Yahoo News UK Genre Event FrightFest Cancels October Cineworld Lineup Due To COVID
UK genre event Arrow Video FrightFest will go virtual for the second time in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Organizers are cancelling the planned physical event at the Cineworld, Leicester Square due to continuing COVID restrictions which they say make the event “socially, practically and commercially untenable.”
The digital edition will run over the same days, from October 22-25 Oct, and “will combine the in-cinema and proposed Halloween digital event into one online festival experience.”
Organizers tell us they hope to be able to show around 60% of their lineup online and there will be up to 20 new titles from their Halloween digital event. Discussions are ongoing with Studiocanal about the online availability of fest opener Train To Busan Presents: Peninsula (pictured).
The line-up, which will include around forty films, will be announced on Thursday 1 October.
Ian Rattray, co-director, said today: “It’s with a heavy heart that we announce the cancellation of the Cineworld event. Although cinemas are not affected by the new hospitality rules, it was the tipping point in terms of what kind of event we were comfortable in presenting to the fans. And with the threat of further London lockdown rules being imposed, it was felt the best plan was to move everything online”
Organizers previously had to cancel an August physical event.
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