IF there's one thing a parent can appreciate it's having a free community event that your kids can go to, have a good time, be outdoors and make new friends. What makes it even better is if there is food, music and movies involved.

Startime Entertainment brings you all of these things every Friday from June 27 until September 12 at various locations across the island in their Moonlight Movie Series, which is sponsored by the Bermuda Department of Tourism.

What started out as just a one time event in 2006 has grown into a hugely popular Friday night event that people, especially kids and parents, love to go to and unwind in a stress free fun environment that promises good times had by all.

Mr. Eugene Dean, Managing Director for Startime Entertainment, sat down and spoke with us about this community event that has people driving to all points of the island for the fun and good times to be had in some of the most picturesque settings Bermuda has to offer.

Mr. Dean said "The movie nights were started as an initiative from the Tourism Department. In 2006 they engaged The Bermuda International Film Festival (BIFF) to do an outdoor movie night. BIFF brought in an overseas vendor and they were going to do it at Horseshoe Beach, but moved it to Warwick Long Bay where they had movies on the beach for the first time.

"After the success of the event Startime contacted the Bermuda Government to say this looks like a positive event and we suggested that if they were willing to spend all that money to bring that equipment in and ship it back out then it would make sense to work with a local vendor who would then own the equipment and who would be able to do that type of event all summer long rather than just be limited to a three or four day period because that's what it initially was.

"Last year we got the contract to do the technical side of movies on the beach and it was supposed to be a four day event but because of bad weather we were only able to do one.

"Despite that we were able to acquire all the equipment necessary to provide an outdoor cinema and as a result we won the confidence of Tourism and the local community as they clearly saw we had the ability to deliver.

"This year we got the contract to manage the entire event which enabled us to fulfil our vision of running movies through the entire summer. Almost losing the entire event of 2007 was something we didn't want to repeat and with The Moonlight Movie Series being a summertime continual event then if you have bad weather one week you can just come back the next.

"This series allows us to take the movies into different communities and we are doing a tour between east, west, central and south shore. We always have the weekly event at beaches or parks and the idea is to provide positive quality community events that can allow locals and tourists to be able to have a positive experience together."

The locations are some of the most beautiful spots in Bermuda and Mr. Dean says "We work with Parks dept. who have been providing the venues to us at no charge. They are also providing assistance by park rangers with things like parking, setup and trash removal. We also work with The Corporation of Hamilton (COH) when we have events in Victoria Park and Barr's Park. And when we are in the west end we are also working with Snorkel Park.

"We've had very positive feedback from all the events that we have put on and everybody loves it. Tourism and Parks Dept. are looking to add more events at the beaches and the parks, and COH wants more events in the city and vendors at either end of the island enjoy hundreds of people coming to their venues."

Jessica Dill, a 17 year old graduate from BHS who is going to the University of Edinburgh to study architecture, is in charge of PR and advertising and is also dealing with sponsorship, logistics, the infrastructure and also coordinating the entertainment.

Miss. Dill said "My uncle (Eugene Dean) was doing the Moonlight Movie Series and I asked if I could become involved. He gave me a lot of responsibility and it's been great. We are aiming for family oriented events and we are trying to play movies that are kid friendly such as animated films. But we are also trying to attract a whole range of people. Once the sun sets, that's when we start the movie. Generally it is between 8:30 and 9PM that we start the movie and it's shown on our movie screen which is 40 feet by 22.5 feet.

"The actual event starts at 7PM and we have a number of vendors there as well as a Kiddie Land for the kids that include fun castle, slides, airbrushing, popcorn and cotton candy which are all provided by Fun Tyme Entertainment.

"The vendors vary from event to event. We try to switch around the vendors every week so there is a different selection every Friday. Some of our vendors include Sensational Delights, Jamaican Grille, and It's Only Natural who provide natural sodas and drinks.

"Cup Match weekend we were at Snorkel Park showing Shark Tale and this week we will be at Clearwater Beach showing Transformers."

Mr. Dean adds "In addition to the food vendors we have entertainment every week. Sometimes we have DJ's, other times it's a live band. For instance this previous Friday we had the Stan Seymour Trio perform. From 7 to 9 people come in and find a place to sit, get something to eat and enjoy the entertainment. The movie starts as soon as the sun sets."

Startime Entertainment is not new to event hosting in Bermuda. In fact they have been around since the 1970's.

Mr. Dean explained "Startime is a multimedia company. We do event management, video production, outdoor cinema, video and voice over IP and all sorts of media conversion. Anything related to screens, projectors, laptops, presentations or anything media related we are involved with.

"Startime was formed in the late 70's. Back then we used to do a lot of community events and concerts. In recent years the company has re-emerged in a more technological age. We hosted one of the first webcasts in the western hemisphere back when BTC was testing DSL and we did a Bunny Wailer concert and streamed it live over the internet. From there we went international and did the Trinidad Carnival, Tony Rebel's: Rebel Salute, and we also streamed Studio Ones 50 Anniversary Celebration over the internet.

"The idea behind the Moonlight Movie Series is that this will be an annual event that we hope will get bigger as time goes on and this movie series is putting the company brand in the public eye."

Mr. Naquan Smith, a 14 year old student from Berkeley who was placed with the company by the government for work, says he has learned a lot from his time working there. Mr. Smith said "My experience in working with this company is that there is no sleeping on the job, it's all work. But it's fun. You learn a lot and you learn that life just isn't going to be handed to you and you have to work hard for it. I learned that when you are doing outdoor cinema there is a lot of technical work, along with physical and mental work. So I've learned to work in a number of different ways and it's been a positive experience."

The event is wildly popular and the highlight of the series this summer so far was the opening event at The Arboretum. Mr. Dean says "This year everyone fell in love with The Arboretum venue. The Arboretum has been the greatest highlight yet and it was our opening event. It is a natural amphitheatre and the screen was set right in front of three palm trees with tiki torches burning and the people just loved it.

"We were pleased because we had the opportunity to show everyone that as a local company we had the ability to successfully do the event.

Mr. Dean also wants to let the public know that on "Labour Day Weekend we will be at the Botanical Gardens doing a three day run of the Moonlight Movie Series. We will show a different film on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and it should be a great time."

Mr. Dean is very pleased to say "The response to all the events has been very positive. Hundreds of people come out to the events and people have just thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd really like to take the opportunity to applaud the community because everybody has conducted themselves in a real positive manner. It's really been a great time which is nice because our goal is to create unity in the community and provide opportunities for people to do things as a family. People should just come and see for themselves. The food is there, the drinks are there, the rides are there and the entertainment is there. It's family fun in its truest sense."

People wishing to contact The Moonlight Movie Series can send an email to infostartimedia.com or call 799-0379. For weekly movie listings people can go to www.bermudatourism.com