Film festival dates pushed to fall, 2021
The dominoes keep falling in the Bay Area film world.
On Friday, April 17, two more film festivals were put on hold, beginning with the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, which was to unspool July 16 through Aug. 2 but has been postponed until November.
But even that date is in doubt. With the increasing belief in the United States that the coronavirus pandemic will require social distancing into 2021, the organizers of the Napa Valley Film Festival have canceled this year’s event scheduled for Nov. 1115 — a decision notable in that the festival was scheduled for seven months from now, signaling that even the rescheduled dates of the SFJFF might not be feasible.
“There are so many unknowns in this situation and we are in uncharted waters, but our priority is the health and safety of the community until we come together again,” Jewish Film Institute Executive Director Lexi Leban said in a statement. “We have reserved alternate dates for a fall festival in November should we be able to resume live programming at that time.”
Meanwhile, the next Napa Valley Film Festival is now scheduled for Nov. 1014, 2021.
“Rest assured we will use this time to strengthen our commitment to our mission and develop new avenues to fulfill our vision,” Cinema Napa Valley Chairman Patrick Davila said in a statement released Friday, April 17.
The cancellation of a film festival seven months out is easily the most farreaching, calendarwise, decision yet on the Bay Area film scene. By comparison, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival was postponed from May 15 to Nov. 1115, the same days that Napa Valley 2020 was set to run, and now the same month targeted by the SJFF.
The Mill Valley Film Festival — one of the biggest on the calendar — is still scheduled for Oct. 818.
The decisions by the Jewish Film Institute and Cinema Napa Valley came three days after a news conference where Gov. Gavin Newsom laid out his vision of a postshelterinplace California that would be devoid of concerts and sporting events for some time.
“We talk about what the new normal will look like,” Newsom said. “Normal, it will not be — at least until we have herd immunity and we have a vaccine.”
He added, “Largescale events that bring in hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of strangers all together across every conceivable difference, health and otherwise, are not in the cards based upon our current guidelines and current expectations.”