SAGINAW, MI — About 100 people went for a night out for “Knives Out” at the Old Saginaw City Lawn Chair Film Festival Sunday, July 18.
The 2019 whodunit starring Daniel Craig was the second movie of this summer’s 4-film series, which returned this month after a year off because of the pandemic.
The annual summertime festival — where attendees watch a movie projected onto a screen in the parking lot at the corner of Ames and Hamilton streets — continues Sunday, July 25 with the 1985 Richard Donner-directed classic, “The Goonies.” The films begin at sundown.
A more modern movie, the 2019 Disney adventure “Raya and the Last Dragon,” will close out the 2021 festival Sunday, Aug. 1.
Alex Mixter, a Saginaw preservationist, serves as the festival’s coordinator. He began volunteering with the festival in 2015 before leading the festival beginning in 2019.
“This has been my favorite year so far,” he said.
“This year is relatively bare bones — we are really working from the ground up — but it’s become evident the community is excited to have this event back. Many people have told us that the return of Lawn Chair is something that makes them feel like things are back to normal.”
Arlene Maul and her late husband, Robert F. Maul, founded the festival in 2003. She continued coordinating the annual event until 2019 before handing the reins to Mixter.
“I loved I was able to share my passion for independent and foreign films that are not shown in local theaters,” Arlene Maul said. “Knowing it was one more way to get our community together for a night out was an added bonus.”
The inaugural film screened in 2003 was “Bend It Like Beckham.” The festival quickly gained popularity in the community, attracting up to 700 people that first year for a showing of “Rebel Without a Cause.”
Along with surviving a pandemic last year, the film festival outlasted a 2005 windstorm that tore its 25-by-30 foot screen, prompting community members and businesses to collaborate quickly to repair it in time for the next week’s screening.
Old Saginaw City Lawn Chair Film Festival gatherings sometimes involve attendees dressing up as characters from the movies. A singalong costume contest during “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in 2019 attracted a colorful crowd. Some “Dudes” showed up for “The Big Lebowski” in 2014. Kids wore superhero costumes when “The Avengers” was screened in 2013. And, more than once, people drenched in zombie makeup attended movies starring the undead, including a 2009 showing of “Shaun of the Dead.”
The festival typically features activities surrounding the film itself. For instance, ahead of “Knives Out” on Sunday, a raffle included novelty prize giveaways for items including a kitchen knife set and Clue, a whodunit board game in the mold of “Knives Out.” Vendors, meanwhile, sell popcorn and other food.
For more information about the 2021 festival, visit the event’s Facebook page.
This file photo from August 2003 shows the first outing of the Old Saginaw City Lawn Chair Film Festival, where attendees watched "Bend It Like Beckham."The Saginaw News
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