Spend Friday night under the stars and enjoy the free Summer Cinema at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse. The theme for the Summer Cinema this year is “Out of This World,” exploring seven nights of space-inspired films. This week, the featured film is Close Encounters of the Third Kind. 

In the night skies over Indiana, cable worker Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) has an extraordinary encounter with a strange spacecraft. Desperate to understand what he experienced, he finds an ally in Jillian Guiller (Melinda Dillon), a single mother who believes her son has been abducted by extraterrestrials. Their quest culminates in a remote Wyoming rendezvous and the remarkable discovery that we are not alone in the universe. With revolutionary visual effects and an unforgettable John Williams score, this sci-fi blockbuster from Steven Spielberg was nominated for eight Academy Awards. (Steven Spielberg, 1977, PG, 137 min.)

Bring breathable blankets or a low chair, a picnic and your friends.