Returning To The Church of Cinema: Part 1 - The Festivals

It's April 23, 2020. New York seems to be over the COVID-19 hump. The, uh, president is encouraging "reopening" America while simultaneously hedging so that he won't be blamed for encouraging this when people start dying in states that reopen too recklessly. The threat of a rekindling of the pandemic in America looms heavily over the fall and winter.

But for now, let's discuss how we might get back to the movies.

First, we need to start being brutally honest with ourselves and each other.

Cannes is great. Venice is great. But outside of exciting a thin swath of film critics, writers, and industry types who go to Cannes every year, the loss of this festival does not affect the American cinema. Almost all of the festival films that are purchased for US distribution at Cannes go into the International category for Oscar and will not get a theatrical platform of any size in America until the following year. Most of the films that show in theaters and festivals in America in the fall of any g…