Filmgoers in the midcoast craving a drive-in movie experience won’t have to travel far to get it this summer with the Points North Institute reopening the drive-in movie theater it built last year as a temporary response to the pandemic.
The Shotwell Drive-In opens for the summer on June 3 and will be screening films weekly through the end of October. The drive-in, located just off Route 1 in Rockport, is the first traditional style drive-in the area has had since the Rockland Drive-In closed in the 1980s.
While indoor movie theaters will be able to return to full capacity beginning Monday, Points North Institute Executive Director Ben Fowlie said it could be a while before everyone feels comfortable gathering indoors again. Drive-in movie theaters became the perfect solution to this problem last summer and Fowlie doesn’t see the interest in the nostalgic experience fading this year.
“I’m expecting a really busy summer so [continuing with the drive-in] just seemed like a really great opportunity to bring some consistent programming to the community,” Fowlie said. “That was the main driving force, really, just enjoying being on site with the community a couple times a week.”
The Points North Institute is best known for putting on the annual documentary-focused Camden International Film Festival. Building a drive-in theater was initially the organization’s solution to being able to put on the festival last September.
But with construction of the drive-in being complete in July, they began holding weekly film screenings throughout the summer in advance of the festival. The summer screening series was well received, even by people who weren’t familiar with the festival itself.
“We were really happy, most importantly, with the cross section of attendees. A lot of people who hadn’t really experienced [the Camden International Film Festival] in the past 15 years were checking out the drive-in either for a nostalgic experience or a family gathering or just to kind of do something,” Fowlie said.
The Points North Institute primarily focuses on documentary films, but at the drive-in the organization is offering a mix of both documentary and narrative films. This year Fowlie said they are aiming to hold about two screenings each week, mainly on Thursdays and Saturdays.
This summer’s series opens with a screening of “The Truffle Hunters” on June 3. The documentary follows a group of older men and their dogs who hunt for the rare white Alba truffle in the forests of Piedmont, Italy.
The Shotwell Drive-In will also host a screening on July 1 of “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain,” just three weeks after the film debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival and about two weeks before it is released in theaters nationally.
The documentary “Summer of Soul,” which was directed by Questlove, will be screened at the drive-in on July 3.
A full listing of all films being screened between June 3 and July 3 can be found on the Point North Institute’s website, along with ticketing information.
The organization plans to again incorporate the drive-in as a central focus of the Camden International Film Festival in September. While Fowlie could not say for certain that the Shotwell Drive-In will be returning for summer 2022, he isn’t ruling anything out.
“Who knows how long drive-ins will last,” Fowlie said. “But you can’t underestimate these nostalgic, kitschy experiences. The question for us is how kitschy we can go this summer.”