Let’s not mince words: It’s been a dismal year for movies.

Granted, the coronavirus pandemic has made it a dismal year for so many things that not being able to see the latest James Bond film or the new “Ghostbusters” movie as planned seems like a fairly small sacrifice. But what has happened to the movie industry in the past seven months goes so much deeper than shaken-not-stirred martinis.

Movie theaters are closing. Film crews have no work. Movie releases are being rescheduled or canceled altogether.

Which is why it’s so heartening that the New Orleans Film Society is keeping on and carrying on with its 31st annual New Orleans Film Festival.

Of course, there’s a lot that’ll be different about this year’s festival, and by necessity. For starters, it’s arriving about a month later in the year than usual. It’ll also be built around outdoor screenings and, due to limits on crowd sizes, its newly introduced “virtual cinema” concept for moviegoers to consume from home.

On the plus side, it’ll run 16 days this year and include three weekends, more than a third longer than its traditional 10-day run. It all begins Friday, Nov. 6, with this year’s opening-night film, the immigrant story “Farewell Amour,” and continues through Sunday, Nov. 22.

What doesn’t change is the head-spinning array of films — 160-plus, by the festival’s own count — that’ll screen in between.

You can find the full festival schedule, ticketing information and all the other fine-print information you need, at neworleansfilmsociety.org.

In the meantime, below you’ll find capsule reviews of five of my must-see picks for Week 1 of this year’s festival. Check back next week for my Week 2 recommendations.

Roll ‘em …

“American Reject” (dir. Marlo Hunter | 90 mins)

Comedy is hard. Comedy on a budget is even harder. Which is why this independent, New Orleans-shot comedy is such a fun, feel-good surprise. Featuring a delightful supporting turn from pint-size “America’s Got Talent” dynamo Anjelica Hale, and such familiar local faces as Bryan Batt and Juvenile, the film’s success ultimately hinges on the performance by the multitalented Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone. Not only does Monteleone hold down the lead role, playing a woman trying to put her life back together after an embarrassing exit from a televised singing competition, but she also wrote the screenplay, sings the songs and impressively handles both the comedic moments and dramatic moments. She’s bound to be compared with Amy Poehler, if only for their passing physical resemblance, but in “American Reject,” Monteleone proves she’s a formidable talent in her own right.

Outdoor screenings: 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10 at the Second Line Stages Open-Air Cinema on the Lafitte Greenway, and again at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at the Film New Orleans Open-Air Cinema on the Lafitte Greenway.

Virtual cinema: Available beginning 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 13

“To Decadence with Love, Thanks for Everything” (dir. Stuart Sox | 60 mins)

If we’re being honest, next year’s Decadence Festival — if there is one — probably won’t much resemble past editions. That’s just life in this post-COVID-19 reality. But whatever happens, at least we’ve got this colorful, behind-the-scenes documentary to serve as a reminder of all the color, the glitter, the feathers and the fabulousness. Following a pair of Black drag performers as they navigate the arms-wide-open craziness of Decadence weekend, it’s also an affectionately assembled portrait of two artists who, as underrepresented as they are, are determined to shine. Spoiler alert: They do. And so does “To Decadence.”

Outdoor screenings: 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8 and noon Tuesday, Nov. 10 at the Film New Orleans Open-Air Cinema on the Lafitte Greenway; and again at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14 at the Broadside.

Virtual cinema: Available beginning 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 14

“Closed for Storm” (dir. Jake Williams | 57 mins)

While director Jake Williams’ hourlong documentary isn’t quite the journalistic exposé it seems to want to be, it still functions nicely as a concise history of the shuttered Jazzland/Six Flags New Orleans theme park, which never reopened after 2005’s Hurricane Katrina. (The film’s title, in fact, is taken from the sign still displayed in front of the long-abandoned facility in eastern New Orleans.) Built largely of archival footage and contemporary interviews with people who worked and/or played there — and helped by a rich score from Matthew Jordan Leeds and some fascinating footage taken on the ground in the now-derelict park — it’s also a somewhat melancholy look back at a park that never really got its due over its brief existence.

Outdoor screenings: 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7 at the Broad Theater’s outdoor Broadside venue and at the Film New Orleans Open-Air Cinema on the Lafitte Greenway, and again at noon Monday, Nov. 9 on the Lafitte Greenway.

Virtual cinema: Available beginning 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8

“Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” (dir. Bill and Turner Ross | 98 mins)

If you didn’t catch this latest indie offering from local filmmaking siblings Bill and Turner Ross upon its release this past summer — and, given the whole COVID-19 thing, you’re excused if you didn’t — now’s your chance to set things right. Easily among the best New Orleans-shot films of the year so far, it’s a compelling and moving blend of documentary and narrative storytelling, as it chronicles the last day of business at a dead-end dive bar as seen through the eyes of its colorful but lonely hearted patrons. In what has become the Rosses’ calling card, “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” drips with a hand-crafted authenticity that brings with it emotional depth and pangs of bitter truth — as well as some terrific turns from a handful of local actors.

Outdoor screenings: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11 at the Broad Theater’s outdoor Broadside venue, the Film New Orleans Open-Air Cinema on the Lafitte Greenway and the Second Line Stages Open-Air Cinema on the Lafitte Greenway.

Virtual cinema: n/a

“California Creole” (dir. Abby Berendt Lavoi and Jeremy Lavoi | 5 mins)

Every year, I preach about the treasures to be found in the film festival’s shorts programs, and this year is no different. Among the gems hidden in the Louisiana Shorts 2 program — which features six films tied together by their shared focus on small-town Louisiana — is this five-minute visit with Grammy-nominated Zydeco and soul artist Andrew Thierry. While Thierry’s music does, indeed, figure into things, it’s equally a fish-out-of-water story, as he discusses his family’s migration from Louisiana to the Bay Area and the impact that move had on him and his art. Screens with “Le Boulanger,” “Jesus is the Vaccine,” “Boucherie,” “Under the Knife Overcoming Boundaries” and “Flat Town.”

Outdoor screenings: 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7 at the Film New Orleans Open-Air Cinema on the Lafitte Greenway, and again at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 11, also at the Film New Orleans Open-Air Cinema.

Virtual cinema: Available beginning 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6.

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NEW ORLEANS FILM FESTIVAL

WHEN: Friday through Nov. 22 

WHERE: Outdoor screenings will be held at the Broad Theater’s outdoor Broadside venue (636 N. Broad St.), the Film New Orleans Open-Air Cinema on the Lafitte Greenway (505 N. Dorgenois St.) and the Second Line Stages Open-Air Cinema on the Lafitte Greenway (505 N. Rocheblave St.)

Tickets: $8 to $10 per screening for New Orleans Film Society members ($10 to $15 for nonmembers). Multi-screening passes available.

Details: neworleansfilmsociety.org.