MEMPHIS, Tennessee — Filmmakers and film lovers won't be flocking to Utah this week for the Sundance Film Festival. Instead, some of the films will be coming to Memphis.
The in-person festival was canceled this year due to COVID-19. Satellite locations throughout the country were chosen instead to premiere the movies including Indie Memphis.
Over the course of six nights, movies will premiere at the Malco Summer Drive-In.
Indie Memphis Executive Director Ryan Watt said it's no exaggeration to say that the event is an once in a lifetime opportunity.
“You’re literally the first audience to ever see this movie in the world because it will be premiering at the same time in other cities," Watt said. "You’ll see a custom introduction by the filmmaker that Sundance has put together.”
Over the years, Indie Memphis has forged a relationship with Sundance which landed them on the list of satellite cities plus allowed some choice in the film selections that will be played.
“Our staff was able to talk through with their programmers on we thought were right for the Memphis audience, even if we haven’t seen some of them," Watt said. "Just talking through the subject matter and the director's artist style so we know we have a really strong slate of films.”
Memphis will premiere 12 different films over the six nights.
One of the films showing receiving quite a bit of buzz is Judas and the Black Messiah which tells the story about how the FBI infiltrated the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, leading to the assassination of its chairman, Fred Hampton.
The festival premieres Thursday night in Memphis with the showing of Strawberry Mansion which was directed by University of Memphis alumni Kentucker Audley.
It costs $25 per vehicle to go to a showing.
Other films being shown include: Censor, I Was a Simple Man, Cryptozoo, Passing, Superior, All Light, Everywhere, Mayday, Ailey, Marvelous & The Black Hole, Philly D.A.
Check out the full lineup and buy tickets here.
