Page 4 - Film Festival Journal + Review Spring/Summer 2020

THE PUBLISHERS PAGE

The nightmare in the movie and film festival business began when South by Southwest (stylized as
SXSW) cancelled the monumental event. SXSW, the annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media,

music festivals and conferences, organized jointly and took place in mid-March in Austin, Texas, began in
1987, and has continued to grow in both scope and size every year. In 2017, the conference lasted for 10 days

with the interactive track lasting for five days, music for seven days, and film for nine days. But on March 7,
2020, SXSW shocked the entire movie industry with the cancellation of the mega event!

Since then, it seems the entire Hollywood system has been held hostage by COVID-19 with billions of dol-

lars lost in both studio productions and theatrical seating. Thousands of jobs, in front of and behind the cam-
era, have been lost, and many industry professionals are struggling to make ends meet. Over 90% of film festi-
vals have canceled their “in-person” festivals and are using Zoom as a means to have a digital conference in-

stead. The hope is that with the vaccine in full throttle, the industry can rebound and slowly get back to busi-

ness as usual by the spring or summer of 2021. Until then, the “new normal” will continue with film events
being digitally streamed. As a contributor in support of the film business, Film Festival Journal + Review was

born.

Film Festival Journal + Review is a digital and four-color glossy print magazine published to cover the cul-
ture and the preeminence of film festival festivities at its best, while documenting the complexity, richness,

grit, and vitality of the infamous film festival culture and livelihood worldwide. The worldwide film festival

circuit has exquisite stories with characters so real they could step off the pages, right into your living room.
Complete with strengths and flaws, Hollywood and indie film, via the worldwide film festival circuit, show-

cases content that is usually always completely laid bare to the eyes of the attendees. These international and
American filmmakers do not worry over how others will judge them. They simply live for their vision!

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, newsstand distribution is limited, so we are focusing on digital and

printed editions by subscription only, until the pandemic is over and newsstand distribution opens back up

for wider and consistent circulation.

We thank you in advance for supporting our magazine which is designed to support the film festival in-
dustry; large and small, nationally and internationally, as well as the filmmakers who attend to showcase their

films and to support their fellow filmmakers. Feel free to send press releases, articles and pictures that you
think would be of interest to fellow filmmakers regarding film festivals. Someone in the editorial department

will get back with you. Thank you!

4 FILM FESTIVAL JOURNAL SUMMER 2020