On the question of the Explorer, “RG” meets the President of festival Armen Medvedev.
Armen Medvedev: We are still in a state of uncertainty – nobody knows how events will develop with the coronavirus. Going to discuss the situation and our options at the end of may. But the situation is quite complicated. Many films that need to be completed, and we plan to do, for obvious reasons, stuck – their production is suspended, and it is difficult to say what we are going to have to fly. Many world festivals scheduled for July, has been abolished – whether it comes this wave of forced cancellations until August, is also impossible to predict.
Festivals in Venice and Toronto are assessing their opportunities to conduct part of the programs in digital format, you think about it?
Armen Medvedev: not Yet: still, I’d love to hold our festival in its traditional format – in theaters. Even later than usual. In the end, the very first festival “Window to Europe” took place in the winter – why not go back to this time?
don’t You think that even when COVID-19 retreat, we are unlikely to return to usual forms of communication with the movies? That there will be irreversible changes in the whole structure of his existence.
Armen Medvedev: About irreversibility – doubt. One can foresee the dying of small companies, which are likely to infest the body it contribute to the art a significant contribution. A big film company will survive and will work with the same intensity. This also applies to film production and distribution: major cinema network, I think, is also a successful stand. The audience, after some hesitation, will return to cinemas. So I look at it with optimism.
