Joshua Davis The EPIX Movie Free-for-All is the first sponsored weekly film series held in Tompkins Square Park. Screening will take place Thursday evenings through Aug. 25.

The East Village, with its history of art house theaters and independent video stores, has long been a destination for movie lovers. But for countless summers, East Villagers have had to trek uptown or head to out to Brooklyn to participate in a summer tradition: outdoor movie screenings.

That all ended last night when the EPIX Movie Free-for-All premiered its weekly film series in Tompkins Square Park with the screening of Martin Scorsese’s “Raging Bull.”

“When we saw it was right here, and we could run and use the bathroom in our own apartment we were like, ‘let’s go,’” said Polly Seplowitz, 27, a nearby resident and public school teacher who came with her neighbor.

The series is the first sponsored weekly film event held in Tompkins Square Park, and organizers say they are pleased to bring an event patterned after the popular HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival to the East Village.
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