UPDATE: The Nashville Scene and the Belcourt Announce Living Room Film Club

We at the Scene know that the Belcourt Theatre is one of Nashville’s finest institutions, and we’ve all had meaningful interactions in its lobby with fellow cinephiles as we discussed the latest release or classic repertory screening. The culture surrounding movies is as important as the films themselves. That’s why we’re partnering with the arthouse to present the Living Room Film Club, an online gathering for film lovers. It’s our way of extending that Belcourt feeling while we’re practicing social distancing during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Each week, the Belcourt and the Scene will announce a collection from the Criterion Channel, with one film as the spotlight. You can watch the spotlight feature on your own at home, along with any other films in the collection that strike you, and join our guest speakers for a live, 30-minute discussion online. 

Our first club will focus on the collection Starring Juliette Binoche. We’ll spotlight the collection with a discussion about Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy. Join us on Wednesday, April 1, at 8 p.m. for a discussion with Belcourt education and engagement director Allison Inman, Nashville Scene contributing writer Sadaf Ahsan and Director of Cinema and Media Arts at Vanderbilt University Jennifer Fay. To attend the discussion, register here for free. (Check out Scene contributor Steve Erickson’s 2011 interview with Binoche about the film here.)

Don’t have a subscription to the Criterion Channel? Criterion has partnered with the Belcourt to provide a limited number of discounted subscriptions to share with the theater’s members who are not already subscribers. New subscribers who sign up by April 30 will receive 50 percent off their first three months of membership, following a two-week free trial. Find the details on how to sign up here. 

Not a Belcourt member? The theater can use your support more than ever. An individual membership is $50 annually, and it gets you discounted tickets to all Belcourt films, 20 percent off at the concessions stand and more. Learn more here. 

If you’re not a Belcourt member, you can still participate in the Living Room Film Club by purchasing a Criterion Channel subscription — either on a monthly ($10.99) or yearly ($99.99) basis.

See you at the movies — sort of! 

UPDATE: Here are more films we'll discuss this month: 

May 6: A Poem Is a Naked Person, with executive producer Harrod Blank and Scene contributor Ron Wynn. RSVP here.

April 29: Paper Moon, with special guest Sarah Crotzer, English instructor at Volunteer State Community College, and Scene contributor Sadaf Ahsan. 

April 22: Godzilla (1954), with special guest Haerin Shin, assistant professor of English, Cinema and Media Arts, and Asian Studies at Vanderbilt University, and Cory Woodruff, Scene contributor

April 15: Mikey and Nicky, with Belmont University professor Sarah Childress and Scene contributor Joe Nolan 

April 8: The Steel Helmet, with special guests Frank Dobson, associate dean of The Martha Rivers Ingram Commons at Vanderbilt University, and Scene contributor Nathan Smith.