Photoville returns and the Brooklyn Film Fest kicks-off: 21 things to do this weekend

By Joshua Encinias

Get ready to open the floodgates to summer this weekend.

The 27th annual Brooklyn Film Festival is officially underway with over 138 movies on offer. They’re organized by feature length, shorts and genre, making it easier to pick a good flick or two. Meanwhile, elephants will fall from the sky at the 2024 Dumbo Drop on Friday afternoon, and you can celebrate Pride Eve at Brooklyn Monarch late on Friday night. Bring your glitter.

Saturday’s 13th annual Bushwick Collective Block Party brings Raekwon to headline the community and culture fest. Brooklyn Bridge Park is once again home to Photoville for two weeks of photography, workshops and shopping. And Kelly McCaughan brings her show “Catholic Guilt” to Union Hall on Saturday night.

Get your blood pumping on Sunday morning with the Verrazzano four-miler. Bay Ridge starts their own Pride festivities early with GayRidge 2024 at Owl’s Head Park, and Soul Summit Music play an afternoon rooftop set at Elsewhere to close out the weekend.

With temperatures in the high 70s/low 80s, this just might be the best summer weather of the year. Read what’s in store for your weekend and get out there.

Friday, May 31

Brooklyn Film Festival
The festival runs now through June 9
The 27th Brooklyn Film Festival returns with 138 new movies from all over the world. Not sure you want to sit through a bunch of feature-length movies and docs? The fest also has shorts and animated projects for every taste. Movies will play at Windmill Studios, Wythe Hotel and online. Come see what festival programmers have cooked up for this year’s edition! Various ticket packages are available.

Red Hook Fest
Friday and Saturday
For more than 30 years, Red Hook’s largest annual cultural event has brought neighbors, professional artists, young people and community organizations together as co-creators in the much-beloved summer tradition that is Red Hook Fest. On Friday, The 31st Annual Red Hook Fest kicks off with a dance party and community barbecue at PS15. With activities, free food and great music, the opening night event will be a fun neighborhood gathering for the whole family. The festivities continue on Saturday, with mainstage events at Valentino Park and Pier. Parents can enjoy the festival while kids delight in scavenger hunts, kayaking on the harbor, art classes and face painting. See their website linked above for various times and locations of events. Free.

Brooklyn Beaches open for summer
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily through September 8
The Brighton, Coney Island and Manhattan beaches are open for the summer! During beach season, lifeguards are on site from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and swimming isn’t permitted before they’re on duty. Keep an eye out for updates on openings and closings as the city faces a shortage of necessary lifeguards. Brooklyn’s beaches are open through Labor Day weekend, so soak up the sun. Text “BEACH” to 55676 to receive real-time opening, closing, and water quality information.

Vanderbilt Avenue Open Streets
Every weekend from May through September.
Fridays from 5 to 10 p.m., Saturdays 12 to 10 p.m., and Sundays 12 to 5 p.m.
Vanderbilt Avenue’s Open Streets in Prospect Heights has activities and art for the entire community, including recurring programs like Skate Everything Skate School, Salsa Salsa Dance Studio, Shambhala Yoga & Dance Center and New York Blood Center blood drives, and more. Vanderbilt Avenue between Atlantic Avenue and Park Place. Free.

Dumbo Drop 2024
3:30 to 6:30 p.m. for the Kids Zone
Dumbo Drop is an Annual Tradition where thousands of toy elephants parachute down from the skies of Dumbo onto cobblestoned Washington Street. There’s an epic block party with kids’ activities, restaurant row and more. All proceeds from ticket sales go directly to Dumbo’s Title 1 public schools, PS307 Elementary and The Dock Street Middle School. You must purchase a viewing ticket to watch the elephants and Dumbo Archway Kids Zone and Block Party is free as always. Washington Street 11201. Various ticket packages are available.

Miss Subways 2024
Doors at 7 p.m.
The City Reliquary returns to Coney Island USA’s Sideshows by the Seashore Theater for the 2024 Miss Subways spectacle with a diverse lineup of contestants of all gender identities, body types and ages (18 and up) who will perform before a panel of local celebrity judges for the chance to win the transit tiara, the subway sash, and the title of Miss Subways 2024. Food and drink available for purchase. 1208 Surf Avenue. $30

Pride Month Eve
10 p.m. to 3 a.m.
It’s like New Year’s Eve, but everyone’s gay and we’re counting down to pride month. Be at Brooklyn Monarch for Pride Month Eve before midnight on Friday to be part of it all. When the clock strikes June, you’ll celebrate with a bubbly toast. The party will feature sounds by NYC’s favorite queer DJ’s: P_A_T, Remeice and Knostalgia B2B Jason Musgrow. 23 Meadow Street. Tickets are $23.

Saturday, June 1

13th Annual Bushwick Collective Block Party
11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
The Bushwick Collective Block Party is an iconic annual event that has evolved from a simple mural painting jam into a large-scale cultural and community festival. The event aims to renew the neighborhood through art on the street, transforming the area into an open-air gallery with murals created by artists from around the world. This year’s lineup includes hip-hop artists Raekwon, Fat Man Scoop, Statik Selektah & Friends, NEMS, Termanology, Tony Moxberg, Lil Dee, Chandler, Home & Abroad, XAVR,and many other special guests. Hosted by MC DStroy and features DJ Evil Dee in the mix. 7 Scott Avenue. Free with drink packages are available for purchase.

Photoville opening weekend
Opening at noon on Saturday and Sunday and runs through June 16
Brooklyn Bridge Park is once again the hub of this annual two-week event photographic extravaganza, which begins Saturday, with free open-air exhibitions, interactive workshops and those iconic shipping containers repurposed as mini-galleries. The grand opening weekend takes place at the Emily Warren Roebling Plaza with family-friendly activities and photography workshops for professionals and amateurs alike. Art will be for sale and food will be available from the Smorgasburg Pop-Up. See Photoville’s website for more details about this weekend and beyond. Emily Warren Roebling Plaza inside Brooklyn Bridge Park. Free

Pinkster Festival at Lefferts Historic House and Weeksville
Open hours start at noon, celebration at 1 p.m.
Visit Lefferts Historic House in Prospect Park for its opening weekend of events and activities, including a Pinkster Festival, which commemorates this historic New York African American holiday, and the debut of its first site-specific art installation, Ancestral Whispers, by Brooklynite Adama Delphine Fawundu. Plus, take a shuttle on Sunday to Day 2 of the Pinkster celebration at Weeksville. 452 Flatbush Avenue. Free with RSVP.

Tastes of Park Slope and Fifth Avenue Art Stroll
2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Tastes of Park Slope partners with the Fifth Avenue Art Stroll on Saturday to help you nosh as you peruse the work of artists and artisans along Fifth Avenue. For $40, you can sample four savory and sweet treats, cocktails and tapas, and much more. Seeds in the Middle, a food insecurity initiative, receive proceeds from the event, so come out for a good cause and a good time on Fifth Avenue. 4th St & 5th Avenues, 11215

Gowanus Art Parade
2:30 to 9 p.m.
All are welcome to march in (or just watch) the inaugural Arts Gowanus art parade. Don your wackiest, most inventive, most Gowanus-y outfit! Transform yourself into an edgy egret, a harried heron, a crabby crab, a jaunty jellyfish, a yummy mummichog, a poised porpoise, a radioactive rat, a rabid raccoon, the legendary Sludgie the Whale or any fantastical canal creature you fancy! Deck yourself out in faux fur, feathers, fangs, flippers, tentacles, scales, sequins…. The weirder the better. Leading the procession will be the HONK Family Band! Joining the festivities will be the Gowanus Wildcats Drill Team and Miss Gowanus Canal / Miss New York USA 2022 Finalist, Meet at the alleyway between 543 Union & 280 Nevins Streets. Free, though Arts Gowanus will be accepting donations.

Red Bull Culture Clash
3 p.m.
Red Bull is bringing together four of the biggest New York festivals — Pride, Lunar New Year, the West Indian Day Parade — for one day on in a “Culture Clash” packed with wall-to-wall DJ sets and performances in a day that definitely doesn’t sound rowdy in the slightest. The event is completely free to the public, but you do need a ticket to secure a spot. 1 Noble Street.

FAD Market: Summer Pop-up
11 a.m. to 6 p.m., June 1 and 2, July 13 and 14, and August 10 and 11
This summer, FAD Market curates a monthly pop-up at Dumbo’s Empire Stores from June to August. Discover over 30 talented makers, artisans, and small businesses who live and create in the borough and beyond. Check out a curated selection of Dumbo’s best goods including handmade jewelry, apparel, body and skincare, tableware and artisanal packaged food. 55 Water Street.

Brooklyn Museum’s First Saturdays: ‘Fruitful’
5 to 10 p.m.
The Brooklyn Museum invites you to celebrate Pride with a glittering lineup of queer and trans artists, collectives, writers and musicians who are creating opportunities for community and joy throughout Brooklyn. From erotic literary readings of the new anthology “SLUTS,” to musical sets from freshly released records, the evening spotlights recent art that’s shaping queer culture. The event is free, but registration is required and spots fill up fast, so get your ticket ASAP. 200 Eastern Parkway.

Kelly McCaughan: Catholic Guilt
5 p.m.
Kelly McCaughan brings her solo performance “Catholic Guilt” to Union Hall for one holy Saturday night. McCaughan asks, “Does daddy Jesus’s naked body on the cross make you wet? This show will. Seriously, there’s water.” Through cringey personal recounts and audience participation, Kelly’s poignant and hilariously subversive show (Best Newcomer nominee 2023 ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards) exposes the impossible standards of the Catholic Church. This show is for anyone who wants to release the shame and guilt surrounding religion. You will laugh. You will sin. But, will you all make it to hell together? Find out on Saturday night. 702 Union Street. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door.

Sunday, June 2

Run the Verrazzano four-miler
9:30 a.m. to noon
Lace-up your Hokas and run the boardwalk bright and early this Sunday. The Verrazzano four-miler starts and finishes at the American Veterans Memorial Pier and the route gives you breathtaking views from the boardwalk. Plus, you have some well-deserved treats from All Round Foods waiting for you at the finish line. Rain or shine at Veterans Pier on Shore Road and Bay Ridge Avenue. Registration cost $40.

Montague Open Streets
12 to 5 p.m., every Sunday through June 30
The Montague Street Business Improvement District presents Open Streets this summer season with different events every Sunday. See their website for the complete schedule of events. Montague Street will be closed to car traffic between Clinton to Henry and Henry to Hicks Streets from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Free.

GayRidge Pride 2024
Noon to 4 p.m.
Start Pride Month with GayRidge at Owl’s Head Park on Sunday. Their annual Pride picnic takes place on Pride Hill, overlooking scenic New York City Bay. Bring your beach blankets and your favorite South Brooklyn takeout to enjoy a beautiful day outside with fellow GayRidge members, friends, and family. Enjoy live entertainment, drag performances, field games, crafts, LGBTQIA+ resources, and more. 68th Street and Bliss Terrace. Free.

All Day I Dream of Summer Shimmer
3 p.m. to 12 a.m.
All Day I Dream is a record label and events series founded by Lee Burridge on a Brooklyn rooftop in 2011. For more than a decade, All Day I Dream has curated transcendent experiences that transport audiences beyond the ordinary. All Day I Dream comes to Brooklyn Mirage on Sunday, and the lineup will include Burridge accompanied by ADID mainstays Facundo Mohrr, Double Touch, Dim Kelly and Sinca. 140 Stewart Avenue. Tickets are $79.

Soul Summit Music
4 p.m.
Soul Summit Music consists of DJs Jeffrey Mendoza, Sadiq Bellamy and Tabu — whose two-decade history of inclusive dance floor positivity is the stuff of Brooklyn legend. They founded the legendary Fort Greene party of the same name 21 years ago and have been committed to community building and sharing their signature blend of deep, bumping, spirited music ever since. On Sunday, you can party with the legends at Elsewhere for a rooftop show. 599 Johnson Avenue. Tickets are $25.