Drive-in movie theaters were very popular several decades ago, but the pandemic has caused interest in them to rise again. A Beloit film group is taking this movie experience to the parking lot.
The Beloit International Film Festival has a 10-day virtual festival starting Feb. 19 but some films will show outside at the Ironworks campus parking area.
Greg Gerard is the executive director of the film festival. He said the festival wants to help diminish the community’s hunger for outside entertainment.
The organization started presenting drive-in movies over the summer, which set things in motion for these upcoming showings.
“It's not that complicated. You get a projector, you get a player, you get the discs, and you put that inflatable screen up and you're pretty much good to go," Gerard explained.
Gerard shared that the six outdoor movie selections are all family friendly.
“We're going to show ‘Modern Times’ the Charlie Chaplin classic for the silent film, we're going to show ‘Sixteen Candles’ for our classic film," he said.
Participants can listen to the movies by tuning their FM dials to 94.7.
People are encouraged to stop by local vendors to get snacks before the event. Snappy the Turtle will also make appearances as this year's honorary chair.
The full schedule and titles can be found at the festival’s website.
- Yvonne Boose is a current corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.
