Film festivals. At the worst of times they can seem like ridiculous, overblown affairs choked with brands and studios positioning their product for maximum awards attention.
But at their best, they’re the very lifeblood of film culture, often the only avenue for adventurous artists to get their names into the world, and a sanctuary for the sort of art that struggles to find a safe harbor elsewhere.
It has often been easy to lose sight of just how important festival culture is to the art form, but the rash of recent cancellations and postponements due to COVID-19 has served as an unfortunate reminder.
Austin’s SXSW was the first major film festival to cancel, and one might easily pinpoint that announcement as the moment when the tide really
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