Photo: Rob Kim/Getty Images for the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival
2020 has not been a good year for the world of the international film festival, to put it mildly. Sure, we managed to get a Sundance on the books before COVID-19 shut the entire circuit down, but for the most part, the major festivals have been lucky to get even a virtual version of themselves up and running during lockdown conditions. That’s a bummer for movie fans, obviously, but it’s an even bigger hit for filmmakers, considering that festivals are the primary way many less-established movie makers get their work in front of both critics, and the people with the money. There’s no way to know for sure, but the loss of the 2020 festival season is likely to do unprecedented harm to the independent side of the industry for years to come.