The Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality, in partnership with the Tel Aviv Cinematheque, is inviting Israelis to park up, sit back and enjoy the nostalgia as the city’s famous drive-in theater returns to life this week at the Shlomo Group Arena parking lot.
In honor of the 15th of Av, the Jewish Festival of Love, the restored drive-in is screening romantic movies.
Originally launched in March 1973, Tel Aviv’s first drive-in complex was closed in 2000. The multi-purpose drive-in arena, subsequently renamed the Shlomo Group Arena, was inaugurated at the site in December 2014 and used primarily as the home arena for the basketball team Hapoel Tel Aviv..
Movies will be screened at the drive-in theater on Wednesday and Thursday this week, August 5-6, exclusively for DigiTel Resident Card holders. Tickets must be purchased ahead of time via the municipality website.
Each screening will welcome a total of 200 vehicles, strictly in accordance with Health Ministry guidelines and public health standards. Movie audio will be transmitted in high quality via an FM radio frequency.
Tel Aviv-Yafo Mayor Ron Huldai said in a statement: “Tel Aviv is the ‘non-stop city’ but the coronavirus outbreak understandably halted a large share of cultural and leisure activity. Nevertheless, we constantly searched for creative ways to grant residents access to culture. The return of the drive-in is another creative way to pass the hot August days, in accordance with Health Ministry guidelines.”
The opening of the drive-in theater joins a long list of municipal initiatives launched to support cultural activity in the city. Those include providing support to artists and cultural organizations facing difficulties resulting from the crisis; subsidizing intimate outdoor performances in restaurants and cafes; funding street performances in central locations; and offering hundreds of outdoor activities for families and elderly residents every month.
Screenings (gates open at 8 p.m.):
August 5 (9 PM): Screening of ” La belle époque” (A disillusioned Victor finds his life turned upside down by an offer from entrepreneur Antoine).
August 6 (PM): Screening of “Zero Motivation” (Female Israeli soldiers are posted to a remote desert base and spend their time pushing paper until they can return to civilian life).
The screenings are organized by Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality’s Arts and Culture Division (Performance Department), in partnership with municipal companies: Tel Aviv Cinematheque, Expo Tel Aviv and Sport Palaces of Tel Aviv-Yafo.