Image: National Museum of Contemporary Art, San Francisco
The National Museum of Contemporary Art, EMST, is turning its rooftop into one of Athens’ summer cinemas with 'CineFIX', a seasonal screening program built around films about heat. According to the museum’s announcement and event page, the series returns after a short summer break on Thursday, 27 August, and continues through the summer months, presenting titles that range from classic film noir and cult favorites to art-house works. The screenings take place on the museum’s terrace, with panoramic views across the city and toward the Acropolis.
EMST describes the rooftop setting as part of the experience of CineFIX, which brings together films, video works and audiovisual art in an open-air format above the city. This year’s program is titled 'HEAT' and focuses on the many forms heat can take on screen: scorching climates, feverish desire, criminal passions, sleepless nights and dangerous seductions. The museum’s text frames heat not simply as background but as an active force in the selected films, intensifying emotion, obsession and risk.
The opening screening is David Lean’s 'Lawrence of Arabia' (1962), scheduled for Thursday, 27 August at 20:30. The 222-minute epic, shown in English with Greek subtitles, is presented by EMST as a landmark in world cinema. The museum’s description notes that the film, based on the life of British officer T. E. Lawrence during the First World War, is distinguished by its direction, editing, cinematography and music. The cast listed by EMST includes Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, José Ferrer, Anthony Quayle, Claude Rains and Arthur Kennedy.
The program continues on Thursday, 3 September at 21:00 with Bernardo Bertolucci’s 'The Sheltering Sky' (1990), also shown in English with Greek subtitles. EMST’s synopsis follows Port and Kit Moresby as they travel into the Sahara in search of a second chance for their marriage and a deeper understanding of themselves. The museum describes the desert and the heat as stripping away familiarity and certainty, turning the journey into an existential passage shaped by loneliness, mortality and the fragility of human existence. The cast listed includes Debra Winger, John Malkovich, Campbell Scott, Jill Bennett, Timothy Spall and Tom Novembrino.
The broader CineFIX program, as laid out on the museum website, extends beyond these two dates and includes screenings through June, July, August and September. In July, the schedule features 'Body Heat' (1981), 'Do the Right Thing' (1989), 'Anatomy of a Murder' (1959), 'The Big Sleep' (1946) and 'North by Northwest' (1959). In June, the lineup opened with a screening connected to Athens Pride 2026 and later included 'The Big Heat' (1953), while May featured Chris Marker and Pierre Lhomme’s 'Le joli mai' (1963). The site also states that tickets can be reserved online and are available at the museum box office half an hour before each screening.
The museum’s summer program appears alongside other EMST announcements, including its exhibition and public-programming schedule for 2026, but the rooftop screenings are presented as a distinct seasonal offering. For CineFIX, EMST is framing the terrace itself as a setting where cinematic history, Athens’ night sky and the museum’s view over the city meet for a run of heat-themed screenings.
