Beijing International Film Festival, Prague International Film Festival, Inwood Film Festival join an ever growing list of film festivals being canceled or rescheduled in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Variety reports that the government-backed Beijing International Film Festival, originally scheduled for April 19-26, has been postponed “in order to cope with the overall situation of prevention of the novel coronavirus epidemic, and out of consideration for the safety and health of the festival’s guests, fans, media, partners and public,” organizers said in a statement posted to their official social media channels.
The Malaga Film Festival, considered one of the most important events in Spanish cinema, has also been postponed. Malaga City Council released a tweet announcing the postponement of the festival ‘due to the uncertainty generated by the evolution of coronavirus’.
Following a ban by the Czech Ministry of Health on cinema screenings, the Prague International Film Festival was cancelled, with organizers hoping to reschedule later in the year.
The 8th Nepal Human Rights International Film Festival (NHRIFF), which was scheduled to open on 4 March 2020, was cancelled after the Nepalese government issued an appeal not to organize any large meetings, conferences, festivals, and any other events in view of the possible risk of a COVID-19 outbreak in the country. The local Pokhara International Film Festival 2020, scheduled to begin on 14 March, has also been postponed until further notice.
In an abundance of caution over COVID-19 coronavirus, Columbia University, which includes the Campbell Sports Center (venue for the Inwood Film Festival), has updated their events policy to suspend non-essential events of more than 25 people for the upcoming week, this includes the Inwood Film Festival, which was scheduled for Friday, March 13th – Sunday, March 15th.
Meanwhile, the Oxford Film Festival, scheduled to take place as planned March 18–22, has announced procedures and plans that will be executed during this year’s edition of the film festival to address concerns regarding the coronavirus. These include increased health-related messaging, on-site sanitation resources for attendees, and fortified cleaning protocols at all venues and events.
