OGT CLOSING TEMPORARILY DUE TO EXECUTIVE ORDER ON COVID-19

Dear members and patrons,

Since the Friends of Greenbelt Theatre reopened the Old Greenbelt Theatre on May 1, 2015, we have prided ourselves on never going a day without showing a movie. We’ve been there through snow days, every Federal holiday, a major renovation, and all the quiet normal days in between. It’s not some sort of stunt to keep a streak going, it’s because we love what we do and are committed to being here as a resource for the community. 

Today we will close our doors for the first time for the same reasons: we take our role in the community seriously and cannot run the risk of being a site of transmission.

Starting today (Friday, March 13), the Old Greenbelt Theatre will be closed. We will work closely with the City of Greenbelt to monitor the situation and decide on a reopening date. All special events – where possible – will be rescheduled. And, of course, if you have bought tickets for an event that is now postponed, we will honor those tickets at the future show. If you’ve already purchased a ticket for an event, you will receive an email shortly.

However, we also know that at a time like this community connection remains as important as ever. We are working on plans to continue our programming in a way that will allow you to still participate with film and film education from the safety and comfort of your home. Please keep an eye out for our weekly Tuesday email for instructions on how to participate. We’ll have a little something for everyone, and we hope it makes these days of stress and anxiety easier to cope with and just a bit brighter.

During our closure, we will also be working on a plan for reopening safely, as the landscape of movie-going may change for a while even after we can open our doors again. 

This will be a difficult time for us as a staff – as Executive Director I am responsible for a staff of 10 – and for that reason closing the theater was not an easy decision to make, but it is clearly the right one at this time. As I said in the beginning, we love what we do, and that has not changed. Keep an eye out for virtual programming coming from us soon. We hope to break the tedium of self-isolation and continue to serve as a valued community resource. 

Thank you for your understanding and support. We hope you all stay safe and well. We look forward to seeing you at the movies before too long.

Take care,
Caitlin 

Caitlin McGrath
Executive Director
Friends of Greenbelt Theatre

COMING SOON

Bacurau

(131 minutes NR) 2019 Brazil, France Kleber Mendonça Filho & Juliano Dornelles, director

Opens Apr 3

A few years from now... Bacurau, a small village in the Brazilian sertão, mourns the loss of its matriarch, Carmelita, who lived to be 94. Days later, its inhabitants (among them Sônia Braga) notice that their village has literally vanished from online maps and a UFO-shaped drone is seen flying overhead. There are forces that want to expel them from their homes, and soon, in a genre-bending twist, a band of armed mercenaries led by Udo Kier arrive in town picking off the inhabitants one by one. Film is available for online streaming. Rental of 72 hours available for $9. Purchase Film

Saint Frances

(98 minutes NR) 2020 Alex Thompson, director

Opens Apr 3

Flailing thirty-four-year-old Bridget (Kelly O'Sullivan) finally catches a break when she meets a nice guy and lands a much-needed job nannying six-year-old Frances (played by a scene-stealing Ramona Edith-Williams). But an unwanted pregnancy introduces an unexpected complication. To make matters worse, she clashes with the obstinate Frances and struggles to navigate a growing tension between Frances's moms. Film is available for online streaming. Rental of 72 hours available for $9. Purchase Film

Monday Matinees 

Father of the Bride (1950)

(93 minutes G) 1950 Vincente Minnelli, director

FREE @ 1 pm on May 4

Stanley T. Banks is a securely middle-class lawyer whose daughter Kay announces that she's going to marry her beau Buckley Dunstan. From that point on, everything in Stanley's life is turned upside down. His wife Ellie wants Kay to have the kind of formal wedding that she and Stanley never had, and between meeting his soon-to-be in-laws, the socially prominent Herbert and Doris Dunstan, his man-to-man talk with the groom, hosting the engagement party, financing the increasingly lavish wedding, and wondering if Kay and Buckley will resolve their differences before arriving at the altar, Stanley barely has time to deal with his own considerable anxieties about his advancing age and how his "little girl" became a grown woman.

Monday, May 4

1:00 PM FREE

Miyazaki Mondays 

The Wind Rises

(126 minutes PG-13; Common Sense Media Rating Age 11+) 2013 Japan Hayao Miyazaki, director

@ 8 pm on May 11

The final masterpiece from Academy Award^®-winning filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away) comes a spellbinding movie beyond compare. Jiro dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes, inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni. Nearsighted and unable to be a pilot, he becomes one of the world’s most accomplished airplane designers, experiencing key historical events in an epic tale of love, perseverance and the challenges of living and making choices in a turbulent world.

Monday, May 11

8:00 pm AUD

Stage on Screen 

Lucian Freud: A Self Portrait

(80 minutes NR) 2020 David Bickerstaff, director

Opens May 17

For the first time in history the Royal Academy of Arts in London, in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, is bringing together Lucian Freud’s self-portraits. One of the most celebrated painters of our time, Lucian Freud is also one of very few 20th-century artists who portrayed themselves with such consistency. When seen together, his portraits represent an engrossing study into the dynamic of ageing and the process of self-representation.

Sunday, May 17

8:00 pm AUD

Monday, May 18

1:00 pm AUD

Miyazaki Mondays 

Ponyo

(101 minutes G; Common Sense Media Rating Age 5+) 2009 Japan Hayao Miyazaki, director

Opens May 25

Perfect for audiences of all ages, Ponyo centers on the friendship between five-year-old Sosuke and a magical goldfish named Ponyo, the young daughter of a sorcerer father and a sea-goddess mother. After a chance encounter, Ponyo yearns to become a human so she can be with Sosuke. As to be expected with Miyazaki, the film is awash in pure unbridled imagination and visual wonder — but it is the tender love, humor, and devotion exhibited by Ponyo and Sosuke that form the emotional heart of the film.

Monday, May 25

11:00 am AUD 8:00 pm AUD

Monday Matinees 

Danger Lights (1930)

(73 minutes G) 1930 George B. Seitz, director

FREE @ 1 pm on Jun 1

Generously sponsored by Washington DC Charter, National Railway Historical Society. In this drama, an older railroad supervisor is engaged to a lovely young woman. Unfortunately, she falls in love with the handsome hobo her husband befriended and employed as an engineer. A rivalry ensues, but when a life is endangered the two team up and save the day.

Monday, Jun 1

1:00 PM FREE

Miyazaki Mondays 

My Neighbors the Yamadas

(104 minutes PG; Common Sense Media Rating Age 7+) 1999 Japan Isao Takahata, director

@ 8 pm on Jun 8

In My Neighbors the Yamadas, join in the adventures of the quirky Yamada family — from the hilarious to the touching — brilliantly presented in a unique, visually striking comic strip style. Takashi Yamada and his wacky wife Matsuko, who has no talent for housework, navigate their way through the ups and downs of work, marriage, and family life with a sharp-tongued grandmother who lives with them, a teenage son who wishes he had cooler parents, and a pesky daughter whose loud voice is unusual for someone so small. Even the family dog has issues!

Monday, Jun 8

8:00 pm AUD

Stage on Screen 

A Woman of No Importance

(155 minutes NR) 2017 UK Dominic Dromgoole, director

Opens Jun 14

An earnest young American woman, a louche English lord, and an innocent young chap join a house party of fin de siècle fools and grotesques. Nearby a woman lives, cradling a long-buried secret. First performed in 1893, Oscar Wilde’s marriage of glittering wit and Ibsenite drama satirised the socially conservative world of the Victorian upper-class, creating a vivid new theatrical voice which still resonates today.