Though the Noordelijk Film Festival has been called off, a number of films will still be presented across Friesland
Translated by Thomas Ansell
The Noordelijk Film Festival (Northern Film Festival) has been cancelled for 2020, with the organisation behind it saying that the newest Coronavirus regulations have made holding a festival impossible. The new regulations do allow up to 30 people to be together in a screening hall, though, so some films will be ‘launched’ during the festival period. As reported by the Omrop Fryslân.
In previous years, a large part of the festival has been held in Leeuwarden’s De Harmonie opera house, but this proved unworkable. A plan was then drawn up to show the films at various locations in Friesland, however with all hospitality businesses now being closed for a month, this plan too has been scrapped.
That means that 2020 will have no ’48-hour Film Project’, no film-makers get together events, and no live debuts. “It’s sad, but also understandable in these time”, says Fredau Buwalda, the artistic lead and film programmer for the festival. “We hope that with our new Noordelijk Film Programme, which we are currently finalizing with cinemas and theatres, can help alleviate some of the darkness of the current times”.
The iteration of the Festival that’s going ahead should still give people something to look forward to, says Buwalda: “even in a lockdown we can have safe cultural experiences that are important in society. It’s not for nothing that the government kept theatres and cinemas open.”
The films that had been selected for the original Noordelijk Film Festival 2020 will be available to see at the Slieker Film arthouse cinema in Leeuwarden from Monday 9 to Thursday 12 November. A broadened programme of films will also be available to see at the Pathé Cinema in Leeuwarden, De Bios and De Lawei cinemas in Drachten, CineSneek (in Sneek); De Bios in Heerenveen, and De Koornbeurs in Franeker.
Image via Wikimedia user Thomasmachtel. License here.
