HOST INTRO: This weekend was the scheduled conclusion of the Tribeca Film Festival. But this year, the festival has been postponed--indefinitely, organizers say. As Brett Forrest reports, without major festivals, filmmakers lose a key way to network, launch careers, and connect with audiences.
BRETT FORREST, byline: Usually in late April, the streets of Tribeca are buzzing with film festival attendees, but not this year. Some Tribeca films have moved to screening online, but Victoria Negri, a Brooklyn-based festival programmer, says those are missing an important social component.
VICTORIA NEGRI: That's the thing that's hard with virtual fests and things like that. You won't just like bump into people at an after a party or, you know, as you're leaving the movie theater.
FORREST: Then there’s the honor of showing your work in a theater to an audience. Alejandra Parody directed the short film “Gets Good Light,” which was supposed to have its world premiere at Tribeca.
ALEJANDRA PARODY: As the director, it was very important to me. Being able to be screened on the big screen, That's not normally how people consume short films because we don't get theatrical distribution or very rarely.
FORREST: Producer of the film, Elizabeth Phillipson-Weiner, says the film festival circuit drives the whole industry and that’s one of the main reasons filmmakers want to get into an A-List fest like Tribeca.
ELIZABETH PHILLIPSON-WEINER: You have undiscovered new talent that's kind of getting a boost where really high level press and industry people attend and write reviews on their work. And then you also have really established filmmakers who come to those festivals to sell their work that would later be distributed in theaters.
FORREST: The makers of “Gets Good Light” are waiting to screen until Tribeca is rescheduled. But those dates are still pending. Brett Forrest, Columbia Radio News.