October 4, 2021 (Detroit) – The Detroit Institute of Arts’ Detroit Film Theatre (DFT) reopens  to filmgoers on Friday, October 15. During the pandemic, the DFT offered online streaming films,and after more than a year visitors will be able to once again enjoy a film in the auditorium.  The season opens with a new documentary film by Todd Haynes on The Velvet Underground, showing Oct. 15 – 17.

Tickets go on sale on Friday, October 1, 2021 online and at the box office by calling 313-833-7900.  For a full schedule of films visit the events page on the DIA website.

“We are thrilled to welcome filmgoers safely back to the theater after a 19-month closure,” said Elliot Wilhelm, DFT Director and Curator of Film for the DIA. “So many extraordinary films have gone unreleased in the last year-and-a-half that our challenge has been to refine that list to fit a regular-sized DFT season. Happily, this also gives us the opportunity to present films that will be enhanced enormously by seeing them on the big screen, providing the communal experience we’ve all missed.” 

All film attendees will be required to show proof of vaccination and masks are required for all attendees. Children under 12 who cannot be vaccinated may attend screenings with a fully vaccinated adult and must wear a mask. Capacity for film will be limited to 30% to allow for audience distance. A full list of guidelines and precautions in available on the DIA website.

Highlights of the DFT return include: 

VELEVET UNDERGROUND – Oct.15 at 7 p.m., Oct. 16 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Oct. 17 at 2 p.m.

Given the ingeniously imagined musical worlds of Velvet Goldmine and I’m Not There, it should come as no surprise that Todd Haynes’s documentary about the seminal band The Velvet Underground mirrors its members’ experimentation and formal innovation. Combining contemporary interviews and archival documentation with a trove of avant-garde film from the era, Haynes constructs a vibrant cinematic collage that is as much about New York of the ’60s as it is about the rise and fall of one of rock ’n’ roll’s most revered bands: a group that became a cultural touchstone by being of their time, yet timeless; literary yet realistic; rooted in high art and street culture.

FAYA DAYI  – Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Nov. 7 at 2 p.m.

Ten years in the making, Ethiopian-Mexican filmmaker Jessica Beshir’s hypnotic documentary feature debut explores the coexistence of everyday life and its mythical undercurrents. Though a deeply personal project—Beshir was forced to leave her hometown of Harar with her family as a teenager due to growing political strife—the film she returned to make about the city, its rural Oromo community of farmers, and the harvesting of the country’s most sought-after export (the euphoria-inducing khat plant) is neither a straightforward work of nostalgia nor an issue-oriented documentary about a drug culture. Rather, she has constructed something sublimely dreamlike, which could rightly be called a work of trance-state cinema: a film that uses light, texture, and sound to illuminate the spiritual lives of people whose experiences often become fodder for ripped-from-the-headlines yet glossed-over tales of migration. Official Selection, Sundance and New Directors/New Films 2021; Grand Jury Prize, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival 2021. In Amharic, Harari, and Oromo with English subtitles.

WOLFWALKERS – DFT Family Series – Nov. 13 at 2 p.m.

In a time of superstition and magic, a young apprentice hunter, Robyn Goodfel- lowe, journeys to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last wolf pack. While exploring the forbidden lands outside the city walls, Robyn befriends a free-spirited girl, Mebh, a member of a mysterious tribe rumored to have the ability to transform into wolves by night. As they search for Mebh’s missing mother, Robyn uncovers a secret that draws her further into the enchanted world of the Wolfwalkers and risks turning into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy. Every aspect of Wolfwalkers is thoughtfully, beautifully rendered and full of twists that keep things unpredictable until the finale. Free with registration.

IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE – Jan. 9 at 2 p.m.

In 1962 Hong Kong, Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung) move into neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are formal and polite—until a discovery about their spous- es creates an intimate bond between them. At once delicately mannered and visually extravagant, Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love is a masterful evocation of roman- tic longing and fleeting moments. With an achingly beautiful soundtrack featuring Michael Galasso and Nat King Cole and exquisitely precise color cinematography by Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee, the film has been a major influence on the past two decades of cinema, and may well have been the first truly great film of the 2000s. This 4K digital restoration was supervised by the director. Winner of 46 international film awards, including Best Actor (Tony Leung) and Special Technical Grand Prizes, Cannes Film Festival 2000. In Cantonese and Shanghainese with English subtitles. (98 minutes)

CATVIDEOFEST 2021 – Dec. 17 at 7 p.m., Dec. 18 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Dec. 19 at 2 p.m.

Returning to the DFT for the first time since its record-breaking sold-out shows in February of 2020, the all-new 2021 edition of CatVideoFest is a compilation of the latest and best cat videos culled from countless hours of unique submissions, animations, music videos, and internet powerhouses. A joyous communal experience that surprises and charms (and who isn’t ready for that?) this annual favorite is once again available on the big screen. As always, the festival’s distributor contributes a portion of revenues for cats in need through partnerships with a variety of cat charities and shelters. Online ticket sales only.