Even so, the festival planned a slate that is about two-thirds of its previous scale and the opening night screening of National Geographic documentary Fire of Love at to the Dreamland Theater was still only about 70% full.Although she is optimistic about the path forward, Brabbée acknowledges that a major factor affecting festivals has been the rise of streaming services scooping up a number of titles.
Also, films backed by streaming services are less oriented toward theatrical and so they “often bypass festivals altogether,” she added. “There’s no question that’s impacting regional festivals.
And a huge swath of quality films” — titles that Nantucket would slot in after their premieres at Sundance, South By Southwest or Tribeca — “have just gone away.”It isn’t that Brabbée has anything at all against streaming.
Like other festivals, Nantucket weaves plenty of it into its slate. Ben Stiller, a founding board member of the Nantucket fest, is often a major presence and returned this year for a screening of an episode of Severance, his Apple TV+ series.
Read more on deadline.com