Updated May 20
Welcome to the very first edition of the Cinema Cocktail 2020 Virtual Film Festival. During this time when cinemas are closed due to the continued spread of COVID-19 and festivals around the country are closing down due to safety concerns, we thought what better way to stay connected with our online community of cinephiles and movie lovers than with an at-home festival, using the streaming services we already know and love.
The festival runs from May 15-31 and all films have been added to the lineup as of today. There has been on programming change – the Eliza Hittman retrospective originally scheduled for May 22 has been rescheduled for May 30, due to the sudden unavailability of Never Rarely Sometimes Always. It will be available as a less-expensive digital purchase beginning May 26, so we’ve adjusted the programming somewhat to accommodate the change in availability.
This was originally planned as a way for me to enjoy the same type of film festival vacation I take every year with the Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), and I’d encourage anyone who is able to consider donating to the GoFundMe that has been set up to help support SIFF’s year-round staff members in programming, education, development, and communications and marketing who have been fired due to the festival closure and the cessation of year-round operations. Half of all of our proceeds from festival merchandise and tickets to our Centerpiece Screening will go to help support this cause. You can donate here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-siff-staff
We hope you’ll join us! We may be physically distant – but we’re connected by cinema!
