Free Films at the Edge of the Ocean

Film Independent is set to show movies at Santa Monica Pier (no cash required).

When screenwriters need an epic cinematic moment, they very often turn to the beach to jumpstart those hard-to-summon creative juices.

Picture a character running into the waves, weeping, vowing to start again. Picture a couple walking arm-in-arm, promising to give love another chance. Picture another couple kissing passionately in the foam (why yes, we are referencing "From Here to Eternity"). Picture Charlton Heston seeing the Statue of Liberty or the runners of "Chariots of Fire."

So when a great independent cinema-loving organization -- say, like Film Independent -- wants to host a free film four-nighter, where do they go? You bet: the sand. Or, since sand gets in projectors, the pier -- Santa Monica Pier, to be specific.

Front Porch Cinema is the name of Film Independent's fall film screening series, and while it is indeed a four-nighter, we should clarify that it is a four Fridays nighter. Meaning? You get to see free flicks, on the pier, over four Friday nights, starting on Friday, Sept. 27.

"Los Wild Ones," a documentary about an LA label devoted to "young Hispanic musicians who write and perform '50s rock 'n roll," is the opener. "The Sting," "Snoopy Come Home!," and "Chasing Ice" following on Oct. 4, 11, and 18.

That is a wide range of subjects, hoo boy, but wonderfully fitting with Film Independent's famously cheeky spirit. You know these are the people who stage live readings of beloved movies using other famous actors who didn't originate the roles? Yes, you knew that.

Let's also mention that live tunes open the first night, and, yes indeedy, they will be bands that you'll see in "Los Wild Ones." Sweet.

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Again, this is free, as things on or adjacent to the beach often are and probably should be, when they can be. And beach? Keep serving as a dramatic setting for both films and film screenings. You're doing a rockin' job of it, for sure.

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