The first-ever Pride Movie Nights at Oracle Park — with this year’s theme organized around the ideas of inclusivity and togetherness — will feature in-person film screenings of the film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical In the Heights, plus a second unannounced feature picture, in June.
For its 50th anniversary in 2020, San Francisco Pride hosted an entirely virtual celebration amid climbing COVID-19 cases. (Big Freedia’s Twitch-streamed headlining act will forever occupy a happy corner of my mind, rent-free.) But with vaccination rates rising and California planning to soon remove its COVID-19 restrictions, the 51st San Francisco Pride festivities are looking to be largely in-real-life affairs. And the nonprofit’s movie nights at Oracle Park are expected to host thousands of people in an outdoor space that allows for “public safety and social distancing.”
TICKETS ON SALE NOW! Together with @sfgiants @framelinefest & @cogsandmarvel we've designed a one-of-a-kind experience for this year’s Pride celebration: Movie Nights at Oracle Park, June 11-12
— SF Pride (@SFPride) May 11, 2021
🎟️ https://t.co/ojP4OFoboX
Feat: @shannonamitin @sirjoq @BionkaStevens Voodonna pic.twitter.com/FOXZlwTVIX
Jointly announced by San Francisco Pride and Frameline — the non-profit organization behind the annual San Francisco International LGBTQI+ Film Festival — Pride Movie Nights at Oracle Park will be hosted on Friday, June 11, and that following Saturday, June 12, at 8 p.m. each night; the film for the event’s second screening, however, hasn’t been decided yet.
The Friday night show, too, will double as a kick-off to Frameline’s 45th LGBTQI+ film festival.
“I can’t think of a better way to kick off Frameline45 than with an in-person screening of Jon M. Chu’s highly anticipated film adaptation of In the Heights, a film that celebrates the spirit of community,” said James Woolley, the Executive Director of Frameline, in a press release. “We are honored to partner with San Francisco Pride and Giants Enterprises on this first-ever movie night and look forward to bringing audiences together from throughout the San Francisco Bay Area to share in this collective experience."
Citing “current trends” around the City’s handling of the pandemic, Executive Director of San Francisco Pride Fred Lopez is “optimistic” that when the film festival begins, denizens of San Francisco will be able to participate in once normal activities — “cheering, laughing, and simply being together.”
“We know that this is what our communities have been aching to experience for more than a year, and we’re confident that our team will create a safe, welcoming environment that’s memorable, too,” Lopez adds in the same release, which also notes that additional San Francisco Pride 51 festivities will take place throughout the month of June.
Pride Movie Nights at Oracle Park are set to be socially distanced and ticketed events — which are subjected to uphold whatever state-mandated capacity limits exist at the time — and are the result of a cooperation with the Giants Enterprises and support from the City and County of San Francisco. (Attendees of the screenings will need to wear their masks, except when dining or drinking.)
Individual tickets, which are priced to reflect varying degrees of included niceties, range from $24.99 to $44.99; the “On-Field Experience package” is priced at $2,499.96, which allows for twelve guests to nestle themselves inside a well-appointed large “pod” in the outfield.
For more information on Pride Movie Nights at Oracle Park, as well as to purchase tickets, visit frameline.org/pridemovienight.
Related: SF Pride Won't Have a Parade In 2021, But There Will Be Some In-Person Events
Image: Courtesy of San Francisco Pride