Open-air cinema in Paris, summer 2026: where to watch films under the stars
Each summer, Paris rediscovers a vocation: the season when cinema slips out of the dark theatre to breathe under the open sky. From June to August 2026, the city turns into an archipelago of open-air screenings, each one embodying a different philosophy of film. Free or affordable, intimate or democratic, made for families or for cinephiles, these festivals redefine what it means to go to the cinema, not as an obligation, but as a shared ritual.
Ciné Tarmac: cinema at the gates of aviation
From 3 to 5 July 2026, the Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget offers three singular evenings: screenings on the tarmac, at the foot of the aircraft. Ciné Tarmac embodies the idea that cinema can inhabit any space, turning any setting into a theatre. This year the line-up includes To the Moon with Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum, The Little Prince after Saint-Exupéry, and The Aviator by Martin Scorsese with Leonardo DiCaprio. The show begins before the film even starts: the aircraft itself hosts the screening and becomes the frame. An event for those who dream beyond the screen.
Dates: 3-5 July 2026
Venue: Air and Space Museum, Le Bourget
Access: by reservation (prices on the museum’s site)
Cinéma Paradiso Louvre: free cinema in the heart of Paris
From 1 to 4 July 2026, the Louvre’s Cour Carrée hosts Cinéma Paradiso for four entirely free evenings. Organised by the Louvre and mk2 as part of the Étés du Louvre, the festival turns the city’s most beautiful courtyard into an open-air theatre. This sixth edition honours Wes Anderson, presenting The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Oscar-winner Joachim Trier, on hand for The Worst Person in the World. Concerts, food trucks and artist talks frame each screening. Access stays free, by online lottery. Cinéma Paradiso proves that heritage and celebration can share the same screen.
Dates: 1-4 July 2026
Venue: Cour Carrée, Louvre, Paris 1
Access: free, by registration (online lottery)
Une Toile sous les étoiles: cinema at the Monnaie de Paris
From 1 to 4 July 2026, the Monnaie de Paris opens its courtyard for Une Toile sous les étoiles. Four evenings where the city’s oldest industrial institution becomes a cinema, between listed stone and a summer sky. The selection blends great classics and discoveries, in a setting few festivals can offer. A date for those who like the backdrop to speak to the film.
Dates: 1-4 July 2026
Venue: Monnaie de Paris, Paris 6
Access: by reservation (programme on the Monnaie de Paris site)
Dolcevita sur Seine: Italy at the Arènes de Lutèce
From 2 to 6 July 2026, the Arènes de Lutèce host Dolcevita sur Seine, five free evenings under the sign of Italian cinema. In the Gallo-Roman amphitheatre, the programme celebrates the dolce vita on screen, from transalpine classics to more recent gems. You settle on the stone tiers, share a drink, and let Italy come to Paris. A festival for those who like cinema to rhyme with the art of living.
Dates: 2-6 July 2026
Venue: Arènes de Lutèce, Paris 5
Access: free
La Villette: the democracy of cinema
Every summer for more than thirty years, the Prairie du Triangle becomes the largest open-air cinema in Paris. Two screenings each evening: 6 pm for children, 9 pm for adults. Free. Open to all. This year, the theme “The Call of the Wild” guides a programme built around nature, the wild and adventure. You come with a deckchair, a blanket, your family, your friends. La Villette asks no questions, it welcomes. This is the democracy of cinema in action.
Dates: 22 July-16 August 2026
Venue: Prairie du Triangle, Parc de la Villette, Paris 19
Access: free
Plaza Cinéma Club: the quiet luxury of a hotel courtyard
From 29 June to 4 July 2026, the Cour Jardin of the Plaza Athénée turns its leafy setting into an open-air cinema. Plaza Cinéma Club is the festival for those who understand that cinema can also be a culinary experience, that image and plate speak to each other. Six evenings where every detail is staged so the film carries on at the table. Cult films and high-end cuisine combined. A festival for those who believe open-air cinema excludes no one, the price is simply higher.
Dates: 29 June-4 July 2026
Venue: Plaza Athénée, Paris 8
Access: by reservation (dining included)
Mémorial de la Shoah: cinema as testimony
On 21, 22 and 23 August 2026, the Mémorial de la Shoah offers three screenings of films about conscience, history and responsibility, at 9.30 pm each evening. This is not a tourist festival. It is a moment when cinema recovers its teaching role, its power to pass on what cannot be forgotten. A festival for those who understand that some films are not watched absent-mindedly.
Dates: 21-23 August 2026
Venue: forecourt of the Mémorial de la Shoah, Paris 4
Access: €5 (€3 reduced), by reservation
Beyond the headliners: the unexpected venues
But summer 2026 holds many other hidden screens. Zone Sensible in Saint-Denis blends cinema, permaculture farming and contemporary art. La Ferme du Bonheur in Nanterre offers screenings at the foot of La Défense, between performance and agro-poetry. These less publicised spaces embody one conviction: open-air cinema needs no fame to shine. It only needs a screen, darkness, a projector, and a few curious souls.
A summer philosophy
Watching a film outdoors means accepting several things at once: the unpredictability of the sky, the presence of others, the absence of climate control. It means giving up the comfort of the dark theatre to gain something less tangible: a shared breath, a tempo that does not fit commercial schedules, a relationship to the film that is never quite the same.
Paris understood this long ago. From the Cour Carrée to the Arènes de Lutèce, from the aircraft at Le Bourget to the lawn at La Villette, every screen tells the same promise: cinema belongs to everyone, and it has never breathed so freely as under the open sky.
