LL ARTS
Big screen goes to the small screen NEVE WILKINSON previews the Liverpool Film Festival as it moves to virtual showings
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his year’s Liverpool Film Festival will be fully virtual so that the event can still go ahead despite restrictions on venues and social distancing. Initially, the festival’s plan was to host a selection of screenings at the Odeon in Liverpool One, so that filmmakers could attend to answer any questions after the screenings and everyone involved would work hard to follow social distancing However, with rising rates of Covid-19 cases in the area and, even more recently, the new tier three lockdown, this is no longer a safe option. This year, the festival will still be going ahead but all ticket buyers will be given a link to virtual screenings of all films so that they can be viewed from the comfort and safety of home. The festival will include narrative
fetsival said: "I'm a bit gutted because I wanted to be able to be in a cinema answering questions about my film and meeting directors and other people in the industry. She added: ““When I went into lockdown in March, I struggled to finish my film anyway so now I’m withholding my entry till 2021, hoping it wont be virtual but the bonus is that it gives me more time to work on my unfinished entry.” The festival will run from October 23-25, which was the original advertised date and time. Tickets are now on sale for £5.95 per screening or £14.95 for a pass into all the online screenings. The festival team said: “LIVIFF hopes that next year’s festival will be able to go ahead in cinema and that we can all get back to seeing the best independent film up on the big screen.” Highlights in the 2020 festival
include: 18 to Party by Jeff Roda, set in 1984, this film sees a group of teenagers with a series of life changing events such as suicide, absentee parents and even a UFO sighting; 1800 Grams, a Polish film about the life of a women looking for families for orphaned children and Surdine – a Portuguese special about a man trying to move on with his life after the death of his wife.
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ocumentaries include: Citizen Bio, an in-depth exploration of the nascent biohacking movement and the emerging phenomenon of the ‘Citizen Scientist’; Into the Storm, about a troubled teenager from the barrios of Lima who looks to realise his dream of becoming a pro surfer and raise his family out of poverty and Knots, and award-winning forced marriage story from the US. • Information at www.liviff.com
'I’m a bit gutted because I wanted to be able to be in a cinema answering questions about my film' 16
Above: Three of the films featuring in the Liverpool Film Festival
