Actor-director John Krasinski  pushes a pregnant Anna Kendrick in ‘The Hollars,’ screening in a Thursday sneak-preview fundraiser at Red Bank’s Bow Tie Cinemas.

In addition to helping make downtown Red Bank a Milk Dud mecca for first-run independent/”arthouse” feature films, White Street’s Bow Tie Cinemas (and its predecessor, Clearview Cinemas) has done duty as official host venue for an attraction all our own: a series of sneak-preview screening events, spotlighting festival-favorite indies before they go into general release.

Part of a long-running partnership between the borough-based Monmouth County Arts Council and Sony Pictures Classics (the major distributor whose president, Tom Bernard, makes his home in Middletown), the sneak-peek series has offered Red Bank-area audiences a first look at works from veteran auteurs (Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola) and first-timers alike.

This Thursday, it’s “roll ’em” once more, with a 7:30 p.m. showing of “The Hollars,” a comedy-drama directed by (and starring) a familiar face from the workplace.

Best known for his long-running turn as the goofy-yet-gallant Jim on the hit series “The Office,” John Krasinski mans the director’s megaphone for a second time (following the relatively obscure 2009 curio “Brief Interviews with Hideous Men“) in this “at turns hilarious and heartbreaking” family portrait of a struggling New York City artist, his dysfunctional hometown brood, the reigniting of old flames and rivalries, and the any-minute-now birth of his first child back in the city. Margo Martindale, Richard Jenkins, Anna Kendrick, Charlie Day, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Josh Groban co-star in the ensemble piece from writer Jim Strouse.

Slated for release on August 26, “The Hollars” has garnered some generally favorable, if not overwhelmingly enthusiastic, advance reviews — but judge for yourself when the fundraiser for the Arts Council’s programs unspools (tickets are $15 at the door). Or, join the MCAC in a 5:45 p.m. pre-show reception, catered by Readie’s at OceanFirst Financial (73 Broad Street), with tickets to both film and reception available here for $45 ($35 for Arts Council members). As always, all admissions benefit the not-for-profit MCAC and its ever-expanding array of ongoing programs and special events.