Everything’s canceled. No, it’s not the online culture, it’s the Coronavirus outbreak, dummy, which has quickly consumed all our lives. The SXSW Film Festival shuttered last week, WonderCon pulled the plug on its operation today, film releases are being pulled left and right, and today, the Tribeca Film Festival announced it was postponing its April launch. Tribeca was set to take place April 15-26. Still, after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a statewide ban of gatherings of more than 500 people earlier today, the writing was on the wall. Jane Rosenthal, the co-founder, and CEO of the festival, made a statement today.
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PRESS STATEMENT BY JANE ROSENTHAL, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, TRIBECA ENTERPRISES
“We founded the Tribeca Film Festival as a way to heal our community after the devastation of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. We were determined to overcome our fear and anxiety by joining together. It is in our DNA to march forward while caring about our community, said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder, and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises.
We have made the difficult decision to postpone the 19th Tribeca Film Festival (April 15-26) based on the announcement by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that events of 500 people or more are banned due to the spread of the novel coronavirus. We are committed to ensuring the health and safety of the public while also supporting our friends, filmmakers, and storytellers who look to Tribeca as a platform to showcase their work to audiences. We will be back to you shortly with our plans.”
Please check www.tribecafilm.com for the latest updates, ticket refund information, and details about how we are moving forward.
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When will Tribeca be able to return once the pandemic has been, hopefully mitigated? That’s hard to say, but if it doesn’t happen before the fall, the fall film festival circuit, and the New York Film Festival in late September will likely make it an impossibility. That means, July feels like enough distance from this postponement, and enough wiggle room before September. But will the pandemic be over by then? Don’t be surprised if the festival is canceled outright for 2020 and resumes April 2021 if things continue the way they are.
