Kicking off with a cavalcade of international film festivals and concluding with December’s reliable onslaught of big-budget releases, fall is always a wild time at the movies. Here’s what Nashville moviegoers can expect to hit screens in the coming months.
Sept. 29 through Oct. 5, the 53rd installment of the Nashville Film Festival will take place at the Belcourt, TPAC’s Andrew Johnson Theater and the Franklin Theater. Some of this year’s highlights include Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny, which won the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival; the Dolly Parton-led documentary Still Working 9 to 5; the LeVar Burton/Reading Rainbow doc Butterfly in the Sky; Cannes hit Aftersun; the family drama Acidman starring Thomas Haden Church and Dianna Agron; and well-received Sundance music doc Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City 2001-2011. The festival will be bookended with two music docs. The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile is the opening-night film, set to screen Sept. 29 at 6:30 p.m., and Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues will close things out Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. Both of those screenings are set for the Belcourt. Also: Don’t be surprised if a handful of unexpected screenings pop up on the NaFF schedule out of the fall-festival circuit. The full list of more than 150 films — along with passes for in-person screenings and virtual screenings, as well as details on panels and more — is available at nashvillefilmfestival.org.
Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues
Overlapping with NaFF will be this year’s International Black Film Festival, set to take place Sept. 29 through Oct. 2 at Belmont University’s R. Milton and Denice Johnson Center and the Z. Alexander Looby Center Theater. Among this year’s IBFF titles are Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story, a biopic about the titular legendary gospel singer; documentaries Bonnie Blue: James Cotton’s Life in the Blues, Class of COVID 19 and Raised Up West Side, and a number of narrative and documentary shorts. Attendees can also expect a slate of panels and workshops, including Taking Advantage of Film and TV Incentives and It’s a Deal: Getting Distribution in 2022 and Beyond. Visit ibffevents.com for festival passes, screening tickets and further details.
As ever, Nashville film buffs can expect a promising fall lineup at the Belcourt Theatre. Kicking off later this month will be the Hillsboro Village arthouse’s Bowie on Film series, beginning with director Brett Morgen’s experimental documentary Moonage Daydream, which opens Sept. 23. The series will continue into October with a slate of films featuring Bowie as actor, including The Hunger; The Man Who Fell to Earth; Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence; The Prestige; The Last Temptation of Christ and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Among the new films coming to the Belcourt this season are: Pearl, director Ti West’s prequel to this year’s celebrated slasher flick X; French director François Ozon’s Peter Von Kant; Lena Dunham’s period piece Catherine Called Birdy; and the Palme d’Or-winning satire Triangle of Sadness. Ongoing repertory series at the nonprofit film center include Weekend Classics (currently amid a run of animated Disney classics), Midnight Movies (with Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vols. 1 & 2 upcoming on Sept. 23 and 24) and the ever-popular Music City Mondays. And not that local horror freaks need the reminder, but the annual overnight marathon 12 Hours of Terror — the lineup of which always remains closely guarded until the last minute — will hit the Belcourt in mid-October. Of course, that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the theater’s offerings. Visit belcourt.org for more or to become a Belcourt member.
Speaking of fright nights, indie outpost Full Moon Cineplex in Hermitage has some great spooky-season repertory screenings lined up, including Evil Dead 2, John Carpenter’s The Fog, The Shining and Rosemary’s Baby, among others. Visit fullmooncineplex.com for more on what you can catch in that relatively intimate screening room.
The Fabelmans
As far as what can be expected at the megaplexes in the coming weeks and months, it’s a scattershot collection of anticipated prestige flicks, big-budget blockbusters and curiosity-piquing outliers. Among them are Olivia Wilde’s gossip-besieged Florence Pugh- and Harry Styles-starring thriller Don’t Worry Darling (Sept. 23); Billy Eichner’s queer rom-com Bros (Sept. 30); David Gordon Green’s Halloween Ends (Oct. 14), the 13th installment in the Halloween horror franchise; Martin McDonagh's stacked-cast black comedy The Banshees of Inisherin (Oct. 21); the Rock-starring DC Extended Universe installment Black Adam (Oct. 21); the Marvel Cinematic Universe installment Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Nov. 11); Steven Spielberg’s semiautobiographical coming-of-age tear-jerker The Fabelmans (Nov. 11); horror road flick Bones and All (Nov. 23), which stars Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet as cannibals in love; and Darren Aronofsky’s long-awaited Brendan Fraser comeback effort The Whale (Dec. 9). Those release dates are subject to change, so keep your eyes on local listings.
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