Fall 2021

Fall 2021 Season Schedule

10/4 Cinema 10 at the Drive-In!

Free admission!

Gates open 6:30, film starts 7:15

Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

(US, 2021, d. Questlove) 125 min. PG-13

~Masks must be worn at all times when outside vehicles~

Summer of Soul “is part music film, part historical record created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just one hundred miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was never seen and largely forgotten-until now…includes never-before-seen concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension and more” (Searchlight Pictures.) Director Questlove includes interviews with some of the surviving performers, talking about the event. (some disturbing images, smoking, brief drug material)

10/11 Nomadland (US, 2020, d. Chloé Zhao) 107 min. R

Frances McDormand stars in Nomadland, the winner of both the People's Choice Award at Toronto International Film Festival and the Golden Lion Award from the Venice Film Festival. After the death of her husband and the closing of her town's gypsum plant, McDormand travels around the country in a van, searching for work and meaning after having lost everything. The film has been praised for McDormand's outstanding performance, as well as those of the non-professional actors who appear on screen as real-life nomads. David Rooney of the Hollywood Reporter said in his review of Nomadland that the film is devoid of traditional narrative markers which creates a "unique portrait of outsider existence." Rated R for some full nudity.

10/18 In the Heights (US, 2021, d. John Chu) 143 min. PG-13

Lin-Manuel Miranda's (Hamilton) stunning broadway vision comes to life on screen with In the Heights. Filmed mostly on real locations in the community of Washington Heights, the film tells the musical journey of Usnavi, a charming bodega owner who's daydreaming (and singing) about a better life. Directed by Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) and featuring electrifying performances by film, television, and broadway stars alike, In the Heights is "a celebration of communal ties... a testimony to the power of art to turn struggles into the stuff of dreams." (A.O. Scott, The New York Times). Rated PG-13 for some language and suggestive references.

10/25 Judas and the Black Messiah (US,2021, d. Shaka King) 125 min. R

Judas and the Black Messiah tells the harrowing story of civil rights leader, Fred Hampton, and his betrayal by Bill O'Neal. After O'Neal is recruited by the FBI to infiltrate the Chicago Chapter of the Black Panther Party, he begins to rise through the ranks and becomes a close confidant of Hampton, ultimately culminating in Hampton's assassination. Told with stunning poignancy and unwavering performances by Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out) and Lakeith Stanfield (Sorry to Bother You), Judas is as timely as it is unrelenting and tragic. Writing for Variety, Peter Debruge praised the film by noting that it "puts the current moment into fresh historical context and suggests that ambivalence can be its own form of betrayal." Rated R for violence and pervasive language.

11/1 Quo Vadis Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2020, d. Jasmila Zbanic) 101 min. NR

Quo Vadis, Aida? is a dramatic retelling of "the worst European massacre since World War II" (NPR's Justin Chang). Told through the eyes of Aida, a translator working for the UN, the film examines with compassion and patience, the invasion of Bosnian soldiers into the small town of Srebrenica and the people who fled the bloodshed. In her review for Variety, Jessica Kiang wrote "Quo Vadis, Aida? works to un-revise history, recentering the victims' plight as the eye of a storm of evils, [exploring] the broader evils of institutional failure and international indifference." No MPAA rating: some sex and nudity, profanity, drug use, frightening scenes.

11/8 Night of the Kings / La nuit des rois (France Côte d'Ivoire Canada Senegal, 2020, d. Philippe Lacôte) 93 min R

Night of the Kings is a profile of the world's only inmate controlled prison deep in the heart of the Ivory Coast. The prisoner's king, Blackbeard, is in poor health and knows the rules: if he is unfit to govern, he must take his own life. But hoping he can stave off his own death for another night, he names a new Roman: a storyteller charged with entertaining prisoners during the upcoming blood moon. However, if the new Roman can't keep his tale going until morning he, too, will die. One part fantasy, one part drama, Night of the Kings is "an assured, energetic piece of epic filmmaking, one that celebrates how storytelling... and folklore teach us about our past so we might change our present." (Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com). Rated R for some violent material, language and nudity.

11/15 Zola (US, 2020, d. Janicza Bravo) 86 min. R

Strippers Zola (Taylour Paige, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) and Stefani (Rileigh Keough, The Devil All the Time) leave their club in Detroit for the opportunity to make more money in Tampa. Based on the Rolling Stone article "Zola Tells All: The Real Story Behind the Greatest Stripper Saga Ever Tweeted" by acclaimed writer and podcaster David Kushner, itself based on Aziah "Zola" King's viral 148-tweet thread about her real-life trip to Florida, Zola is a dark comedy about the dangers of prostitution as well as a complex commentary about life in the age of viral social media. (strong secual content and language, nudiity, violence including a sexual assault)

11/29 Minari (US, 2020, d. Lee Isaac Chung) 115 min. PG-13

Loosely based on the life of acclaimed writer and director Lee Isaac Chung (Munyurangabo), Minari tells the story of Korean immigrant Jacob Li (Steven Yeun, The Walking Dead), who moves his family from California to Arkansas where Jacob hopes to grow Korean produce for Dallas food vendors. Like the minari they eventually plant, the Yi family proves to be resilient against the various pressures that come from farming in a new climate, settling into a new community as visible outsiders, and the multiple pressures faced by all families attempting to carve out a better life for their children. (thematic elements, rude gesture)

12/6 Hive (Kosovo Switzerland Albania Republic of Macedonia, 2021, d. Blerta Basholli) 84 min

In her directorial debut, Kosovan filmmaker Blerta Basholli tells the story of a woman who challenges the misogynistic conventions of her society by producing ajvar and honey to provide for her family after her husband goes missing. Based on a true story, Hive articulates the various social barriers Kosovan women must overcome. A powerful story with themes relevant for various audiences, Hive became the first film to win the Grand Jury Prize, the Audience Award and the Directing Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at Sundance (2021). (thematic elements)

12/13 Wolfwalkers (2020, Ireland/UK/Luxembourg/France, d. Tomm Moore Ross Stewart) 103 min. PG

In 17th century Ireland, Robyn Goodfellowe (Honor Kneafsey) and her father Bill (Sean Bean) arrive in Kilkenny to help wipe out the last wolf pack. However, after meeting the spirited Mebh (Eva Whittaker), member of a mysterious tribe of wolfwalkers - who live as wolves at night - Robyn and Bill come to help save the wolfwalkers from their persecution before becoming wolfwalkers themselves. Fun for audiences of all ages, this animated fantasy film has been celebrated by critics such as Peter Debruge (Variety), writing that "Kids need movies like this that respect their intelligence, center strong female characters and question policies of blind obedience, while making an effort to integrate the rich cultural influences of a past that’s rapidly being bulldozed out of memory." (scenes of violence and peril, scary images, thematic elements, brief language)