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Welcome Week Rooftop Movie: AMÉLIE

Viewing: August 27,2026

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Welcome to Athens, Bobcats!

Did you know there’s an independent movie theater right in the heart of Uptown Athens? We’re the Athena Cinema, and we’re kicking off Welcome Week with one of our favorite events of the year: a movie under the stars on top of the Athens City Parking Garage.

AMÉLIE

Thursday, August 27

The Rooftop of the Athens City Parking Garage • 15 E. Washington St.

Seating begins at 7:30 p.m.
Event begins at 8:30 p.m.

Come early, grab some popcorn and a drink, settle in with your friends, and enjoy an evening of cinema with a beautiful view of Athens.

TICKETS

FREE for OHIO students with a valid OU student ID
Limit 2 free student tickets per student

$8 general admission

Tickets are required. Get yours online using the ticket button below or stop by the Athena Cinema during regular box office hours.

This event reaches capacity quickly, so we strongly recommend claiming your tickets in advance!

WHAT TO BRING

We have a limited number of chairs available, so bring your own chair, blanket, pillow, or anything else that will make you comfortable.

We’ll have popcorn, candy, canned soda, bottled water, and Athena merchandise available for purchase on the rooftop.

RAIN PLAN

If the weather doesn’t cooperate, the screening will move indoors to the Athena Cinema.

Any weather-related venue changes will be announced on our social media, so follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and BlueSky for updates.

ABOUT THE FILM

Amélie (2001) is a whimsical French romantic comedy from acclaimed director Jean-Pierre Jeunet, starring Audrey Tautou as Amélie, a shy young waitress living in Paris’s Montmartre neighborhood.

With a vivid imagination and a love of helping others, Amélie quietly sets out to improve the lives of the people around her. Along the way, she discovers that creating a little happiness for others might help her find some of her own.

Discover the Athena

New to Athens? Come visit us!

We will be tabling outside the Athena Monday-Wednesday and Friday from 12-1 to share information about the theater and our programming. Sign up for our email list and get a FREE small popcorn!

The Athena Cinema is a 111-year-old independent movie theater right on Court Street in Uptown Athens. In addition to first-run films, we show independent, international, classic, documentary, and repertory films throughout the year, along with special events and programs for the OHIO community.

While you’re here, stop into our lobby, check out our marquee, grab some concessions, browse our merchandise, and pick up your limited-edition Athena student loyalty card.

Welcome to the Athena!

For more details and information about this event, please visit our Rooftop Screenings FAQs page

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Running Time: 122 MIN122 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Thursday 08/277:30
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From the Hills and Hollers: BLUEGRASS: COUNTRY SOUL with Becks Lipshultz

Viewing: September 17,2026

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Join us Thursday, September 17th at 7:00 p.m. as our 5th Annual From the Hills and Hollers: Appalachian Stories Film Series begins with a classic documentary about the music of the mountains!

Admission is FREE – Tickets are required

This event will include a pre-show presentation by Becks Lipshultz

About the film

Step back in time to 1971 and go inside one of the premiere festivals devoted to the exciting, culturally relevant, and traditional form of music known as Bluegrass. Carlton Haney — a booking agent, talent scout, festival promoter, bluegrass musician, and known widely as “The P.T. Barnum of Country Music” — was one of the first folks to take a stab at promoting the virtues of this age-old style of music from the hills and hollers, largely through the creation of one of the first multi-day festivals featuring bands and solo performers who had been perfecting the style for generations. And, this film offers viewers both a front row seat and a behind-the-scenes look as some of the best performers of the era take the stage.

Featuring bluegrass music’s pioneers, as well as those who would take the music into the future, Bluegrass: Country Soul contains unforgettable performances by the likes of Earl Scruggs, The Osborne Brothers, Ralph Stanley, Chubby Wise, Mac Wiseman, J.D. Crowe, and Jimmy Martin, The Country Gentlemen, Del McCoury, Sam Bush, Tony Rice, Ricky Skaggs, Keith Whitley, Alan Munde, and more. Also of note is Tony Rice’s final show with The Bluegrass Alliance, and his first outing with J.D. Crowe & the Kentucky Mountain Boys. Most importantly, however, is the legacy this film has enshrined by preserving these legendary moments in color for generations to come.

About the speaker

becks! is a queer singer-songwriter whose Appalachian roots ground their music to place, while pushing the envelope of what it means to ‘belong’ in the folk and old time scenes. Their family history of union organizing and three generations of ‘card carrying communists’ bring an edge to their live performances that ties in some of their more commercial catalogue with the history of the Appalachian region and their family’s own resistances in the Ohio River Valley.

 

 

 

Check out the rest of our Hills & Hollers Series Line-Up

This series is sponsored by University Libraries, College of Health Sciences and Professions, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Honors Tutorial College, OU School of Film, and The Office of Signature Academic Experiences.

 

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Running Time: 89 MIN89 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Thursday 09/177:00
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Hispanic Film Series: AZTEC BATMAN: CLASH OF EMPIRES

Viewing: September 22,2026

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Join us Tuesday, September 22nd at 7:00 p.m. as we kick off our 2nd annual Hispanic Film Series with a one-of-a-kind superhero film!

Admission is FREE and open to the public – Tickets are required

About the film

This bold, animated re-imagining of the Batman legend, written and directed by Mexican filmmaker Juan Meza-León, is set during the days of the grand Aztec empire. Yohualli Coatl, a young Aztec boy, witnesses the murder of his father at the hands of Spanish conquistadors and flees to the city of Tenochtitlan. Once there, he gains entry into the temple of the bat god Tzinacan, and, using new and novel weaponry, trains himself to become the avenger of his father’s death.

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Check out the rest of our line-up of films in the Hispanic Film Series

The Spanish Film Club series was made possible with the support of the OHIO School of International Studies and Languages (SISAL), Sigma Delta Pi (National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society), Pragda, SPAIN arts & culture, and the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain.

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Running Time: 89 MIN89 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Tuesday 09/227:00
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Hispanic Film Series: THIS STOLEN COUNTRY OF MINE (NUESTRO PAíS ROBADO)

Viewing: September 29,2026

Watch Trailer Director: Marc Weise

Join us Tuesday, September 29th at 7:00 p.m. as our 2nd annual Hispanic Film Series continues with a powerful documentary about the corruption and the clash between Capitalism and culture!

Admission is FREE and open to the public – Tickets are required

This event will include a post-show panel discussion

About the film

Chinese mining in Ecuador’s mountains sets the stage for an epic battle between eco-guerrillas and a corrupt government in an intensely dramatic documentary.

This Stolen Country of Mine follows Paúl Jarrín Mosquera, who leads the indigenous resistance against the exploitation of their land. Meanwhile, China uses the Ecuadorian government to turn the country into one of its new colonies, having made the country dependent on credit through a series of corrupt and greedy treaties. When journalist Fernando Villavicencio exposes these plots and gets access to the contracts between China and Ecuador, the government wants him silenced too. Both men are fighting for freedom in this battle against a superpower.

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Marc Wiese, the film exposes China’s massive hunger for natural resources and how during the last decade it has been aggressively operating to obtain access to these resources in Ecuador. The country is now stuck with the most Chinese debts in Latin America.

Check out the rest of our line-up of films in the Hispanic Film Series

The Spanish Film Club series was made possible with the support of the OHIO School of International Studies and Languages (SISAL), Sigma Delta Pi (National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society), Pragda, SPAIN arts & culture, and the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain.

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Running Time: 93 MIN93 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Tuesday 09/297:00
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The Met: Live in HD: Mozart’s COSÌ FAN TUTTE

Viewing: October 03,2026

The Met: Live in HD season kicks off with Mozart’s satirical comedy of fickle young love, one of the composer’s most sublime creations. Phelim McDermott’s “colorful, inventive” (The New York Times) staging, inspired by Coney Island in the 1950s, sets the uproarious story at a boardwalk amusement park, where the two pairs of lovers at the heart of the tale find themselves on one emotional—and literal—thrill ride after another. Soprano Federica Lombardi and mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey sing Fiordiligi and Dorabella, opposite tenor Duke Kim and baritone Andrey Zhilikhovsky as Ferrando and Guglielmo. Bass-baritone Gerald Finley reprises his portrayal of the cynical Don Alfonso, with soprano Ana María Martínez as the witty maid Despina.

The screening will begin at 12:55 p.m. and will conclude at approximately 5:00 p.m.

Admission $20 (Senior $18, Children $8)

OHIO Students Free with valid ID*

*Thanks to support from Arts for OHIO, we are able to offer a limited number of FREE student tickets available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Must have valid student I.D.

Click here to view the rest of the Met: Live in HD schedule

Special thanks to George Weckman and the following supporters:

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Running Time: 237 MIN237 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Saturday 10/0312:55
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Hispanic Film Series: THE COMPANION (EL ACOMPAÑANTE)

Viewing: October 06,2026

Watch Trailer Director: Pavel Giroud

Join us Tuesday, October 6th at 7:00 p.m. as our Hispanic Film Series presents a drama that details the struggles of HIV/AIDS patients during a dark chapter in the history of Cuba!

Admission is FREE and open to the public – Tickets are required

About the film

Set in 1988 Cuba as the government dispatched HIV patients to AIDS centers under military rule, The Companion narrates the unlikely friendship between a boxing champion and a conflictive patient. After failing a doping test, Horacio Romero has no other choice but to serve a sentence. His fate is in Los Cocos, a sanatorium under military rule where HIV patients are compulsorily confined, with the exception of a weekly pass to visit their families under the supervision of personal wardens called “companions.” As a companion, Horacio is supposed to keep an eye on Daniel — the most conflictive patient in the ward — and get him to comply to the regulations. Their interests immediately collide as Daniel is set to spend his last days in freedom and is ready to do anything to make this happen. Horacio, on the other hand, dreams about boxing again to get his champion’s status back. For that to happen, however, he must first win this battle out of the ring.

Check out the rest of our line-up of films in the Hispanic Film Series

The Spanish Film Club series was made possible with the support of the OHIO School of International Studies and Languages (SISAL), Sigma Delta Pi (National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society), Pragda, SPAIN arts & culture, and the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain.

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Running Time: 104 MIN104 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Tuesday 10/067:00
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THE ROOM with Greg Sestero Live In Person

Viewing: October 08,2026

Watch Trailer Director: Tommy Wiseau
Cast: Greg Sestero, Tommy Wiseau, Juliette Danielle

Join us Thursday, October 8th at 7:00 p.m. as we welcome the return of actor, filmmaker, and author Greg Sestero for a special one-night-only screening of The Room!

An in-person Q&A session and a meet-and-greet in the lobby with Greg will follow the screening

Admission is $15

 

This event will feature a special evening with “Mark” himself, Greg Sestero – star of The Room and New York Times best-selling author of the Oscar-nominated The Disaster Artist. The evening will include a special screening of The Room, as well as a live script reading and Q&A with Greg!

You’ll find yourself saying “What a story Mark!” time and time again, as he’s not keeping any of his stupid comments in his pocket on this night.

Plus a meet-and-greet with Greg…and maybe even a bonus surprise or two?!

Don’t be chip-chip-chip-chip-cheep-cheep…get your tickets before they’re here and gone like Claudette’s breast cancer.

About the film

When Johnny’s successful life trajectory as a banker and a soon-to-be-groom is upended when his (unsatisfied) fiancée Lisa decides to seduce his best friend Mark, he begins taping phone conversations between Lisa and her mother in an attempt to figure out who Lisa is having an affair with. Meanwhile, as things spiral downward for Johnny, he leans more on Mark and a psychologist for help keeping it all together. However, the affair between Mark and Lisa comes to light (in a very public way), flinging Johnny headlong into a nervous breakdown…and worse!

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Running Time: 99 MIN99 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Thursday 10/087:00
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Hispanic Film Series: SUN AND DAUGHTER (CUIDANDO AL SOL)

Viewing: October 13,2026

Watch Trailer Director: Catalina Razzini

Join us Tuesday, October 13th at 7:00 p.m. as our Hispanic Film Series continues with a feel-good film that beautifully captures the lives of indigenous inhabitants of the Andes Mountains!

Admission is FREE and open to the public – Tickets are required

This event will include of post-show panel discussion

About the film

Ten-year-old Lucía’s family lives in the Island of the Sun (Isla del Sol) in the middle of Lake Titicaca in Bolivia; a place that’s as mystical as it is picturesque. When her father breaks from their routine one morning and leaves for the city to make money, Lucía finds it difficult to cope with his absence, building her daily life around the expectations of their reunion. After school, Lucía and her younger sister Maribel weave Totora reeds into figurines that her mother sells to numerous tourists. But the rhythm of life on the island and the passage of time help her realize her father is no longer the person she longed to have back. She must find her own path. Lucía is thinking of going to the city herself, but she has no money. It’s time she took her destiny into her own hands.

With a subtle commentary on environmental tourism and the exploitation of “the other” that goes two-way,  Catalina Razzini’s touching rural tale masterly captures the landscape of Isla del Sol.

Check out the rest of our line-up of films in the Hispanic Film Series

The Spanish Film Club series was made possible with the support of the OHIO School of International Studies and Languages (SISAL), Sigma Delta Pi (National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society), Pragda, SPAIN arts & culture, and the Secretary of State for Culture of Spain.

 

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Running Time: 84 MIN84 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Tuesday 10/137:00
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The Met: Live in HD: Verdi’s MACBETH

Viewing: October 17,2026

Two of opera’s most extraordinary artists return to The Met: Live in HD for Verdi’s thrilling take on the immortal Shakespearean tale of the scheming couple determined to seize power at any cost. Following past triumphs in many of Verdi’s signature baritone roles, Quinn Kelsey is the Scottish king haunted by the ghosts of his murderous ascent to the throne, opposite Lise Davidsen—the world’s reigning dramatic soprano—as the power-mad Lady Macbeth, whose ruinous ambition damns them both. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium for a penetrating production by Louisa Proske, a brilliant young director making waves around the world. Rounding out the all-star cast are tenor Freddie De Tommaso as the heroic Macduff and bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as Macbeth’s friend-turned-victim Banquo.

The screening will begin at 12:55 p.m. and will conclude at approximately 4:30 p.m.

Admission $20 (Senior $18, Children $8)

OHIO Students Free with valid ID*

*Thanks to support from Arts for OHIO, we are able to offer a limited number of FREE student tickets available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Must have valid student I.D.

Click here to view the rest of the Met: Live in HD schedule

Special thanks to George Weckman and the following supporters:

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Running Time: 209 MIN209 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Saturday 10/1712:55
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Athens County Humane Society Presents: CAT VIDEO FEST 2026

Viewing: October 17,2026

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Join us Saturday, October 17th at 3:00 p.m. for the purrrr-fect way to have a great time and support a good cause!

Admission:

Adults $15

OU Students with a valid student ID $10

Kids (12 and under) $5

50% of the proceeds from the event will go to the Athens County Humane Society

About the film

Oscilloscope Laboratories presents a compilation of the latest and best cat videos culled from countless hours of unique submissions and sourced animations, music videos, and classic internet powerhouses.

Each year, across the country, local theaters partner with nearby cat-focused charities, animal welfare associations, and shelters alike – a portion of ticket proceeds from every show goes directly to local cats in need.

Visit the link below to support the Athens County Humane Society

 

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Running Time: 75 MIN75 MIN
This Film is Wheelchair Accessible
Saturday 10/173:00
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