Greenwich film festival delayed.
GREENWICH — The coronavirus outbreak forced the delay the Focus on French Cinema Film Festival until October — but many of the films will still be new to audiences at screenings in Greenwich, Stamford and Manhattan.
That’s because the global pandemic has put much of the film industry is on hold, too, said Joe Meyers, the film fesitval’s director of programming.
The festival will still show some of the films that were selected for the original festival weekend in April because the distribution pipeline of movies is blocked, Meyers said.
Theaters are not open, which means they are not showing films. And after films are shown for a few months, they move to streaming platforms — and a festival does not want to feature movies that are available for streaming, he said.
The opening night party for the Focus on French Cinema Film Festival is now set for Oct. 2 at L’Escale at the Delamar Hotel in Greenwich.
“In light of the circumstances related to COVID-19 and in consultation with the executive board of Focus on French Cinema and the executive board of the Alliance Francaise of Greenwich, we have made the difficult decision to postpone FFC2020 until Friday, Oct. 2, to Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020,” Renée Amory Ketcham, president of the Alliance Française of Greenwich, said in a statement on the website.
“This is a proactive measure to ensure the safety and health of the community at large,” she said.
The lineup includes films making their premiere showings in New York, the Northeast and United States. The narrative, documentary and short film selections from around the world explore the diversity of Francophone cinema.
The price will not change for passes, and already purchased passes are still valid. Refunds are also available through April 30, organizers said.
Just before the first wave of shutdowns started, Focus on French Cinema 2020 held a tribute to Belgian cinema with a prefestival screening of “Young Ahmed.” Written and directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Belgian brothers who have twice earned the Palme d’Or in Cannes, the film follows the life of a radicalized Muslim teen.
The evening drew 70 people out for the film, Belgian waffles and chocolates, and a Q&A with a panel of experts, Meyers said.
But in the following days, the situation with the coronavirus worsened, and organizers decided to reschedule for the fall.
Organizers said they will have an exceptional lineup of new films.
“I don’t think we’re going to have to worry that some of our prime films will go into the distribution pipeline,” Meyers said. “There is going to be a slow startup of foreign film distribution in the United States, which will be to our advantage in terms of retaining movies that we were excited about.”
Right now, organizers are “in limbo,” but when June rolls around, summer films will be released and they will be able to decide what new movies to include and which previously selected films they will keep, he said.
“I don’t feel we have to start from scratch,” Meyers said. “We were close to announcing the full slate — a terrific slate, movies I was very excited about having shown — when this happened.”
Organizers may need to find new VIP guests. Guillaume Canet, star of “In the Name of the Land” or
“Au nome de la terre,” about the farming crisis in France, may not be able to reschedule due to his busy schedule, Meyers said.
In this time of socialdistancing, Meyers said the society will keep fans informed about Francophone films that can be streamed on The Criterion Collection and Amazon.
While it is a way to watch films, Meyers said streaming misses something essential about movies.
“Frankly, I’ve seen the emptiness of watching movies by yourself at home,” he said. “It’s not the same thing: To me, movies are about community and sharing. That’s what we’re focusing on. Our goal is to make the October Focus on French Cinema Film Festival the best one ever, and we’re going to work hard at that.”
For more information on the film festival, visit focusonfrenchcinema.com/.