Telluride, TIFF Keeping a Close Eye on Delta Cases …

I emailed Telluride head honcho Julie Huntsinger yesterday morning because I’ve been hearing rumours that the upcoming September festival is currently biting its nails in regards to the severe uptick in COVID-19 cases nationwide. The current 3-day average right now in the U.S. is of 100,000 cases per day. That is a six month high.

This year, the Telluride Film Festival will take place September 2 - 6, 2021, with an added day to the weekend-long event. That is a little less than 3 weeks from now. Unlike Toronto and New York, there will be no online option to view films, so the pressure is on to make sure Telluride doesn’t become some kind of superspreader event. It probably won’t but Julie must be in the edge of her seat right now.

You do have to be fully vaccinated to attend this year’s edition of Telluride, and that complicates things a little less, I get it, but now the CDC is claiming that even fully vaccinated individuals can get sick and/or shed the virus to others. Regardless, whether Julie answers my email or not, I’m hearing the show will probably go on with the utmost of caution. Godspeed.

Meanwhile, the Toronto International Film Festival’s decision to have 99% of their lineup (with the exception of “Dune”) available to press, industry and attendees this year has lowered the anxiety a bit with Delta starting to creep into Canada. Cases are still fairly low-ish there, but, as we know, things can change very rapidly and in the blink of an eye when it comes to this virus.

So, what to do with the hundreds of in-person screenings that are about to occur at TIFF? The current capacity for those screenings is rumoured to be at around 50% …

The Toronto International Film Festival will take place September 9-18, 2021.