Rotterdam film festival moves online for 2022
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Loading... - Paula Dawson
- 30 Dec 2021
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Festival organisers are scrambling to contact filmmakers and come up with logistical solutions. A little over a month before IFFR is due to start they are working out how to scale down the programme and re-think the strategy for the online edition. The industry programme was already taking place as a hybrid event.
The Dutch government announced its latest lockdown last Sunday (December 19) in response to surging positive Covid tests including 95,000 in the last week alone.
Under the rules now in place, all non-essential shops, as well as cinemas, schools, museums and restaurants must close until at least January 14, 2022. There is no guarantee at this stage that the lockdown won’t be extended beyond that date.
Earlier this month, festival organisers were still planning to go ahead with a physical edition, albeit with all the industry events happening online.
Contacted by Screen, a senior IFFR staff member declined to give a comment at this stage with so many contingency plans still to be put in place.
“Even in the case the current restrictions are lifted after January 14, the sheer scale of the festival is no longer compatible with a last-minute transition to an in-person event in Rotterdam,” a statement from the festival added. Read More…
