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Going to the movies is always good. Going to the movies steps from the beach, with live music, puppets, magic and the occasional silent 16mm film? Consider our Labor Day plans sorted.
The Rockaway Film Festival has announced the lineup for its 2026 edition, taking over Arverne Cinema in the Rockaways from September 2 through 6. This year’s program packs five days with new independent films, restorations, shorts, filmmaker Q&As, performances and workshops, plus a few screenings that sound tailor-made for the fest’s seaside setting.
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The festivities start on Wednesday, September 2, with Eternity One, Baltimore filmmaker Marnie Ellen Hertzler’s new documentary about a young girl growing up on Tangier Island, a Chesapeake Bay fishing community threatened by rising seas.
Thursday brings The Cemetery of Cinema, filmmaker Thierno Souleymane Diallo’s playful search for a lost piece of film history, followed by Argentine drama The Night is Fading Away, accompanied by live music from Frances Chang. Friday’s lineup includes a newly restored Leila and the Wolves, Heiny Srour’s 1984 exploration of Arab women’s history, and a work-in-progress screening of Caveh Zahedi’s Ulysses, New York, about his attempt to stage James Joyce’s famously unwieldy novel on basically no budget.
Saturday morning offers one of the weekend’s easiest crowd-pleasers: a free screening of 1979’s The Muppet Movie, presented by Bonnie Erickson, the legendary puppet designer who created Miss Piggy. Later, artist Jenny Odell guest-curates a program of films inspired by Georges Perec’s concept of the “infra-ordinary,” before How To with John Wilson creator John Wilson presents his debut feature, The History of Concrete, with live music by Heems.
There are plenty of freebies beyond Kermit and company, too. Saturday’s “Effects, Illusion, and the Documentary Real” includes a presentation by Rockaway magician Cardone, while Sunday starts with a free performance and dabke workshop from Palestinian dance company El Funoun. The festival closes Sunday night with “Peter Hutton: On the Hudson,” a program of the late experimental filmmaker’s silent 16mm films accompanied by live music from White Magic.
Tickets and passes are available now through the Rockaway Film Festival, and with everything from Miss Piggy to experimental cinema on the bill, you might want to make a whole beach weekend of it.