Film Festivals In The Pandemic Era: Here’s The Latest Update From 16 Key Events

Matt Dillon holds hands with girlfriend Roberta Mastromichele while attending the second day of the Filming Italy Sardegna Festival on Thursday (July 23) at Forte Village Resort in Cagliari, Italy.

Richard Kuipers “A Life Turned Upside Down: My Dad’s an Alcoholic” casts a damning eye on the pernicious role alcohol plays in the working careers and social lives of Japanese men. Narrated by the innermost thoughts of a daughter during the 25 years she spends watching her father drink himself to death, Kenji Katagari’s second feature cleverly plays like a quirky little TV sitcom about an ordinary middle-class family before moving into darker territory.

The 2020 Montclair Film Festival, which was postponed from its original dates of May 1-10 as the scope of the coronavirus pandemic was quickly becoming apparent in early March, is forging ahead with a rescheduled edition of this year's event, to take place in October, featuring a mix of drive-in and virtual screenings as well as special events and conversations. The 9th annual New Jersey event will take place from Oct.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorIn a first for an Italian movie in over a decade, Daniele Luchetti’s Lacci has been set to open the Venice Film Festival’s 77th edition on September 2. The drama is based on the novel by Domenico Starnone and stars Alba Rohrwacher, Luigi Lo Cascio, Laura Morante, Silvio Orlando, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Adriano Giannini and Linda Cadri.

Manori Ravindran International EditorThe Venice Film Festival is set to open with Daniele Luchetti’s “Lacci.”The Naples-set film, which will play out of competition, stars Alba Rohrwacher, Luigi Lo Cascio, Laura Morante, Silvio Orlando, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Adriano Giannini and Linda Caridi.“Recently, we have all feared that cinema might become extinct,” said Luchetti. “Yet during the quarantine it gave us comfort, like a light gleaming in a cavern.

Naman Ramachandran Kashish Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is now under way on its 2020 edition, as the city remains in lockdown due to the spread of coronavirus. Now in its 11th year, Kashish is South Asia’s biggest LGBTQIA+ themed film festival.The newly christened Kashish 2020 Virtual will screen 157 films from 42 countries, of which 52 compete in nine competition categories.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterThe Hong Kong Film Festival, which was due to get underway in less than four weeks on August 18, has been forced to cancel its upcoming edition after spikes of COVID-19 in the territory.The event already rescheduled from its original March dates after the virus began to spread, but had been on course to become one of the first big festivals to take place in a physical form after a swathe of cancellations over the summer.However, fest director Albert Lee

Patrick Hipes Executive Managing EditorThe Bentonville Film Festival set the lineup for its sixth edition Tuesday, with the festival co-founded by Geena Davis unveiling its spotlight and competition program of indie feature films, shorts and episodic titles.The fest is set to run August 10-16 in the Arkansas city and is being engineered as a hybrid event because of coronavirus concerns, with digital screenings, panels and events to run alongside some on-the-ground premieres and

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“American Utopia,” a filmed-version of David Byrne’s hit Broadway show, will be the opening night presentation of the 45th Toronto International Film Festival. This edition of the annual Canadian gathering for film lovers is unlike any of the previous 44 iterations.

First Cannes and now Telluride. The Telluride Film Festival informed pass holders that 2020 edition of the festival has been canceled due to concerns over the coronavirus pandemic.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorThe 2020 edition of the Telluride Film Festival has been canceled.“After months of intense due diligence around physically holding an event, we’ve come to the heartbreaking but unanimous conclusion to cancel this year’s Labor Day celebration of film in Telluride,” the festival said in a statement on Tuesday.

Dino-Ray Ramos Associate Editor/ReporterInside Out, Canada’s foremost LGBTQ film festival, has unveiled the 16 recipients for its RE:Focus ‘Emergency Relief Fund’, which was created in response to the pandemic and its impact on the industry.

The Toronto, New York, Telluride and Venice film festivals, knocked sideways in their planning by the coronavirus pandemic, have unveiled a joint statement that commits the long-time rivals to cooperate and not compete for film titles and awards-season bragging rights in the fall. "This year, we’ve moved away from competing with our colleagues at autumn festivals and commit instead to collaboration.

Also Read: Sundance 2021 to Extend Beyond Utah, Be Held in 20 Cities Nationwide and OnlineAll four festivals take place within a month and a half of one another in the fall, and they’re the first stepping stone on the road to the Oscars, which for 2021 has already delayed its ceremony to late April.Venice is meant to take place Sept. 2-12, Telluride runs from Sept.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Venice, Toronto, Telluride and New York Film Festivals have joined forces in an alliance that will see the prominent fall events, all positioned six weeks from each other, collaborate rather than compete in a spirit of post-pandemic solidarity.The statement announcing this alliance provides scant details of what concrete form it will take, beyond saying that they “are offering our festivals as a united platform for the best cinema we can find.” But

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe upcoming Venice Film Festival’s reconfiguration due to coronavirus safety measures has been officially unveiled.Barring complications, Venice, which runs Sept.

Nancy Tartaglione International Box Office Editor/Senior ContributorThe Venice Film Festival this morning said that the 77th edition will go ahead from September 2-12 with certain changes owing to sanitary protocols imposed by the COVID-19 crisis.

Hong Kong director Derek Tsang'sBetter Dayswon the top prizes at the first—and perhaps only—virtual edition of Italy's Far East Film Festival (FEFF). Tsang's romantic crime drama, starringZhou Dongyu and Jackson Yee, took the overall audience award, the Golden Mulberry, as well as the Black Mulberry, voted on by the Shogun pass holders.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentAlthough the public part of this year’s Karlovy Vary Film Festival — the key event for the film business in Central and Eastern Europe — was canceled, the festival is pressing ahead with its industry section, Eastern Promises, which runs July 6-8 in an online format.Eastern Promises selects 41 projects in development, production and post-production from Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and North