With traditional film festivals off the cards for now to limit the spread of COVID-19, some are turning to YouTube to shine a spotlight on movies.
Tribeca Enterprises has teamed up with YouTube for a free online showcase that will include features, shorts, documentaries, music, comedy and interviews from festivals around the world.
The virtual festival is called We Are One: A Global Film Festival and it’ll run from May 29th to June 7th. Video pages will include donation links to benefit the World Health Organization and local COVID-19 relief efforts.
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Both “new and classic” movies will be on offer, organizers told the Hollywood Reporter, but it’s not clear if We Are One will include premieres that had been earmarked for postponed or cancelled festivals. The full lineup will be announced later.
Movies from the online version of Tribeca will be free to stream, along with ones curated by other major festivals, such as Sundance, Cannes, Venice and Toronto.
Other participants include the BFI London Film Festival, New York Film Festival, Annecy International Animation Film Festival and those in Tokyo, Berlin, Sydney, Karlovy Vary, San Sebastian and Mumbai.
Tribeca has already made some of its programming available to watch online, including shorts and virtual reality experiences. South by Southwest, meanwhile, teamed up with Amazon to stream some of its movies for free on Prime Video starting today.
While streaming won’t (and shouldn’t) entirely replace film fests, it will at least help many filmmakers get their work seen until physical festivals are up and running again.
