Repertory

Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) is a high school senior who daydreams of trading her lackluster hometown for the likes of a prestigious college on the East Coast. In her debut feature, Greta Gerwig masterfully depicts the volatile nature of the razor thin line between girlhood and womanhood.

A forbidden fantasy blossoms when French twins Isabelle (Eva Green) and Théo (Louis Garrel) invite American exchange student Matthew (Michael Pitt) to stay with them while their parents are abroad for a month.

Growing up in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, aspiring artist Rocket uses his passion for photography to observe and avoid a life of drugs and crime. Through Rocket — as well as gang leaders Lil Zé and Knockout Ned — the film tells the story of the rise of organized crime in the ‘70s, and was a breakthrough hit in 2002, churning with energy and punctuated by a propulsive era soundtrack.

From master filmmaker Roy Andersson, a simple yet emotionally honest tale of two young lovers set in relief against the chronically dysfunctional adults in their lives.

Locked in a perpetual prison of adolescence by their domineering father, three socially and sexually repressed siblings make increasingly desperate attempts to escape their barrage of boredom.

When students in their high school begin inexplicably exploding (literally), seniors Mara and Dylan fall for each other as they struggle to make sense of the sudden violent deaths of their classmates and live each moment as if it’s their last.

Told through the eyes of director François Truffaut’s cinematic counterpart, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), this French New Wave classic sensitively re-creates the trials of Truffaut’s own childhood, unsentimentally portraying aloof parents, oppressive teachers and petty crime.

A girl on the verge of womanhood finds herself in a sensual fantasyland of vampires, witchcraft and other threats in this eerie and mystical movie daydream. Ravishingly shot, enchantingly scored and spilling over with surreal fancies, this enticing phantasmagoria from director Jaromil Jireš is among the most beautiful oddities of the Czechoslovak New Wave.

The ’70s at their grungiest are captured by Uli Edel’s 1981 film with Natja Brunckhorst as 14-year-old David Bowie-obsessed junkie crashing in West Berlin’s Zoo Station. Bowie himself appears in a concert performance, and the film’s soundtrack is a virtual compendium of the epochal musician’s celebrated “Berlin period” — and a perfect sonic evocation of nightclubbing’s dark side.

Nashville native Dee Rees directs the story of Alike (Adepero Oduye) — a teenage Black girl from Brooklyn who’s on the brink of self discovery in the department of homosexuality. But the more she embraces her identity, the more she faces scrutiny from her Christian mother.

Charlie (Logan Lerman) is sweet, shy, and suffers from psychiatric distress. Determined to not let PTSD ruin his freshman year, he hits the highschool hallways with one goal in mind — to find a friend.

Recently released from a mental institution, a disturbed young man falls for a radiant All-American teen who may not be as innocent as her appearance suggests.

In a segregated Mississippi town, a teenage boy (played by Nashvillian Claude Jarman Jr.), his lawyer uncle and an elderly woman combine forces to prevent a miscarriage of justice and try to clear a black man of a murder charge. Based on the 1948 novel by William Faulker, and featuring a groundbreaking performance by pioneering African-American actor, Juano Hernández.

Forty years later, the magnum opus of teenangst dramedies — THE BREAKFAST CLUB — remains one of the most beloved films about friendship, love, and sticking it to the man.

Part of Staff Picks and programmed by Yanira, who says: “(It’s) a movie about living in the Big Apple and pickles. What’s not to love?”

A friendly, selfless man who greets everyone with a disarming "Oh, hai..." discovers that he can't trust anyone after getting engaged to a manipulative, self-serving siren who seduces his best friend and destroys his life. Screening in 35mm

This spirited WWII-era musical follows two producers staging a chaotic all-star charity revue. The film features rare musical turns from Bette Davis and Ida Lupino among others, and marks Dinah Shore’s screen debut. A Vanderbilt student and Belcourt stage alum, Shore’s breakout success connects Nashville’s theatrical community to Hollywood, where morale-boosting wartime spectacles were a star-making opportunity.

Part occult thriller, part road-action horror, RACE WITH THE DEVIL follows two couples whose RV trip turns deadly after witnessing a ritual murder. Hunted by a rural Satanic cult, their escape unfolds in nerve-rattling 1970s style. Co-written by Nashville’s Wes Bishop, the film is quintessential Southern exploitation cinema. With Peter Fonda and Warren Oates, it showcases Nashville’s unexpected influence on 20th century horror and underground genre filmmaking.

A bored New Jersey suburban housewife's fascination with a kooky character she's read about in the personal columns leads to her being mistaken for the woman herself. Starring Madonna and Rosanna Arquette. Directed by Susan Seidelman. New 40th Anniversary Restoration

Harold Lloyd plays an eager college student whose quest for popularity leads to comic misadventures — and a legendary football finale. Co-starring Tennessee native Jobyna Ralston (see also: WINGS), one of silent Hollywood’s most prolific actresses and a longtime Lloyd leading lady, the film is a pinnacle of physical comedy. Played during Belcourt’s first era as a silent cinema, it reflects both early Hollywood charm and Tennessee’s contributions to film history, with a restored score by Carl Davis enriching its timeless appeal.

WINGS follows two small-town friends turned WWI pilots entangled in a love triangle and tested by war’s brutality. Famed for its groundbreaking aerial realism, it became the first and only fully silent film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Tennessee-born Jobyna Ralston adds emotional depth as Sylvia Lewis, linking this cinematic milestone to her home state and capitol, where her films, including THE FRESHMAN, headlined Belcourt’s early silent-era programming.

Facing a mid-life crisis, a Memphis pimp and drug pusher tries his hand at rap stardom, aided by a sound engineer, a local musician, and one of his own working girls. Earning acclaim from critics and audiences alike — winning both the Audience Award at Sundance and the Oscar for Best Original Song. Written and directed by Memphis native Craig Brewer.

Regarded as one of the greatest Chinese-language films ever made, John Woo's 1985 film portrays three men on different sides of the law. Ho (Ti Lung) is involved in counterfeiting; Mark (Chow Yun-fat) is Ho’s loyal partner; and Ho's younger brother Kit (Leslie Cheung) is a policeman, unaware of Ho’s criminal activities. The trio of actors shine through this precision ballet of bullets, blood and destruction, and the groundwork is laid for the next decade of Hong Kong action cinema.

Director Stuart Gordon’s horror comedy masterpiece about a med student who moonlights as a mad scientist obsessed with perfecting a serum that “re-animates” corpses is the pitch-perfect way to kick off your spooky season.

Undercover cop (Chow Yun-fat) is about to resign from the police force when he’s asked to take on one more case. A gang of highly skilled jewelry thieves have been knocking over Hong Kong jewelers, and they don’t mind killing people who get in their way. Through the course of investigation, a friendship with one of the gang’s core members sets the stage for divided loyalty and conflicted honor.

A community of mutant outcasts of varying types and abilities attempts to escape the attention of a psychotic serial killer and redneck vigilantes with the help of a brooding young man who discovers them. Based on the novella Cabal by Clive Barker.

In the aftermath of China's first democratic revolution, three high-spirited young women from very different backgrounds cross paths on a quest for liberation. Together, their intertwined lives weave an epic tale of elegantly blending action, comedy and social satire, a bright and colorful production that boasts Tsui Hark's energetic filmmaking style at the height of his powers.

Our next Belcourt 100 seminar focuses on the period between 1927 and 1958, when the Belcourt Theatre transformed from silent movie house to a hub for Nashville’s first professional community theater groups. Beyond the Footlights explores how this era shaped local performance culture, nurtured future film and television talent, and cultivated a lasting audience base. Drawing on archival research, the seminar reveals how Belcourt's stage-era legacy helped define Nashville’s artistic identity — and laid the groundwork for its evolution into a cornerstone of American cinematic history. Includes a screening of MARTY immediately following at 12:00pm.

Completed within a year of the release of A BETTER TOMORROW, this wildly entertaining sequel finds an imprisoned Ho (Lung Ti) initially refusing to go undercover to bust the gang he used to work for in exchange for his release — but only accepts after learning that his estranged little brother, policeman Kit (Leslie Cheung), is working on the case.

In Tsui Hark’s prequel to the first film, Cheung (Tony Leung) travels to Saigon on the brink of war with the United States, intent on bringing his cousin Mark (Chow Yun-fat) and father back to Hong Kong. Relying on help from a beautiful gang leader, matters are complicated by the return of her former lover, an arms smuggler none-too-pleased with the cousins.

In a Depression-era Mississippi town, a radiant yet restless Southern belle’s romance with a railroad official defies her domineering mother. Adapted from Tennessee Williams’s play, the film was co-written by Nashvillian Fred Coe, whose theatrical roots lie in Belcourt’s playhouse era. A moody portrait of longing and repression, it embodies Southern theatrical tradition and Nashville’s mid-century cinema arts culture and community.

Three years in the making, this 2004 documentary provides a fascinating, in-depth portrait of the most successful and enduring heavy metal band of all time — following the eponymous group over a productive, but tumultuous period in the early Aughts. Striking in its intimacy and riveting in execution, Joe Berlinger’s film is quite simply one of the great rock docs of all time.

When a retiring Hong Kong hitman (Chow Yun-fat) accidentally blinds an innocent singer (Sally Yeah) during a hit, he needs one last assignment to pay for her surgery. Working once again with Chow Yun-fat, director John Woo takes inspiration from French crime films and ancient Chinese texts in this exquisite dissection of morals in a corrupt society.

Having killed a high-ranking gangster, three Hong Kong youths flee to Saigon in hopes of making it big amid the chaos of the Vietnam War. Linking up with a former CIA operative, a feat of bravado against a local gang lord escalates into full-blown war. Armed with a large budget, John Woo infuses his bloody epic with urgency — capturing the destruction on a canvas worthy of Hieronymus Bosch.

Jazz cop Chow Yun-fat has a rep for defying the boss and bending the rules. Boat-dwelling origami cop Tony Leung is undercover, navigating loyalty between two warring factions. Unbeknownst to both, they're in pursuit of the same gun-smuggling boss who's storing his stash in a particularly sensitive and unlikely location.

In the first film, a travelling debt collector takes shelter in a haunted temple, where he meets a beautiful but mysterious ghost who is bound to a sinister tree spirit. Seeking help from a Taoist priest, our hero sets out to free her soul. In his role as producer, Tsui Hark tapped director Ching and key cast from their work on his earlier films and spun off a trilogy of fantasy, horror and folktale.

With a nod to our current Hong Kong Classics series, and CITY ON FIRE in particular, Quentin Tarantino looked to the East in his 1992 sendup. When a botched robbery indicates a police informant, and the pressure mounts in the aftermath at a warehouse, crime begets violence as the survivors unravel.