come From a Facebook Protest.”
In Spring 2010, when it was learned that, once again, Screen on the Green was threatened, Jesse B Rauch and Lauren Miller, the creators of the original Facebook groups, combined forces with the D.C. Film Alliance to launch the “Save Screen on the Green” campaign.
In Winter 2010/2011, the “Save Screen on the Green” campaign began cementing a relationship with HBO representatives to ensure the continued vitality of Screen on the Green. Rebranded as “Friends of Screen on the Green, FOSOTG combines traditional organizing and social media tools to promote outdoor summer movie screenings, as well as ensuring the continued success of Screen on the Green.
Film History
Screen on the Green 2011
July 25 – In the Heat of the Night
August 1 – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
August 8 – Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
August 15 – Cool Hand Luke
Screen on the Green 2010
July 12 – Goldfinger
July 19 – The Goodbye Girl
July 26 – 12 Angry Men
August 2 – Bonnie and Clyde
Screen on the Green 2009
July 20 – Close Encounters of the Third Kind
July 27 – Dog Day Afternoon
August 3 – On the Waterfront
August 10 – Rebel Without a Cause
Screen on the Green 2008
July 14 – Dr. No
July 21 – The Candidate
July 28 – Arsenic and Old Lace
August 4 – The Apartment
August 11 – Superman
Screen on the Green 2007
July 16 – Annie Hall
July 23 – The Thing (From Another World)
July 30 – Wait Until Dark
August 6 – All the King’s Men
August 13 – Casablanca
Screen on the Green 2006
July 17 – The Day the Earth Stood Still
July 24 – The Band Wagon
July 31 – Bullitt
August 7 – To Have and Have Not
August 14 – Rocky
Screen on the Green 2005
July 18 – The Way We Were
July 25 – The Treasure of Sierra Madre
August 1 – Suspicion
August 8 – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
August 15 – The Big Sleep
Screen on the Green 2004
July 19 – All the President’s Men
July 26 – Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
August 2 – Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
August 9 – The Thin Man
August 16 – Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Screen on the Green 2003
July 14 – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
July 21 – The Postman Always Rings Twice
July 28 – Mutiny On the Bounty
August 4 – Jailhouse Rock
August 11 – 2001: A Space Odyssey
Screen on the Green 2002
July 15 – On the Town
July 22 – Strangers on a Train
July 29 – Blackboard Jungle
August 5 – The Yearling
August 12 – Viva Las Vegas
Screen on the Green 2001
July 9 – An American in Paris
July 16 – A Streetcar Named Desire
July 23 – A Patch of Blue
July 30 – The Maltese Falcon
August 6 – Meet Me in St. Louis
Screen on the Green 2000
July 17 – Singin’ in the Rain
July 24 – The Adventures of Robin Hood
July 31 – The Philadelphia Story
August 7 – Forbidden Planet
August 14 – North by Northwest
Screen on the Green 1999
Casablanca
The Wizard of Oz
Citizen Kane
King Kong
Rebel Without a Cause
Thank you to Todd G. who helped us find the 1999 and 2000 films! This is now a complete list of films shown at Screen on the Green in DC since the festival’s inception.