For the first time in two years, the RiverRun International Film Festival returned to theaters in Winston-Salem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year’s festival ran from April 21 to 30 and featured 174 films from 33 countries screened in person and virtually. To the people attending the festival in person, one thing was clear: the effects of COVID-19 are still present. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAttendance has been really soft this year,\u201d said Foster Hirsch, a film historian who was attending the festival. \u201cI’ve been at other festivals and the directors have told me that attendance has been soft this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2020, the RiverRun was canceled completely. The following year, 4,143 tickets were sold and the screenings were virtual, outdoors, or by drive-in. In comparison, around 18,000 tickets were sold in 2019, according to Davis. This year, ticket sales were 9,498, a combination of virtual and in person. Despite sales not being at pre-pandemic levels, there is enthusiasm about this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe considered this year a stepping-stone festival back to normalcy,\u201d said Rob Davis, the Executive Director of RiverRun International Film Festival. He added: \u201cThe festival exceeded our expectations. We are delighted that so many people did come back and join us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Festival venues in Winston-Salem included Hanesbrands Theatre, Bailey Park, UNCSA, SECCA, Kilpatrick Townsend, Crossnore, and Marketplace Cinemas. The festival opened on Thursday the 21 at 7 p.m. with The Rose Maker<\/em>. The french comedy released in early April tells the story of Eve, a famous rose grower that due to financial trouble, has to hire three ex-convicts in an attempt to rescue the business. Another feature of the festival includes the 11th annual pitchfest, where student documentary filmmakers pitch their ideas to a panel of jurors, who provide feedback and award cash prizes to the first and second place winners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The arts, entertainment, and recreation industry was one of the most affected during the pandemic, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.\u00a0This year, the Palm Springs International Film Festival was canceled and the Sundance Film Festival\u2019s hybrid schedule was changed to a virtual festival, due to the surge of the Omicron variant. RiverRun was held after the surge and once mask mandates were lifted in Winston-Salem.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The return of in-person screenings gave some people the chance to get together for the first time since the outbreak of COVID-19. Diana Greene, a local documentary filmmaker who was screening her new film, Home Stretch,<\/em> was able to celebrate with her entire crew for the first time. Home Stretch, <\/em>filmed in Forsyth County, <\/em>tells the story of two low income families struggling to achieve homeownership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was very exciting for our crew and the people who are in our film because we had never gotten to hang out as a group because we made the film during the two years of COVID,\u201d said Greene. \u201cIt [was like a] celebration because we could finally gather and celebrate this film that presents what they’ve been doing and how they contributed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the good feeling around going back to theaters, there are still some reservations by some about masks being optional.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSome people have been a little uneasy about that because we’re out of the pandemic but we’re not,\u201d said Hirsch. \u201cWe’re in this in-between limbo area, so some people are reluctant to come out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Younger people had no hesitation in returning to in-person screenings, according to Davis. For older people, who were more reluctant to return, virtual screenings were a good alternative and they will likely continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA virtual component is the new normal,\u201d said Davis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The only downside to virtual screenings is lost revenue due to lower ticket sales. To watch an in-person screening, every person needs a ticket. With virtual screenings, an entire group can watch a screening for the price of one. This leads to the festival losing revenue, according to Davis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, making the festival virtual has broadened the festival\u2019s reach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLast year, 2021, we ended up with ticket buyers in thirty-three U.S. states, Canada, Puerto Rico, Israel, Switzerland, Spain and the United Kingdom,\u201d said Davis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This greater reach comes at a perfect time; next year marks RiverRun\u2019s 25-year anniversary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe’re really looking forward to next year,\u201d said Davis. \u201cSo hopefully we’ll be in an even better position then.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the first time in two years, the RiverRun International Film Festival returned to theaters…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":1820,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-semester-spring21","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1819"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1821,"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1819\/revisions\/1821"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zerwicp.sites.wfu.edu\/CommunityJournalism\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}