Art Hill Film Series returns to St. Louis in July with food trucks, movies and live music

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St. Louis’ most picturesque outdoor cinema viewing experience, the Saint Louis Art Museum’s Art Hill Film Series, returns for three dates this summer. Pitch your lawn chair, prep your picnic basket and bring your well behaved, leashed dog to a viewing of Top Gun: Maverick, Akeelah and the Bee and School of Rock.

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the St. Louis Art Museum’s Education Department, this year's theme is Teacher Feature.

Started in the 2000s by a group of “resourceful SLAM staff members” during auditorium renovations, since then, the event has only grown. 

Director of Learning and Engagement at SLAM Amanda Thompson Rundahl said, “Now, it's a big production with a huge inflatable screen and all sorts of other elements and amenities.”

Those elements and amenities include live DJ sets, a cash bar serving both alcoholic and non-alcoholic options and, of course, the Sauce sponsored lineup of St. Louis’ finest food trucks like Grace Chicken + Fish, Soul Burgers, Farmtruk, Pete’s Pops and more. 

The series kicks off on July 14 with Top Gun: Maverick, continues on July 21 with Akeelah and the Bee and finishes off on July 28 with School of Rock. The event starts at 6 p.m. with a live DJ set from a different artist each date and ample time to get in line at your favorite food truck, explore Forest Park or pop into the Art Museum. The movie begins at 9 p.m., which coincides with SLAM’s closing time.

Thompson Rundahl said, “[We] encourage people to just come out and join us for what is one of the largest outdoor cinemas in St. Louis and one of the most picturesque spots to watch a movie, we think, anywhere.”

The event is free and open to the public. No dates will be rescheduled due to weather cancellations. All films are shown with closed captioning. Additional accessibility accommodations can be found on their website.

The Teacher Feature theme extends into the museum itself where SLAM’s new exhibition – Action/Abstraction Redefined: Modern Native Art, 1940s-1970s – opened June 24 and features the “revolutionary kind of teaching and educational approach” that the faculty at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe took while “expanding the narrative of midcentury abstraction.”

The trucks for each event are as follows (subject to change):

July 14: Beast Craft BBQ Co., Cinnacrush, Duchess Rose, Pete's Pops, Picture Perfect Panini, Soul Burgers, Scoops and More, This N That, The Moobile

July 21: Angie Burger, Buzz's Hawaiian Grill, Cajun Seduction, Fire & Ice Cream Truck, G Burrito, Jive Turkey, Pete's Pops, Scoops and More, Tuk Tuk Thai

July 28: Beast Craft BBQ Co., Buzz's Hawaiian Grill, Cajun Seduction, Cha Cha Chow, Cinnacrush, Fire & Ice Cream Truck, Go Gyro Go, Treaux BBQ

Editor's note: This article was updated at 10:45 a.m. Thursday, July 13, to include specific trucks for each date.