The 2021 TCM Classic Film Festival

On March 10 2021 (which also happens to be my birthday), Turner Classic Movies announced the 12th Annual  TCM Classic Film Festival. Because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this year's festival will unfold virtually on both Turner Classic Movies and, for the first time, on the streaming service HBO Max. It runs from May 6 2021 to May 9 2021.

The 12th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival will open with a 60th anniversary screening of West Side Story (1961). New interviews with Rita Moreno, George Chakris, and Russ Tamblyn will air alongside the screening on TCM and will also be available on the Classics Curated by TCM hub on HBO Max. While TCM has yet to release the schedule, the 2021 TCM Classic Film Festival will include introductions by such directors as Rob Reiner and Mira Nair and tributes to Danny Glover and Ali McGraw.

I am certainly looking forward to this year's TCM Classic Film Festival. I thoroughly enjoyed last year's virtual version of the event. I hope that I am able to host a TCMParty during this year's festival. Last year I hosted a TCMParty for A Hard Day's Night. I only have one caveat about this year's festival. That is that apparently there be content exclusive tto HBO Max. Sadly, HBO Max is rather expensive for a streaming service at $14.99 a month. That places it out of the price range of those of us living on rather limited budgets. That means many TCM fans will be missing out on any content that is exclusive to HBO Max. While I appreciate that WarnerMedia wants to promote HBO Max, I don't think this is quite the best way to do it.

Regardless, last year's virtual film festival was a lot of fun. I thin I watched more movies during those four days that I did entire months of last year. I don't think this year's festival will be any different.