Film Festivals & Other Organizations Release Joint Paper Calling For Post-COVID-19 Support

Many film festivals including Venice, Cannes, and Berlin have co-signed a paper from FIAPF asking for relief measures

Over 40 film festivals and film-related organizations around the world have co-signed a joint paper asking for government relief for film festivals and the film industry at-large. This comes after months of postponements, cancellations, and a general industry standstill due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The paper was issued by the FIAPF (the International Federation of Film Producers Associations) and “urges national and regional institutions…to adopt immediate relief measures.” It cites how festivals are not just a film industry boon but how they directly affect local economies as well. The FIAPF specifically cites the Cannes Film Festival as an example, which according to 2017 statistics created 2,000 jobs and around €200M for the local economy. The organization also cites over 4.5 million film festival admissions around the world in that same year at accredited festivals. Seeing as many of those festivals are in tandem with other arts festivals (i.e. the Biennale, Berlinale, etc.) as well as industry marketplaces, admissions numbers are important to maintain.

“Supporting the festival community means supporting the entire film industry,” said the FIAPF president Luis Alberto Scalella in an issuing statement. “That is why, after standing by festivals and advocating solidarity and collaboration since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis, the international producers represented by FIAPF are proud to support the call for action… This initiative sends a strong signal: film festivals do matter, accordingly they deserve economic relief measures.”

Directors’ Words

One of the paper’s signatories is Alberto Barbera, the director of the Venice International Film Festival.

“The global film industry has never been hit so badly in its entire history,” Barbera wrote in a statement. “On the eve of the reopening of theaters and restart of film shooting, it is more than necessary to join forces and make the maximum support possible. Festivals are a powerful tool at the service of cinema, culture and social development, but they have been weakened too and need to be reinforced to be able to continue their crucial and indispensable work.”

It is also the “eve” of Venice’s 2020 festival, its 77th iteration and the first major in-person film festival to occur after pandemic closures.

Another upcoming festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, also cited the economic importance of film festivals as well as their cultural footprint.

“Film festivals are an exceptional tool for crossing the communication channels from the most distant places, giving audiences the ability to hear a rich diversity of voices,” TIFF co-heads Cameron Bailey and Joana Vicente released in a joint statement.

Berlin Film Festival co-heads Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek echoed those sentiments, calling film festivals a “platform for cultural and social discourse”, as well as “a vital motor for the international independent industry”.

This also comes two days after Cannes’ director Thierry Fremaux released a joint statement with Lumière Institute’s director Bertrand Tavernier to French moviegoers, encouraging them not to give up on the medium despite the setbacks the pandemic has caused.

“This rentrée will enable us to better understand the real future prospects for exhibitors, distributors, producers and filmmakers,” wrote Fremaux and Tavernier. “These prospects are in our hands, your hands. In spite of alarmist predictions, cinema still exists, it never left us.”

List of Festival Signatories

Below is the list of festivals and film organizations that have signed FIAPF’s paper, courtesy of Variety. The festivals will also list their city and country of origin, if applicable.

Festivals

Mar del Plata International Film Festival // Mar del Plata, Argentina
Sydney Film Festival // Sydney, Australia
Kitzbuehel Film Festival Viennale // Kitzbuehel, Austria
Minsk International Film Festival – Listapad // Minsk, Belarus
Sofia International Film Festival // Sofia, Bulgaria
Toronto International Film Festival // Toronto, Canada
Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias // Cartegena, Colombia
Festival de Cine Global Dominicano // Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Cairo International Film Festival // Cairo, Egypt
Tallinn Black Nights International Film Festival // Tallinn, Estonia
Tampere Film Festival // Tampere, Finland
Festival de Cannes // Cannes, France
Berlinale – Berlin International Film Festival // Berlin, Germany
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen // Oberhausen, Germany
International Film Festival of India, Goa // Goa, India
International Film Festival of Kerala // Kerala, India
Kolkata International Film Festival // Kolkata, India
Noir In Festival // Como, Italy, and Milan, Italy
Rome Film Fest // Rome, Italy
Torino Film Festival // Turin, Italy
Biennale Cinema – Venice Film Festival // Venice, Italy
Tokyo International Film Festival // Tokyo, Japan
Eurasia International Film Festival // Almaty, Kazakhstan, and Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
Shanghai International Film Festival // Shanghai, China
Krakow Film Festival // Kraków, Poland
Warsaw Film Festival // Warsaw, Poland
MotelX – Lisbon International Horror Film Festival // Lisbon, Portugal
Transilvania International Film Festival // Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Message To Man International Film Festival // Saint Petersburg, Russia
Moscow International Film Festival // Moscow, Russia
Busan International Film Festival // Haeundae-gu, Busan, South Korea
Cinema Jove // Valencia, Spain
Gijon International Film Festival // Gijón, Spain
San Sebastian International Film Festival // Donostia-San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain
Sitges Film Festival // Sitges, Catalonia, Spain
Zinebi – Bilbao International Festival of Documentary and Short Film Festival // Bilbao, Spain
Locarno Film Festival // Locarno, Switzerland
International Antalya Film Festival // Antalya, Turkey
Molodist – Kyiv International Film Festival // Kyiv, Ukraine

Organizations

FERA: The Federation of European Film Directors
FIA: The International Federation of Actors
FIAD: The International Federation of Film Distributors’ Associations
FIAPF: International Federation of Film Producers’ Associations
FSE: The Federation of Screenwriters in Europe
IVF: International Video Federation
UNI MEI: The Media, Entertainment & Arts Sector of UNI Global Union
UNIC: The Union Internationale des Cine?mas/International Union of Cinemas

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