Winter Arts Guide 2021: Belcourt to Bring Back Drive-In for Sundance Series

“It’s a very weird year to try and write a preview for a film section,” Belcourt programming director Toby Leonard tells the Scene, empathetically. He goes on to describe conversations he’s had with friends and colleagues in the world of independent film distribution lately. “Every conversation at some point is like, ‘Look, anything can still change at any given time, with a couple of weeks’ notice, frankly.’ ”

Leonard’s widely beloved Hillsboro Village theater knows that all too well. Back in November, the Belcourt reopened for in-person screenings with limited capacity and a slew of COVID-19 safety precautions in place. The theater closed up shop and went back to virtual screenings only on Jan. 1, however, citing Tennessee’s post-Thanksgiving spike in COVID cases.

While, as Leonard notes, events planned during the pandemic are always subject to change, there’s a bright spot on the horizon. Weeks ago, the Belcourt announced that it had been selected as one of the 2021 Sundance Film Festival’s so-called Satellite Screens — partner theaters offering exclusive premieres of Sundance-selected films. Since the announcement, Sundance and many of its satellite partners have had to pivot from in-theater screenings, and now, eight films are currently slated to show as drive-in selections in the Belcourt’s parking lot. The nonprofit cinema saw great success with its drive-in series back in the late summer and fall, and will return to that approach with its Sundance selections Jan. 29-Feb. 1 — with tickets going on sale to members Wednesday, and to everyone else Thursday.

Scheduled for Friday, Jan. 29, are “pre-apocalyptic comedy” How It Ends (6 p.m.) and Swedish documentary The Most Beautiful Boy in the World (9 p.m.). The former, starring and co-directed by Zoe Lister-Jones, follows an Angeleno as she makes her way to a literal end-of-the-world party. The latter is a tale of celebrity and the “curse of beauty” centering on actor Björn Andrésen. Set to show Saturday, Jan. 30, are actor Fran Kranz’s grief-centered directorial debut, Mass (6 p.m.), and director Lucy Walker’s Bring Your Own Brigade (9 p.m.), a documentary about wildfires.

Up on Sunday, Jan. 31, is Transpecos director Clint Bentley’s Jockey (6 p.m.), starring the always-stellar Clifton Collins Jr. as the film’s titular athlete. Also scheduled to show on Sunday is The Blazing World (9 p.m.), the debut film from writer-director Carlson Young, who also stars. That one is a fantastical psychological drama in which Young’s character, Margaret, delves into her own “twisted inner life.”

The Belcourt’s slate of Sundance drive-in selections will wrap up on Monday, Feb. 1, with Together Together (6 p.m.) and Judas and the Black Messiah (8:45 p.m.). Together Together stars wonderful rising comedian-actor Patti Harrison as the surrogate mother for a middle-aged app designer played by Ed Helms. Judas is a biographical drama starring the phenomenal Daniel Kaluuya as Black Panther leader Fred Hampton and the also-excellent LaKeith Stanfield as William O’Neal, the FBI informant who sold Hampton out to feds.

Of course, the Belcourt has more planned than just the Sundance films set to show this winter, even with a timeline for in-person theater screenings still a question mark. Hungarian drama Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time — which Leonard describes as “just fantastic, a beautiful film” — will begin screening via the Belcourt’s virtual theater on Friday, Jan. 22. The arthouse is also planning a virtual run of a restoration of legendary folk and country documentary Heartworn Highways beginning on Friday, Feb. 5.

Other films that Leonard & Co. have their eyes on for possible Belcourt openings — virtual or otherwise — include a pair of extremely critically acclaimed dramas: Chloé Zhao’s Frances McDormand-starring Western Nomadland, and Lee Isaac Chung’s tale of Korean-American immigration Minari. Keep your eyes trained on belcourt.org for news about possible February openings of both films and more.

What’s more, cinephiles can expect further installments in the Scene-sponsored Belcourt series Living Room Film Club, featuring special guest speakers talking about their favorite flicks via Zoom. The next installment takes place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 13, and will feature Elyce Helford, professor of English at Middle Tennessee State University, who’ll talk about her new book, What Price Hollywood? Gender and Sex in the Films of George Cukor, with Scene culture editor Erica Ciccarone. Register here.