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| Glasgow Short Film Festival has been postponed |
The organisers of Glasgow Short Film Festival have today announced the postponement of the 2020 edition due to the coronavirus outbreak.
GSFF director Matt Lloyd and co-director Sanne Jehoul issued this statement: “GSFF is committed to prioritise public health and safety, and although according to government guidance we fall within the restrictions on public gatherings, we feel obliged to take responsibility for our audiences and guests.
"Today, we feel tremendously heartbroken. Tomorrow, we will start working on the best possible alternative we can deliver. We will share details about this very soon, and we hope that we can welcome guests and audiences to GSFF20 at a later date.
"We send our deepest apologies to you all – our audiences, supporters, partners, guests, volunteers and staff. We urge you to stay safe and follow guidelines. These are difficult times and difficult decisions, but we hope that precautionary measures now will limit further escalation.”
Festival venue the CCA remains open to the public at present but is closely monitoring official guidelines in case that needs to change.
Meanwhile in France new restrictions on public gatherings, banning groups of more than 100 people, look like having a direct impact on cinemas (and theatres) which in the main have remained open so far - apart from in certain specific areas.
French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said: “Obviously this will have important consequences for theatres and cinemas. We must keep in mind that our objective is to protect the health of the French. But it is also to preserve the continuity of the life of the nation.”
There has been no update on how the new measures may affect the prospects for the Cannes Film Festival (due from 12 to 23 May) whose organisers have said it is proceeding as planned with a media launch on the line-up scheduled for 16 April.
FNCF (the National Federation of French Cinemas) said they were waiting to see the exact wording of the new government decree.
"Our understanding is that restrictions would limit numbers to 100 per screen, rather than per cinema complex’” said Marc-Olivier Sebbag, the FNCF’s managing director.
France's cinemas are planning to stay open and have won sone concessions from Government, allowing cinemas to stay open so far with 50 per cent capacity and keeping every second row free. If the measure of 100 person limit was applied per cinema rather than per screen then most cinemas would have to close.
In line with the measures taken in Turkey to prevent the spread of the outbreak the 39th Istanbul Film Festival, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) and scheduled to take place on 10-21 April, has been postponed to a later date. New dates will be announced in the coming days.
In the US film industry events such as CinemaCon and the L.A. Screenings have been axed while South by Southwest and the Tribeca are among two of the biggest casualties on the Festival circuit.
