We got the news yesterday afternoon that the 47th Telluride Film Festival has been cancelled. Both press and passholders received the official word via email. It landed in my inbox at 1:17 EDT/4:17 PDT. At my house we had both with the press release and the passholders letter.
The press release reads as follows:
47TH TELLURIDE FILM FESTIVAL CANCELLED
DUE TO CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC
TELLURIDE, CO – Telluride Film Festival, presented by the National Film Preserve, released today a letter officially cancelling the 47th edition of the Telluride Film Festival, originally scheduled for September 3-7, 2020.
“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 statement says. “But with a seemingly unending number of new cases of Covid-19 and the national chaos around it, even the best strategy is threatened by this out of control environment.”
The Festival plans to release its lineup in the near future in order to highlight what it says is “the best in film this year,” and hopes its audience will have the opportunity to see the films at other major fall festivals including NYFF, TIFF and Venice.
That was followed by the full statement which went to passholders:
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.
While there will be those who might say they’re not surprised by it, that this was inevitable, we beg to differ. It didn’t have to be this way. Until the past week or so, we had a very good plan to put on the SHOW safely. But with a seemingly unending number of new cases of Covid-19 and the national chaos around it, even the best strategy is threatened by this out of control environment. No matter how much many of us wear our masks and observe social distancing protocols, the pandemic has worsened rather than improved and the health and safety of you - our passholders, filmmakers, the people of Telluride and its surrounding areas - cannot be compromised.
As you may know, we have been working cooperatively with our fellow fall film festival partners to champion global cinema and its artists. We hope that many of you will seek out and discover the titles we’ve selected for this year’s program at the New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, or Venice Film Festival, or when they’re made available on a wider basis. We will announce soon what we have carefully programmed in the hopes that you will experience as we did, the best in film this year. There are some incredible, powerful, and beautiful gems and we’re excited to extol their virtues when the time is right. Follow these titles, support them. We intend to champion them outside of the festival as best we can.
For those who have supported us and believe in what we are trying to do, our gratitude is enormous. Thank you. We will need you in the coming months in many ways. Let’s light candles now to conjure a better 2021 and Labor Day weekend in Telluride, together, under the stars in the mountains doing what many of us love the most. The way we prefer to experience cinema will return. Let’s make it so.
We wish you good health, peace and may we collectively move forward to a better world.
We understand that film festivals and their long-term health are not top of mind today. A safe vaccine, vital medical interventions for those sick and properly enforced health regulations are. However, we do ask that you take this moment to consider a world where gathering around a shared love of culture is no longer possible and what that means for the psychological condition of the world. If the prospect prompts a sense of despair, please advocate and champion the return of our gatherings that provide vital nourishment and oxygen to humanity's soul.
Additionally, passholders received another email last night outlining options for what they might chose to do regarding the status of their passes from TFF Chief of Staff Kirsten Laursen:
Dear Passholder,
You may already have seen the news that we are cancelling the 47th Telluride Film Festival with very heavy hearts. Please see attached statement.
Because the National Film Preserve works year-round to keep the cinematic arts alive (i.e. we operate the now temporarily closed Nugget, with a year round lease obligation) and is dedicated to keeping a light on whether a Festival takes place or not, we are deeply grateful to our sponsors and passholders who recognize this effort by turning their 2020 payment into a tax-deductible donation - either full or partial. Many have already opted to do this and it is a great relief as we chart our course for the very uncertain coming months.
Your generosity supports the work we do twelve months a year to support film and filmmakers - even and especially during this uncertain time.
We hope you will consider making a tax-deductible donation, either full or partial in any amount to our 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and we will provide a tax letter for your records.
If rolling over passes and sponsorship to 2021 is best for you, we will of course accommodate.
If you decide to request a refund, we refund the total amount paid less a 4% fee to cover expenses associated with your credit card transaction.
I am available to talk through any of this if easier - on my cell below, or I'm happy to give you a call at your convenience.
A gift to the National Film Preserve/Telluride Film Festival is deeply meaningful as we work together to get through this crisis. We look forward to being together around the silver screen again! Thank you so much for your dedication to the SHOW.
Thank you.
Finally, Peter DeBruge at Variety posted an interview with TFF Co- Director Julie Huntsinger last night titled: "Telluride Fest Director on Why They Ultimately Pulled the Plug".
A couple of highlights from that interview include:
“Every single tribute [honoree] was attending, and they were good ones! I had two filmmakers tell me that if they had to walk to Telluride, they would,” says Huntsinger, who hopes to make the lineup public later this month in order to support the films they would have invited."
Two things here: 1) We'll likely get to know what films had been chosen at some point in the not terribly distant future and 2) The Tributes were lined up and ready to go.
DeBruge mentions Ammonite and The French Dispatch in the article and I don't know if he's being coy and telling us those two films will be on the list or if The French Dispatch sounds like a cool title to speculatively include (we're already pretty sure Ammonite is on the list).
The complete article is linked here and has a lot more that you'll find interesting.
I'll be back with the regular Thursday edition of MTFB with musings and such. Today I have to bag my lodging and deal with rolling over my passes...like a lot of you.
EMAIL: mpgort@gmail.com
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