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Saturday, March 14, 2020

TCM Classic Film Festival 2020 Cancelled

This past week has seen many events cancelled to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. With regards to cinema, both the South by Southwest Film Festival and the remainder of Noir City Hollywood have been cancelled. It was on Thursday, March 12 2020, that Turner Classic Movies announced the cancellation of the TCM Classic Film Festival.

TCM's official announcement read "Nothing is more important to TCM than the safety of our fans. In light of the increasing public health concerns related to coronavirus, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 TCM Classic Film Festival." The announcement was accompanied by a video message from Ben Mankiewicz, which I have embedded below.



Turner Classic Movies has stated that all pass purchasers will receive a 100% refund on their pass purchases. There is no need for written refund requests and refunds will take 10 to 15 business days to process. There will be a TCM Classic Film Festival in 2021. It will be announced in late summer or early autumn of this year. In the video Ben says that TCM has reached out to the many artists who had committed to attending the 2020 TCM Classic Film Festival and asked them to attend the 2021 festival.

Here I have to say that I do not think various groups are being alarmist in cancelling events in California. So far there are 247 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in California. 11,400 people have been advised to monitor themselves for the virus. There have been 5 deaths from the coronavirus in California so far. Those numbers might not sound particularly large given the size of California, but it must be considered that coronavirus is a contagious disease and cases in California have continued to climb since January.

Of course, I am disappointed that the TCM Classic Film Festival has been cancelled I have never attended TCMFF and I was not going to this year, but I have always enjoyed the many photos, posts, and stories from my friends who have, as well as TCM itself. Even for those of who don't attend the festival, the TCM Classic Film Festival is a bit of a holiday along the lines of Halloween or Christmas. I know all of us look forward to it whether we attend TCMFF or not. That having been said, I am sure that this will make the 2021 TCM Classic Film Festival all the more special.

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