Film fest ‘cautiously optimistic’
The 2020 Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival is still planned for October, and organizers are hopeful the event will run as scheduled but have several alternative ideas if that proves impossible.
“We’re cautiously optimistic that we’ll be able to host the festival as planned,” Jennifer Gerber, the festival’s artistic director, said Thursday.
Gerber said the festival staff is “constantly evaluating” the current situation regarding COVID-19 and has been speaking to other film festivals to see how they are handling the situation.
“A lot of our staff already works for other festivals too,” Gerber said.
“We’re hopeful that we’ll see social distancing guidelines relax over the next few months,” she said, noting “the health and safety of our attendees are of the utmost impor
tance. Any decision we may face in the coming months will be made with the best interest of our guests in mind.”
The festival is known for hosting famous filmmakers; in recent years, Academy Award nominees Warner Herzog, Diane
Ladd and Waad al-Kateab attended the show. While they aren’t ready to announce who they have planned for this year’s event, Gerber said they are still in talks with numerous filmmakers despite the ongoing pandemic.
“A lot of names are coming through,” she said, but noted this can change, “which is normal regardless of COVID-19.”
Should a “potential worstcase scenario” occur, Gerber said they are looking into several ideas of how they could proceed with the festival, including delaying it to a different date.
Gerber said they are “trying to think outside of the box,” which includes possibly doing “drive-in movies.”
When South by Southwest was forced to cancel its festival, they ended up doing a digital version of the festival online. “A lot of festivals are doing that,” Gerber said. While they have looked into this, Gerber said, “We feel what makes us special is the community participation.”
As times are getting harder, Gerber said they have come up with several ways to try to help, including removing their extended deadline fee and donating two festival passes to COVID-19 front line responders for every festival pass sold.