“This standout documentary combines archival footage and animated re-enactments to share one survivor’s memories... The film’s coherence is a reflection of both the skill of the filmmaker, and the heroic efforts of Aurora herself to ensure that her view of history would not be forgotten.” —Teo Bugbee, Critic’s Pick @nytimes

At the Belcourt this Fri-Wed, Sep 22-27, Inna Sahakyan’s AURORA’S SUNRISE. A genocide survivor becomes a silent movie star: Aurora Mardiganian’s odyssey is nearly unreal. After losing her family, escaping slavery, and enduring Hollywood greed, she journeys far to tell the world of the Armenian genocide. (Tickets at link in bio, or bit.ly/AURORAS-SUNRISE)

And at this Fri’s 7pm screening, an introduction from Helen Makhdoumian, postdoctoral fellow in the collaborative humanities at @vanderbiltu who specializes in the history and representations of the Armenian genocide.

#aurorassunrise @auroras.sunrise #innasahakyan #armenianstories #docspotlight ...

“Delightfully warm and comically upbeat.” —@theplaylistnation

#BabakJalali’s FREMONT starring Anaita Wali Zada opens this Fri, Sep 22 (link in bio, or bit.ly/Belcourt-FREMONT).

@fremontthemovie @anaitawalzada opens @musicboxfilms #fremontmovie ...

“What I liked was a horror movie that was scaring me with ideas and gore, instead of simply with gore.” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (Oct 16, 1992)

Next up for Pizza and a Movie on Wed, Sep 27 at 8pm, 1992’s CANDYMAN — co-presented with @slimandhuskys. Tony Todd’s astounding turn as the hook-handed boogeyman paired with Bernard Rose’s sweeping, impassioned directing, and further bolstered by Philip Glass’s epic score, helped ensure this incredible horror/romance hybrid from the twisted mind of Clive Barker would forever be ingrained in the cultural consciousness. (Tickets at link in bio, or bit.ly/Belcourt-CANDYMAN — and you’ll have the option to add a Slim & Husky’s pizza to your order when you purchase tickets.) ...

“I WENT TO THE DANCE… is such an infectious music film on Louisiana French and Zydeco music that it’s hard to stay seated… It is a feast of folkloric scholarship, human history, regional color and irresistible music.” —Peter Stack, San Francisco Chronicle

This Mon, Sep 18 at 4pm, 6pm + 8pm — Les Blank and Chris Strachwitz’s newly restored 1989 I WENT TO THE DANCE (J’AI ÉTÉ AU BAL) — their seminal film on the history of the foot-stomping, toe-tapping music of French Southwest Louisiana, featuring many Cajun and Zydeco greats. And an intro at the 8pm screening from Randy Pitts, longtime friend of directors Les Blank, Maureen Gosling and Chris Strachwitz (link in bio, or bit.ly/WENT-TO-DANCE) ...

“Simon’s nonjudgmental, empathetic curiosity is the film’s great strength. But it’s also shocking that still now, in 2023, it can be such a revelation, as women, to see OUR BODY portrayed without sexualization and without stigmatization — without, in a word, shame.” —@kiangjessica @variety

Screening this Sun, Sep 17 Wed + Tue-Wed, Sep 19-20 — in OUR BODY, French documentary titan @claire_simon_cinema observes the everyday operations of the gynecological ward in a public hospital in Paris. In the process, she questions what it means to live in a woman’s body, filming the diversity, singularity and beauty of patients in all stages of life. (Tickets at link in bio, or bit.ly/OUR-BODY) ...

“Delightfully hilarious. One of those sweet, funny films that takes pleasure in the wonder of youth, with really tight, honest writing that is unexpected and fun.” —@chicago_reader

Charlotte Regan’s SCRAPPER – winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at Sundance and starring Lola Campbell + Harris Dickinson (TRIANGLE OF SADNESS) – opens this Fri, Sep 15 (tickets at link in bio, or bit.ly/Belcourt-SCRAPPER).

@crcharlotte @harrisdickinson #scrappermovie #charlotteregan #lolacampbell #harrisdickinson @picentfilms ...

Join us for a one-of-a-kind, only-at-the-Belcourt special evening — Thu, Sep 21 at 8pm. Experience the art, craft — and only-in-Music-City story — of “Nashville’s first family of film” (as Jim Ridley wrote in 1996). Read on…

“They [the Ormond family] would go on to create one of the most colorful, and most curious, chapters in Music City’s history. Theirs is a story that brings together everything that is truly Nashville: It is a saga that includes Ralph Emery, the United Methodist Church, Minnie Pearl, some strippers and a man in a gorilla suit.” —Jim Ridley and David D. Duncan, @nashvillescene (Apr 18, 1996)

Our Ormond-dedicated special evening — co-presented with @ThirdMan — starts with…
• An Ormond-inspired pre-show performance from chanteuse @tammyfayestarlight
• Biographer Jimmy McDonough, who’s had a 36-year obsession with the Ormond family
• Tim Ormond himself — the only surviving member of the clan and a prolific presence in the Nashville filmmaking community

And WAIT! There’s more…
• Tim intros our screening of brand-new restorations of both THE EXOTIC ONES (aka THE MONSTER AND THE STRIPPER) and the rarely-seen Tim Ormond-directed opus IT’S ABOUT THE SECOND COMING
• Post-screening, an extended Q&A session with both Tim and Jimmy (who’ll also have books available for sale and signing

(Learn more + get tickets at link in bio, or bit.ly/EXOTIC-ONES) ...

“This is the greatest concert film ever!” —Spike Lee at the Toronto Film Festival (Sep 11, 2023)

STOP MAKING SENSE’s new 4K restoration opens Thu, Sep 28 at the Belcourt — and tickets are on sale now for the first week’s screenings (link in bio, or bit.ly/STOP-MAKING-SENSE)

@TIFF_NET @talkingheadsofficial @a24 @davidbyrneofficial @frantzchris @jerryharrisonofficial #talkingheads #stopmakingsense #davidbyrne #tinaweymouth #chrisfrantz #jerryharrison ...

This Fri-Thu, Sep 15-21, KING COAL — with a post-screening discussion at Fri, Sep 15’s 6:40pm showtime with Oscar-nominated Knoxville-based director/producer Elaine McMillion Sheldon (tickets at link in bio, or bit.ly/KING-COAL). #DocSpotlight

A lyrical tapestry of a place and people, KING COAL meditates on the complex history and future of the coal industry, the communities it has shaped, and the myths it has created. #ElaineMcMillionSheldon reshapes the boundaries of documentary filmmaking in a spectacularly beautiful and poignantly moving immersion into Central Appalachia where coal is not just a resource, but a way of life.

“KING COAL moves beyond shallow impressions of the region with a real love for her neighbors and prodding questions about what it means to identify with an industry that has harmed and exploited generations of families.” —Monica Castillo mcastimovies @rogerebertofficial ...

Today (Mon) at 3:45pm, 5:55pm + 8pm*, THE ELEPHANT 6 RECORDING CO. — an inside look at the ’90s rock collective that launched Neutral Milk Hotel, The Olivia Tremor Control, The Apples in Stereo and others. *And at the 8pm screening of THE ELEPHANT 6 RECORDING CO., pre-show Elephant 6 trivia with prize pack from @Grimeys New & Preloved Music. (Tickets at link in bio, or bit.ly/ELEPHANT-6) #DocSpotlight #MusicCityMondays ...

“[An] unusually direct, moving and deceptively simple exploration of love — and of film — as defences against forgetting.” —@screendaily

Part of #DocSpotlight, @maitealberdi’s THE ETERNAL MEMORY — winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in World Cinema Documentary Competition — screens Sun, Sep 10 (1pm) + Tue, Sep 12 (3:20pm, 7pm). And at Sun’s 1pm showtime, a post-screening discussion with Dr. Leslie Gaynor, assistant professor of medicine, Vanderbilt University Memory & Alzheimer’s Center — in our upstairs Jackson Education and Engagement Space (seating is limited; first come, first served).

As one of Chile’s most prominent cultural commentators and television presenters, Augusto Góngora is no stranger to building an archive of memory. Now he turns that work to his own life, trying to hold on to his identity with the help of his beloved Paulina Urrutia — whose own pre-eminence as a famous actress and Chilean minister of culture predates her ceaselessly inventive manner of engaging with her husband. Day by day, the couple face this challenge head-on, relying on the tender affection and sense of humor shared between them that remains, remarkably, fully intact. ...

“[Lily] Gladstone is exceptional... It’s a quiet kind of performance that glues the film’s verité elements together, an active fly on the wall that makes THE UNKNOWN COUNTRY completely immersive.”

#LilyGladstone stars in #MorissaMaltz hybrid docu-drama THE UNKNOWN COUNTRY — now playing at the Belcourt (tickets at link in bio, or bit.ly/UNKNOWN-COUNTRY). And after the last screening — on Thu, Sep 14 at 6:05pm, a post-screening discussion in the upstairs Jackson Education and Engagement Space with Cherokee writer, activist and author Albert Bender (seating is limited; first come, first served).

#theunknowncountry @theunknowncountryfilm @morrisam @lilygladstone @raymomomo @vanarataing @lainey_shangreaux @coldironpictures @musicboxfilms ...