Deckchair Cinema 2025: Summer Of Sci-Fi Lineup
You are invited to enjoy classic films under the stars on Cates Deck in front of the Gallery. Now in its fourth year, Deckchair Cinema treats audiences to a summer of al fresco film screenings. Hosted for nine Thursdays beginning July 3, the screenings commence at sunset, and will be complemented by music and entertainment leading up to curtain time. Attendees are encouraged to arrive early and make themselves comfortable by bringing their own blankets or low chairs.
This summer, The Polygon is boldly going where no gallery has gone before and will be screening the greatest sci-fi films ever made. Admission to Deckchair Cinema is by donation, courtesy of BMO Financial Group, and includes popcorn as well as access to the Gallery’s summer exhibition Star Witnesses, a cosmic journey through art and history.
Reserve a picnic table by donating in advance
Summer of Sci-Fi Lineup
July 3
Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars
It is one of the most iconic performances in the history of modern music: the moment where David Bowie retired his Ziggy Stardust alter ego in front of an audience of 5000 fans on July 3, 1973 at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. Bowie’s decision to retire Ziggy, the character that had made him a star, and split his band, The Spiders From Mars, secured his future, allowing him to become the restless, inquisitive, and shape–shifting artist that we know him to be. That one moment also changed popular culture, unleashing a set of artistic and ideological freedoms that are still being enjoyed by musicians and the wider creative community today.
Film starts at 9:15pm
July 10
Universal Language
Not sci-fi, but we’re making an exception for the most acclaimed Canadian film in recent memory. Universal Language takes place in a mysterious and surreal interzone somewhere between Tehran and wintery Winnipeg where the lives of multiple characters interweave with each other in surprising and mysterious ways. Gradeschoolers Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen in the winter ice and try to claim it. Meanwhile, Massoud leads a group of increasingly-befuddled tourists through the monuments and historic sites of Winnipeg. Matthew quits his meaningless job in a Québecois government office and sets out upon an enigmatic journey to visit his mother. Space, time and personal identities crossfade, interweave and echo into a surreal comedy of misdirection. In Farsi with English subtitles.
Film starts at 9:15pm
July 17
Gravity
White-knuckle entertainment of the highest order! Directed by Alfonso Cuarón, and starring Oscar winners Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, this heart-pounding thriller pulls you into the infinite and unforgiving realm of deep space. Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney). But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone. Winner of seven Oscars at the 86th Academy Awards.
Film starts at 9:15pm
July 24
Spaceballs
The evil leaders of Planet Spaceball, having foolishly squandered their precious atmosphere, devise a secret plan to take every breath of air away from their peace-loving neighbour, Planet Druidia. Spaceball’s leader President Skroob (Mel Brooks) orders the evil Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis) to kidnap Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) of Druidia and hold her hostage in exchange for air. But help arrives for the Princess in the form of renegade space pilot Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and his half-man, half-dog partner, Barf (John Candy).
Film starts at 9:00pm
July 31
The Fifth Element
New York cab driver Korben Dallas didn’t mean to be a hero, but he just picked up the kind of fare that only comes along every five thousand years: A perfect beauty, a perfect being, a perfect weapon. Now, together, they must save the world. Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, and Gary Oldman star in an outrageous sci-fi adventure that is an extravagantly styled tale of good against evil set in an unbelievable twenty-third century world.
Film starts at 9:00pm
North Shore Pride Night
August 7
Flash Gordon
Super producer Dino De Laurentiis brought Alex Raymond’s beloved cartoon strip and the long running movie serial to the big screen for a delirious space opera, where Flash is King of the Impossible! Merciless Emperor Ming (Max von Sydow) decides to wreak havoc on Earth in a moment of cruel boredom. Boarding a rocket as a means of escape, star quarterback Flash Gordon, Dale Arden, and Dr. Hans Zarkov find themselves on Mongo. Taken prisoner Flash must save Dale from becoming Ming’s concubine, avoid the amorous intentions of Ming’s wicked daughter Aura, and unite the warring Kingdoms of Mongo.
Film starts at 8:45pm
August 14
Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan
The most celebrated and essential adventure from the Star Trek universe. On a routine training mission, Admiral James T. Kirk seems resigned that this may be the last space mission of his career. But an adversary from the past has returned with a vengeance. Aided by his exiled band of genetic supermen, Khan (Ricardo Montalban)—brilliant renegade of 20th century Earth—has raided Space Station Regula One, stolen the top-secret device called Project Genesis, wrested control of another Federation starship, and now schemes to set a most deadly trap for his old enemy Kirk… with the threat of a universal armageddon.
Film starts at 8:45pm
August 21
Starman
The most underrated entry in John Carpenter’s oeuvre. After his spacecraft is shot down over Wisconsin, an alien (Jeff Bridges) arrives at the remote cabin of a distraught young widow, Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen), and clones itself into the form of her recently deceased husband. The alien coerces the shell-shocked Jenny to drive him to a pickup point hundreds of miles away, explaining that if he doesn’t meet his mothership in three days, he’ll die. Hot on their trail are government agents, intent on seizing him, dead or alive. En route, Jenny turns from captive to captivated as the alien re-awakens her humanity.
Film starts at 8:30pm
August 28
David Lynch’s Dune
The year is 10,191, and four planets are embroiled in a secret plot to wrest control of the Spice Melange, the most precious substance in the universe and found only on the planet Arrakis. A feud between two powerful dynasties, House Atreides and House Harkonnen, is manipulated from afar by ruling powers that conspire to keep their grip on the spice. As the two families clash on Arrakis, Duke Atreides’ son Paul (Kyle MacLachlan, in his screen debut) finds himself at the center of an intergalactic war and an ancient prophecy that could change the galaxy forever.
Film starts at 8:30pm