Major film festivals around the world will unite for a 10-day-long global streaming event on YouTube to aid efforts to battle the novel coronavirus pandemic. The event was announced by YouTube and Tribeca Enterprises, which organises the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, on Monday.
We Are One: A Global Film Festival will stream for free movies that have been shown at some of the major festivals in the world, including Tribeca, Cannes, Venice, Berlin, London, Karlovy Vary, Locarno, Marrakech, San Sebastian, Toronto and Tokyo. India will be represented by Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival. The screenings will include features, documentaries and panel discussions, and will be available on the link youtube.com/weareone. The schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.
“We Are One: A Global Film Festival unites curators, artists and storytellers to entertain and provide relief to audiences worldwide,” Tribeca Enterprises and Tribeca Film Festival co-founder and CEO Jane Rosenthal said through a press statement.
“It’s an event that’s never been done before and we’re proud to be the home for this fantastic content that is free to fans around the world,” Robert Kyncl, Chief Business Officer, YouTube, added in the press statement.
The films will be shown without commercials. Viewers will be asked to make donations for COVID-19 relief work, Variety reported.
“We stand united with people across the world in this difficult time,” Smriti Kiran, Artistic Director, Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival, said in the press release. “This is our show of solidarity, faith and hope.”
The event will not replace standalone festivals that have not yet been called off, such as Cannes, Venice and Toronto, Variety added. While there are doubts about whether Cannes will take place in June or July as previously announced, Venice has declared that it will be held in early September in a “hybrid physical-digital program if necessary”, Variety said.
