There are plenty of ways in which the coronavirus has upset the natural order of life that people are so used to, but SXSW is one of the many festivals that people depend heavily upon when it comes around and the cancellation of the film festival was bound to be a seriously detrimental time to a lot of aspiring filmmakers and those that happen to enjoy watching and participating in the event every year. Thankfully, as has been mentioned by Ryan Scott of MovieWeb and many others, Amazon has stepped in and decided to team up with those in charge of the festival to hold a 10-day streaming even that will allow the festival to be viewed by those who already have an Amazon account and want to participate in some way. While the festival was scheduled to take place in Austin, Texas and would have easily pulled in 100,000 people or more, this might actually be able to draw in many more people as Amazon is a well-known and very well-respected platform that could very well help to showcase the films that many upon many people are wanting the public to see. Given the fact that the audience could be bigger and the chances of getting noticed might be even greater, this could be a very positive collaboration. Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, had this to say per Ryan Scott:
“We’re honored to be able to provide a space for the SXSW filmmakers to share their hard work and passion with audiences for the first time. It’s been a privilege collaborating with Janet Pierson and the SXSW team to bring these diverse and inspiring films to viewers around the country. We are supporters of SXSW and other independent film festivals, and hope this online film festival can help give back some of that experience, and showcase artists and films that audiences might otherwise not have had the chance to see.”
The more that the coronavirus is shutting down one gathering after another and making it difficult for people to interact, the more inventive some people are starting to get as it’s become necessary to finally turn to the streaming services in order to make certain that new filmmakers and their projects will gain the type of notice they might ordinarily receive. Of course it’s no guarantee that said movies will gain any more notice than they might have by being presented within the traditional festival, but it’s better to gain some notice than none at all given that gatherings of this size have become largely prohibited due to the spread of COVID-19. Many people are hoping at some point that the virus will finally recede and we can go back to life in as normal a way as possible, meaning that festivals will open once again and we can step out of our homes for more than the essentials. Ed Young of The Atlantic has something to say about this. At this time though Amazon is doing what it can to help the situation and bring the festival to people in a way that’s accessible and will allow a large number of folks to enjoy the experience from their homes.
It has also been deduced that Amazon is fully up for helping out any festival that might be in need in this manner to bring even more experiences to the people for a limited time. At this point anything helps and it would actually be one of the better ideas seen within the past few weeks if more streaming services would continue to offer more and more content if only because it might help them to keep and even even gain new subscribers. One has to wonder why Disney+ hasn’t made the decision to release some of their upcoming titles to streaming, but it would appear that the Mouse House is banking on the long game in order to maximize their profits while they’re losing money hand over fist at the moment thanks to the closure of their theme parks and the fact that like every other studio they’re no longer in production at this time. In a way this might actually pull more people towards Amazon, especially if they’re open to hosting other festivals for short periods of time so that the entire event doesn’t have to be canceled and people can still get what they want more or less.
It still feels fairly premature to say that streaming is going to be the next big thing and could possibly wipe out other experiences since the hope is that eventually the virus will be in the rear view and we’ll go back to life the way we remember it. Emily Todd VanDerWerff of Vox has more to say on this matter. But at this time, with social distancing being necessary and the world changing by the day apparently, Amazon is at least taking steps to make sure that they’re doing their part for the entertainment industry.
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