LGBTQ film fest postponed to autumn
Frameline, the internationally renowned LGBTQ+ film festival, has put off its 44th iteration from June until the fall — the latest in a long series of cultural cancellations and postponements prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The festival was originally slated for June 1828. The rescheduled fall dates are still to be determined.
Frameline44 will be the first festival for Executive Director James Woolley, the Australian film administrator who was hired for the position last year.
“While Pride Month remains the spiritual home of the festival, we look forward to bringing the community together at a later date, to connect with the most vibrant and diverse LGBTQ+ storytellers in film,” Woolley wrote in a statement Tuesday, March 31. “The safety of our beloved audience, staff, filmmakers and community partners must come first.”
Woolley also announced the establishment of the Frameline2020 Fund with the goal of raising $250,000 to help see the festival through the financial setbacks caused by the coronavirus shutdown. Founded in 1977, Frameline is the world’s largest and longestrunning LGBTQ+ film festival.
Frameline is only the most recent local film event to go dark in the face of the coronavirus. The San Francisco International Film Festival, slated for April, was canceled on March 13, and both the Sonoma International Film Festival and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival were postponed.
In San Jose, the Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival got under way at the beginning of March but canceled its offerings midway through. Cinequest organizers hope to reschedule the second half of the festival in August.