As I have done on a now yearly basis, I will be covering the Fantasia Film Festival which is again set to take place in Montreal this August. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fest has now officially transitioned to the virtual world with a plan for international premieres to be streamed “under tight digital security and a limited number of tickets sold per screening.” [via THR]
According to the released statement from Fantasia head Mitch Davis, Between 600 and 1,200 tickets will be available per screening, which will be geo-restricted and sold only to those with Canadian IP addresses. Many screenings will include live Q&As with filmmakers that Fantasia's at-home audiences can participate in.
The first wave of Fantasia titles will be announced in late May.
I do love the protection Fantasia is putting on their films. SXSW working with Prime to get their films up was an inspired, but failed move since only 5% of the lineup agreed to have their films shown, no doubt due to the open risks of piracy and burning those films for distribution. Hopefully, this works better for Fantasia. Based on what I have been hearing and reading, it does look as though this is the model that TIFF wants to use if they go full-on digital in September with their 44th edition of the festival.
The Fantasia International Film Festival will take place from Aug. 20 to Sept. 2.
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