People go to the beach for plenty of reasons, from playing volleyball to snorkeling to sand castle-building, but now an initiative by the Department of Tourism will have people gathering at the beach to watch movies.

The Department of Tourism and the Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF) have announced they will start their first ever Movies on the Beach event on Warwick Long Bay, which will run from August 17-20.

The diverse film line-up will start with the award winning foreign action film House of Flying Daggers on Thursday, followed by the 2005 family film Nanny McPhee, starring Emma Thompson, today. On Saturday people can see a concert documentary on the history of blues music called Lightning in a Bottle and the final movie presentation will be on Sunday when they will show the well-loved romantic comedy Moonstruck with Cher and Nicholas Cage.

?I am delighted with the film line-up, and looking forward with anticipation to a first for Bermuda ? watching the stars under the stars. This is an event that both locals and visitors will enjoy,? said Minister of Tourism, Ewart Brown.

The films, which start at 8.30 p.m., will be projected on a screen, measuring 18 feet by 48 feet, and will be handled by Starlight Screenings, an American company which has handled the same duties for screenings by the Disney studio.

The admission is free and food and beverages will be available, wrote an official statement, which also advised movie-goers to bring a chair or blanket to sit on. In addition there will be parking available at Chaplin Bay.

And to complete the evening out, Unite Productions will be hosting parties on Saturday after the film, starting at 10.30 p.m., and on Sunday before the film, 7 p.m. onwards.