LA: Stars Above & Stars Below – Movie Night at Hollywood Forever Cemetery

There are nights in Los Angeles when movie magic comes alive. July 5th, 2025 was one of those nights.

We were stretched across the Fairbanks Lawn with a few bottles of wine, a couple of pizzas, some bags of popcorn, and a few thousand of our soon-to-be closest friends around us for the collective experience of watching a movie in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. And what movie could be more perfect to screen here than the 2016 award-winning film La La Land, flickering to life against a mausoleum wall silhouetted by tall, swaying palms and the outline of the Hollywood Hills.

Hollywood Forever feels like the most Los Angeles of places. I wrote about it last year in a post called Lights, Camera, Eternity…. After waiting in line for an hour (tip: arrive early) and quickly wandering among the graves of the famous to vie for a spot, we spread our blanket and settled in. Cinespia, who organizes and hosts these screenings, has turned them into interactive experiences. A pop-up photobooth, styled as an iconic twilight scene from the film, invites you to step in as Mia and Seb and snap a selfie.

Watching La La Land here, beneath and quite literally above the stars, was a moment of movie magic. The film is, in itself, a love letter to Los Angeles, with scenes shot in iconic locations such as Griffith Park, the Hermosa Beach Pier, and The Smokehouse. Halfway through the film, just as Mia and Seb were dancing along a dusky ridge in Griffith Park, a shooting star traced its way over the movie screen and the Hollywood Hills. A collective gasp followed, fingers pointed to the sky. You couldn’t script a better cameo appearance. It was as if Hollywood had timed a perfect blink of wonder, and then it was gone (another shooting star made an appearance overhead later in the movie).

I went to the bar and noticed that right behind it, in close proximity to the temporary porta-potties, was the tombstone of Alfred Hitchcock. It made me want to return for some of their horror movie screenings, which feels only fitting given that you are in a graveyard. This summer, they are screening IT and hosting a double-feature ‘slumber party’ screening of The Lost Boys, followed by An American Werewolf in London.

When the film ended and the words ‘The End’ appeared on the screen, everybody’s eyes were misty from the final montage of what Mia and Seb’s life might have been. There was a collective cheer. And then, fireworks. Explosions of color erupted above the mausoleum and palms, echoing off the tombs, monuments, and marble walls. It was beautiful. The tears were replaced by oohs, aahs, and applause.