Summer cultural nights
When summer arrives, terraces are set up in parks, rooftops and gardens to make the hot nights more bearable. Some offer concerts, talks and film sessions, whilst others are reminiscent of parties in popular neighbourhoods. Madrid nights are always young, but even more so in June, July and August. By Ignacio Vleming.
Dreams on the rooftop
There are many rooftops that offer a year round catering service in Madrid. That of the Fine Arts Circle is one of the best known, as well as the Edificio España 360º Terrace or Gynkgo Sky Bar, among others.
Some of them open their swimming pools on these dates, such as the Hotel Oscar, Casa Suecia and the Hotel Emperador, but the only one that offers a cultural programme in the clouds that flutter over the capital is La terraza magnética at La Casa Encendida. In July and August, a concert is programmed every Saturday and a film is screened every Sunday, which will be linked to the Vulnerable Creatures exhibition, that can be seen there. The programme will be announced in mid-June.
Night-time Gardens
The Madrid Complutense University Botanical Garden hosts one of the most important programmes of concerts in the summer months. In June and July, Miguel Poveda Patti Smith or Diana Krall, among other well known artists, will appear on its stage.
However, there are also smaller gardens, some of which are even unknown to most residents, that offer music and film evenings for small audiences.
When evening falls, Olivar de Castillejo - the former leisure estate of one of the most influential educators in Spain during the Silver Age - hosts private recitals of classical music with an exquisite programme that starts in mid-June and continues until mid-September.
The Lope de Vega Museum House offers four classical film sessions in July (7, 14, 21 and 28) in the garden that used to be the orchard of the Fénix de los Ingenios (free entrance but a reservation is required as of Tuesday 6 July). Throughout the summer, the garden of the Reina Sofía Museum also becomes a summer cinema on Saturdays and Sundays, as does the courtyard of the French Institute -where six films will be screened by the likes of Jacques Demy, Alain Resnais and Claude Chabrol, and refreshments will also be served.
Summer Cinemas
And here we come to one of the greatest pleasures of summer: films under the stars. Fescinal, in the Bombilla Park, is aimed at a more heterogeneous audience. It has two screens and even shows up to three back-to-back sessions on some days. Tuesday is the Original Version night and Wednesday is time for discussion. Its “Erotic Films”, which forms part of the Veranos de la Villa, invites well-known personalities from culture to comment on one of their favourite films and there will be three days to watch films with live music. There will also be premières for this year and films for children and if you forget to bring a sandwich, there will be food stands.
Furthermore, the Autocine Madrid Race, which is open all year round, sets up some loungers in summer to enjoy the seventh art outdoors and Cineplaza Matadero becomes a screening hall in August, when Cineteca closes, with a line-up that only includes films that have not been premièred in Madrid.
Apart from the cinemas indicated herein, there are summer cultural spaces in other neighbourhoods of Madrid, such as, for example, the film festival that has been organised by the Ciudad Lineal Council in Calero Park for many years. There are also other smaller initiatives that we will gradually discover and the Veranos de la Villa, programme will be presented in the near future.
Despite his Dutch surname, Ignacio Vleming considers himself to be a Madrileño through and through. A journalist and poet, on his blog he shares with his readers some of the capital city’s hidden corners, curiosities and anecdotes.
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