Sonoma International Film Festival postponed
It was only a few days ago when Sonoma International Film Festival director Kevin McNeely told the Index-Tribune plans were “full speed ahead” to stage the annual cinema soiree that in past years has brought thousands of attendees from more than two dozen countries to downtown Sonoma for four days of movies and parties.
But as the coronavirus reached pandemic proportions this week, organizers on Thursday announced the decision to postpone the festival, the Sonoma Valley’s largest annual event.
Kevin McNeely, executive director of Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF), released a statement Thursday morning, saying, “Given the increasing and alarming increase of COVID-19 cases around the world and perhaps soon to affect our wonderful Sonoma community, we have decided to cancel the March 25-29 Festival for the sake of health, wellness and safety of our festivalgoers.
McNeely told the Index-Tribune that the decision to cancel the festival was a hard one, but has the support of all festival stakeholders.
“We are broken hearted and (were) hoping the festival would have been a community morale booster during a challenging time,” McNeely wrote in an email. “This will now not come to bear.”
The Sonoma International Film Festival is the latest in a string of major and minor event cancelations, as federal, state and local government agencies urge residents to avoid large gatherings in order to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. The City of San Francisco on March 11 officially banned gatherings of 1,000 people or more for a period of two weeks. Later that same day, the California Department of Public Health issued an advisory against any gathering greater than 250 people.
“Not holding that concert or community event can have cascading effects - saving dozens of lives and preserving critical health care resources that your family may need a month from now,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “The people in our lives who are most at risk – seniors and those with underlying health conditions - are depending on all of us to make the right choice.”
The rapidly changing response to the spread of the virus speaks to how much has happened just in the past few days.
As recently as Monday, March 9, Tim Zahner, executive director of Sonoma Valley Visitors Bureau, told the Index-Tribune that the effects of COVID-19 fears hadn’t yet reverberated in the Valley’s tourism industry.
“It’s a fluid situation,” Zahner said. “We’re watching it.”
Some hotels in Sonoma Valley reported that while they may have had a few cancelations related to coronavirus concerns, it hasn’t upset business so far.
“Nothing has really changed too much,” said Jack Burkam, director of sales and revenue management for Sonoma Valley Inn on Second Street West, earlier this week. “We have seen cancelations rise a little bit, but we still have a lot of reservations.”
Some of those reservations are likely to be affected by the curtain dropping on the film festival - according to festival management last year, an estimated 7,000 people attended in 2019, screening the event’s more than 120 movie showings.
McNeely said he and festival organizers are currently working on “Plan B,” which they hope is a rescheduling of the festival in late summer or early fall.
“When this pandemic situation dissipates we will reschedule our fabulous festival,” McNeely wrote in a statement, vowing to make the reboot “our most dynamic festival to date.”
Added McNeely: “We’ll be back!”
Contact Anne at anne.ernst@sonomanews.com.
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