A R T S & C U LT U R E
Faith’ ‘LEAP OF
PASADENA FILM FESTIVAL LOOKING TO MAKE SEPTEMBER RETURN BY CONNOR DZIAWURA
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fter a “nightmare” 2020, the Pasadena International Film Festival is looking to get back into the swing of things as the summer winds down. Jessica Hardin, festival director, describes the COVID-19 pandemic as creating a snowball effect of closures and cancellations in March 2020, leading up to the Pasadena festival becoming yet another casualty. “We had our festival in March, and the pandemic shut it down, so it was just a nightmare,” Hardin recalls. “We lost so much money.” From that point on, the past year and a half turned into a waiting game — first waiting for it to be safe to reschedule and finish the 2020 event in person, something that never came, then waiting for the right time to set up this year’s festival. Normally a springtime event, the annual Pasadena International Film Festival has found the time from September 9 to September 16. Once again slated for the Playhouse Village, the festival is expected to show
Photo courtesy of the Pasadena International Film Festival
Marco Neves, creative director, and Jessica Hardin, festival director, attend a previous year’s Pasadena International Film Festival. This September will mark the in-person return of the event, which was halted and later forced to move online due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
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