1999 Series Trailer

Throughout June, 2024
belcourt.org/1999
Whether you were first discovering the wonderful world of cinema when your parents let you rent your first R-rated movie from the local video store or you were the parent praying you didn’t have to watch BABY GENIUSES for the millionth time or you were just lucky enough to get to the theater to see Stanley Kubrick’s final film or a no-budget horror flick about lost documentarians, 1999 was a major touchstone for a lot of us. Y2K was breathing down our collective necks, but theaters were brimming with a veritable treasure trove of work by old masters and exciting new voices. Cher was making us believe in life after love, Britney inexplicably wanted us to hit her (one more time), and TLC was telling us exactly what they thought of scrubs while M. Night was making us see dead people, Morpheus was pushing pills and we were all learning the first and second rules of a cabal of underground pugilists. We’re celebrating that moment 25 years on with a series of 25 films (culled from a list of over 150 deserving candidates) that encapsulate the unique spirit and zeitgeist of the time, from the multiplex to the arthouse. We invite you all to take a trip with us down memory lane as the Belcourt parties like it’s 1999.
Programmer’s Note:
There is no shortage of films that really should be included here. We could easily fill two more 25-film series from the leftovers. It was that good of a year.
Other factors such as rights issues, print condition and lack of availability played into some of our more glaring omissions, of which there are plenty. Additionally, some films released in 1999 had their festival premieres in 1998. Likewise, others had their festival premieres in 1999 and opened in 2000. We’ve taken license as we’ve seen fit.

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Maybe the world really did end 12/31/99?