WALTHAM, Mass. — This year’s Global Cinema Film Festival of Boston (GCFF) had been slated to take place in arch, however, now it has been cancelled.
Among the films that were slated to be shown was “Village of Women” by Tamara Stepanyan.
Due to the growing concerns regarding COVID-19, organizers had originally decided to postpone the festival until May, before making the decision to cancel it altogether.
“Given the evolving situation, and per the extended federal and state guidelines, we have sadly arrived at the inevitable conclusion that we will now have to cancel this year’s event. Even though we are deeply saddened that we will not have the opportunity to experience GCFF 2020 with you, protecting the health and safety of our community is the immediate priority and concern,” the organizers said in a statement released this week.
“We know that we are not the only small business or event in Boston that has made this difficult decision, however, there are still bills and expenses that will need to be paid so that we are able to continue our work of bringing quality programing to our community once this global health crisis is over. The majority of our festival’s costs were spent in advance and unfortunately not recoverable. Substantial income from ticket sales has also been lost, leaving our festival in a financially vulnerable position,” they added.
The organization has created a GoFundMe page to help the GCFF continue its work and support filmmakers. “Part of the funds raised here will also go towards supporting our visiting independent filmmakers and producers from around the globe who had to cancel their non-refundable travel and lodging accommodations to our festival due to travel bans and growing concerns over COVID-19,” the statement added.
