Dear Film Festival Patron,
Wow, what a long strange trip 2020 has been so far. Is it over yet, and has it all been just a bad movie?
Perhaps you’ve been wondering about the fate of your favorite film festival for this year. Did you think we were kaput? I must confess that when the reality of the pandemic set in, I feared the 20th Scottsdale International Film Festival was in serious jeopardy. But as the weeks unfolded, I found my film festival peers to be of great solace, hope and help. Numerous festivals that occur before us in the calendar turned on a dime and did produce virtual film festivals, many making that shift practically overnight. Executive directors from those festivals shared their stories via video conferences, and I tell you, their stories were harrowing.
Selfessly, those festivals, sometimes within a day of launching or continuously through the process of launching, coached the rest of us on what and what not to do if we wanted to produce our own virtual events. And now, with more information than I ever thought I’d need to know, I’m happy to confirm that – along with support from our Board of Directors –we have decided to venture into the virtual film festival realm.
With the careful consideration of the Board and feedback from our festival members, we have concluded that the Festival will consist of approximately 20 films that we will screen virtually on our platform from Friday, November 6th through Tuesday, November 10th.
Whenever possible, many of the films will be available to stream 24 hours per day over the five days of the event. There will be films whose distributors will not allow us to screen a title for the entire event. We will clearly communicate those exceptions so that you can watch those films earlier in the schedule. While the lineup will comprise about half of what would have screened physically, it does seem to be the size of film festival that works best for other similar film fests. We also factored in YOUR responses to the survey we sent out on April 30th. You gave us clear guidance on your willingness to “attend” and what you would do in order to participate virtually for our 20th anniversary. Along those same lines, we are considering a physically distanced opening night film with a first-run, premiere title. Please click this link to participate in a follow-up survey regarding that possibility.
I thank you all for your moral and financial support in these most challenging days. We aspire to offer you the highest quality of hand-curated films and to provide continuity and reassurance that we will endure. Until there is a vaccine, we know that challenges will continue to present themselves in every direction. Maybe THIS Festival will add a strong dose of beauty and grace while you live in your moment, whatever it may be.
Please remember to DONATE, contact me directly about SPONSORING and look for our announcement for ticket sales launch on October 5th!
Kindly,
Amy Ettinger – Executive Director
Scottsdale International Film Festival
PLEASE CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY