STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
March usually brings with it the anticipation of the Sun Valley Film Festival.
That won’t happen this March, as the Wood River Valley continues to hunker down to mitigate widespread COVID.
But the film festival will present an online event in mid-April with a curated slate of films and moderated Q&As. They include narratives, documentaries, shorts and filmmakers Q&As.
Festival Director said the online event will give the festival a chance to support independent film and emerging filmmakers while sharing the magic of storytelling.
“While the Sun Valley destination is core to the SVFF experience, current conditions prevent us from planning an in-person event this year. We look forward to expanding our audience by streaming our curated slate of films from the best and the brightest storytellers in the business while we begin planning an in-person return in 2022,” said Festival Director Candice Pate.
The festival is offering an All-Access Pass for $150 that will allow attendees to stream everything the festival has to offer from their homes April 14-18. Passes will go on sale April 1 when the program is announced. To learn more, go to www.sunvalleyfilmfestival.org
No individual tickets will be offered this year.
The SVFF’s Screenwriters Lab, Future Filmmakers Forum and Ford Producers Grant programs will take place in virtual format.
The Sun Valley Film Festival had a stellar lineup planned for March 2020 that included Amy Poehler of “Parks and Recreation.” But it became one of the first events to be cancelled as coronavirus swept through Sun Valley, leaving Sun Valley with more cases per capita than just about any place in the world for a few weeks.
In response to the pandemic, the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, held a seven-day online festival in January of this year. The festival introduced the nation to Daniel Kaluuya who just won a Golden Globes award for Supporting Actor for his work in “Judas and the Black Messiah,” which premiered at the festival.
Other Sundance stars getting Golden Globes included the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning film “Minari,” which won for Best Motion Picture-Foreign Language.
“We are grateful to have the continued support of longtime festival partners and patrons through these difficult times, including Ford Motor Company, National Geographic, Tito's Handmade Vodka, Gorongosa Coffee and our community of generous arts supporters,” said Festival Executive Director Teddy Grennan. “We truly could not have made it through last year’s cancellation and continued in-person limitations without their shared belief that now, more than ever, stories will bring us all together.”