In a significant development today for the entertainment industry, YouTube has announced that it will host a free-to-view film festival, called the ‘We Are One: A Global Film Festival‘, in association with 20 film festivals from around the world. Importantly, the film festival will be available to watch for cinema fans worldwide, and it will be free to watch.
The ‘We Are One: A Global Film Festival’ will screen films, shorts and documentaries from film festivals that have already been cancelled, or are on the verge of being cancelled in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.
As the COVID-19 outbreak continues to play havoc with the entertainment industry, several popular film festivals across the world stand cancelled. Cannes is the latest film festival on the verge of being cancelled for good this year.
It will be a 10-day digital film festival and will stream for free from May 29 to June 7 2020, at youtube.com/weareone. The film festival is produced and organized by New York’s Tribeca Enterprises. The world’s top film festivals will participate in the festival, such as the Cannes Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Venice Film Festival and our very own Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI).
It is yet not known which films will be screened as part of the We Are One Global Film Festival, but a schedule should be available soon enough.
As has been the case with most virtual events since the COVID-19 outbreak, viewers can voluntarily donate their preferred amounts, which will be transferred by Tribeca and YouTube to the COVID-19 relief funds of the WHO and local organisations in regions globally.
The We Are One Global Film Festival is not meant to be a replacement for the actual individual Film Festivals. Most Film Festivals hope to conduct a full-fledged physical event in the later part of the year, or at least a part physical – part digital hybrid event.
Robert Kyncl, YouTube’s chief business officer, said in a statement, “The 10-day digital film festival is an event that’s never been done before and we’re proud to be the home for this fantastic content that is free to fans around the world.”
Notably, the SXSW Film Festival is not a part of the YouTube event. It has already signed a deal with Amazon Prime Video, under which 39 films, shorts and series from the already-cancelled 2020 festival will stream on Amazon Prime Video, starting this week.
The full list of the 20 participating film fests is as below –
Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, BFI London Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Guadalajara International Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI), International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM), Jerusalem Film Festival, , Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival, New York Film Festival, San Sebastian International Film Festival, Sarajevo Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Tokyo International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and Venice Film Festival.
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