The most unlikely of places is playing host to community festivities this weekend in East Somerville. A hidden parking lot that sits behind an antique fire station and adjacent to a KFC and Taco Bell dual vendor will double as the hub where two foreign films are set to play.
On 165 Broadway at Cross Street in East Somerville, East Somerville Main Streets will showcase the 4th annual Under the Stars: International Movie Nights with subtitled showings of an Italian film, "Johnny Stecchino" (1991), and an Argentine film, "El Ratón Pérez" (2006).
With a dynamic demographic of ethnic groups ranging from Italian-Americans to Salvadorean-Americans to Haitian-Americans, East Somerville promises to unite its diverse community with the allure of free motion pictures, delicious concessions and neighborly company.
"This event was really born from the community," Executive Director of East Somerville Main Streets Carrie Dancy told the Daily. "One of our volunteers had the idea, ‘How could we celebrate all of the cultures in our neighborhood?' He saw that the best way to do that was by showing movies."
"Stecchino" plays on Friday, Sept. 10, and stars 1999 Best Actor Academy Award-winner Roberto Benigni as Dante, a dim-witted bus driver who bears an uncanny resemblance to notorious mobster Johnny Stecchino. "El Ratón" plays Saturday, Sept. 11, mingling animation with live-action in the Argentine version of the tooth fairy.
"A lot of times communities are coming together around issues where people are for or against something," Dancy said. "But movie night is an opportunity for people to come together and have a good time."
Both films play at 8 P.M. at 165 Broadway in East Somerville. Admission is free.
