In 2005, Memphis famously went to Sundance, with Bluff City filmmakers Ira Sachs (“Forty Shades of Blue”) and Craig Brewer (“Hustle & Flow”) winning the festival’s top two prizes, its Grand Jury and Audience awards, respectively.

A decade and a half later, Sundance is coming to Memphis. Sort of. 

Drive-in throwbacks, emerging filmmakers highlight 2020 Indie Memphis Film Festival slate

With COVID preventing the usual crowded screening and kibitzing affair in Park City, Utah, this year’s festival — set for Jan. 29-Feb. 3 — is going online and on the road.

The festival, considered the most prestigious festival geared around American indie film, will be screening its selections this year at satellite locations in partnership with other indie-film entities. 

Memphis will be one of these “Satellite Screens,” as partner organization Indie Memphis announced on Wednesday afternoon. 

Sundance selections will screen at Malco’s Summer Drive-In, which recently passed the pandemic film festival test as the primary real-world location for screenings during this fall’s annual Indie Memphis Film Festival. 

Indie Memphis will be one of 33 partner organizations hosting screenings around the country, per a Sundance news release. Others in the region are Belcourt Theatre in Nashville and the Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham. In addition to Sundance screenings, “customized local programming” is promised at each satellite location. 

This will mark one last festival for outgoing Indie Memphis executive director Ryan Watt, who announced his pending departure earlier this year. 

Watt says he’ll be staying on through the end of February, and that the Indie Memphis board is currently interviewing candidates for his replacement, with a potential announcement early next year. 

According to Watt, Sundance approached Indie Memphis about being a satellite location in September, ahead of Indie Memphis’ fall festival. Given the uncertainty about COVID conditions, holding Indie Memphis Film Fest screenings outdoors at the Summer Drive-In proved a fruitful test run for the Sundance partnership. 

Indie Memphis executive director to step down

“Programming at the drive-in has been a highlight of a tough year,” said Indie Memphis artistic director Miriam Bale. “I think the October drive-in screenings were really successful, but what works well there can be different than what works at a traditional cinema, so that’s been interesting from a programming stand point.

“During COVID, film institutions around the country have been doing pop-up drive-ins, utilizing parking lots for instance, so we are lucky to have a real drive-in that’s been running since 1966.”

The slate of films to be screened in Memphis — and when — is still being hashed out between Sundance programmers and Bale. Rather than having each satellite location receive a set package of films, those negotiations are happening individually among the partners. 

“They want us to select movies that are right for us and our city,” said Watt, who estimates approximately 10 Sundance films will screen in Memphis. 

“(We’re) working with Sundance programmers to come up with a selection of films that fit the Indie Memphis vision,” said Bale. “We are still in the midst of that process. I think it’s safe to say, for now, that it will be a diverse range of selections.”

Watt and Bale anticipate a local film slate to be announced by the end of the month, with ticketing to follow. 

This year’s Sundance Grand Jury winner was “Minari,” a film about a Korean family that moves from Los Angeles to rural Arkansas. Considered an Oscar contender, the film made its Memphis debut at this fall’s Indie Memphis.