Film festival canceled one week before event
Houston’s annual WorldFest film festival has been canceled just a week before the event was scheduled to begin April 24.
WorldFest, which was founded in 1961 and bills itself as the third oldest film festival in North America, was all set for its 57th showing of movies from the U.S. and around the world at the Cinemark Memorial City. Filmmakers from various countries were expected to attend screenings.
Instead, WorldFest, which was due to run for five days, announced all of its category winners on Monday. Social media was full of producers, directors, and writers celebrating their wins, several sharing the date and other information on WorldFest as if it were still happening. Buried in all that good news was the fact that the screenings were no longer scheduled.
“WorldFest will not be presenting the public programming this year due to unforeseen circumstances,” says the recording on the official WorldFest phone number. Organizers did not initially respond to requests for comment via phone, text or email but issued a statement late Tuesday.
“With the WorldFest Jury teams about to do their Final Wrap-up for this year’s Competitive results, we are preparing to post this year’s WorldFest Winners List on our website by the end of the month,” said festival representative Kathleen Haney in the release. “In spite of not being able to present a Public Program this year due to severe health challenges to several of our key staff, we are so happy that our Team of Jury members kept going and worked earnestly to find the very best from all the submitted projects.
“We wholeheartedly ‘Thank’ everyone for their submittals as well all the good thoughts, kind wishes, patience, understanding and in particular, dear personal prayers,” she continued.
The website Film Industry Watch reported that WorldFest will not be issuing refunds on tickets or submission fees from entrants.
According to local filmmaker and head of the Laughing Dog Film Festival Joe Grisaffi, notices about cancellations went out “a few weeks ago.” His longtime collaborator Sara Gaston, whose short film directorial debut “I Was Gone For Awhile” was accepted in the festival, also received word that the event was canceled, and the festival did not offer her a refund on her fee.
“That is not common,” says Grisaffi, whose films have appeared in dozens of festivals. “There are festivals that you pay and they never happen, but those are fly-by-night ones, not established ones.”
WorldFest is certainly established. Debuting in 1961, its alumni include Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg. In the past, figures like former President Donald Trump, Gov. Greg Abbott, and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick have written glowing notes of praise for WorldFest’s programming book.
However, the festival has appeared on somewhat rocky ground over the past couple of years. In 2022, founder Hunter Todd admitted to having a significantly reduced staff and struggling with his own personal health issues after multiple bouts with COVID-19.
“It’s a mess, I’ll tell you,” he told the Chronicle that year. “It’s been the worst year in our history. We lost all our staff, one person died, and we can’t hire anyone. I caught COVID four times, and I am still not functioning at full bore. The mind fog is the worst.”
Gaston said she was “torn” by the news that her short would not be screened. The official communication from the festival said that the reason was a medical emergency among the staff.
“I can totally get that. Stuff happens,” Gaston said. “But the reason I submitted my film was that I wanted it to be screened and shown to people. At least I was nominated for an award.”
She plans to ask them whether she could screen for free next year or get a refund.