The Pelican Bar is bringing a unique outdoor cinema experience to locals over four weeks in January.
Looking for something new to do this summer? Yeah us too—which is why we’re stoked to hear that an outdoor cinema is heading to Queenscliff, cranking up the projectors for a summer of movies under the stars.
Thought up by the team behind Queenscliff Music Festival, the new outdoor cinema is all part of the ‘The Pelican Bar’ – a new outdoor COVIDSafe dining and live entertainment experience that has been going above and beyond to showcase Victoria’s burgeoning music and culinary scene.
When the beloved festival had to make the heartbreaking decision to postpone the 24th iteration until November 2021, the team at QMF have made good on their promise to bring live music to the Bellarine, and now the entertainment is taking another step up with four weeks of outdoor movies.
Taking over a dedicated grassed area within the venue from January, you can bet the outdoor cinema will be serving up some absolute cracker blockbusters, with retro classics like Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing and The Goonies; favourites like Love Actually, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tale, and newer flicks like Tenet, Rams, Joker, the award-winning Parasite, and After We Collided all on the bill.
Pivoting from music programming to movie scheduling, festival director Andrew Orvis – and the mastermind behind The Pelican Bar – has introduced the cinema in the hope of offering something for people to do during the week over summer. The sessions will run from Monday to Thursday at 8pm with a kid’s friendly session every Tuesday at 10am, screening the likes of Scoob, The Lego Movie 2, Trolls World Tour and Shaun The Sheep: Framageddon.
Appealing to one’s comfort compass, you’ll be able to unroll a picnic blanket and throw down a few pillows to relax on with your mates for $15 a ticket, or go VIP for $20 and opt for one of the plush bean bags. You’ll also find a popcorn machine slinging the buttery goodness, alongside onsite food trucks dishing up tasty eats and a licensed bar for cheeky drinks.
Sounds like the perfect summer evening, right?
Well, that’s now all the news coming from the Pelican Bar camp, having also just announced a slew of additional shows for punters to enjoy under cover of a Marquee tent whilst enjoying a fine dining menu provided by The Q-Train until the end of January.
Joining the previously announced Pierce Brothers, Carus Thompson, Ali Barter, Hayley Mary and Benny Walker, additions to The Pelican Bar summer concert series line up include the absolute legends The Badloves, poetic singer-songwriter Kim Churchill, Alice Skye and James Kenyon, Melbourne’s Alana Wilkinson and The Little Stevies, Angie Hart, with the great Ross Wilson playing the final concert of the series.
“The gigs are all seated, and we’ve got some really beautiful big picnic tables where you can still stand at your table and dance with your friends,” Orvis explains.
“This is a COVID-safe venue that’s still providing great music, great food and drinks, it’s just not a traditional music venue, but nothing is any more. We see what we’re doing as safe but still a good night out and something that’s a lot of fun for people to do on the weekend.”
For the comedy buffs, the QMF team have also added Denise Scott, Claire Hooper and Brett Blake to deliver the laughs at the end of January while The Queenscliff Literary Festival have joined The Pelican Bar party for an afternoon lunch session of talk with acclaimed actor and author John Woods who’s recently released his memoir ‘How I Clawed My Way to the Middle’.
An exciting addition also comes in the form of a Piano Bar collaboration, bringing Geelong’s home of singalongs comes to Queenscliff! With two shows daily this week-long special event features Andy Pobjoy, Joss Russell and Shandelle Cooke, as well as some special drag queen shows – with all songs 100 percent by request.
“I actually always thought maybe one day we try and do something at the festival with them – which maybe one day we still might do – but when our gigs started to come about, at the same time they’ve kind of pivoted and doing their shows at the Racecourse. They’re figuring out ways to change things to try and get by and survive. And I just thought there was a good opportunity to partner up and bring it to Queenscliff,” says Orvis.
“There’s a whole of people that are looking to do stuff down the coast in January and already down here looking for a different experience so to be able to do that with those guys is pretty special.”
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Queenscliff Music Festival has long been a significant fixture of the festival calendar – one that has filled a beautiful part of Victoria with joy and creativity for over two decades. With Victorian festivals all postponed, venues slowly returning to capacity and summer events still in limbo, this event created by the team has made good on their promise to deliver music fans a little slice of normality for the summer – something we’ve all been crossing our fingers and toes for.
The Pelican Bar has proved hard to beat as the perfect place to be this summer.
Find out more information and book your tickets via the website. Information regarding the cinema will be updated online soon.
