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International filmmakers skipping Boston International Film Fest due to visa issues, Trump protest
“I hope there's a better path for this world in the near future, so we can live more peacefully in celebrating cultural events like this,” Boston International Film Festival Executive Director Patrick Jerome said.
The Boston International Film Festival is short of international filmmakers this year, with many citing concerns about the current political environment in the United States, organizers say.
Boston International Film Festival Executive Director Patrick Jerome named several reasons why international filmmakers are not making the journey to Boston this year, including difficulties obtaining travel visas.
“You have a group of people that are protesting, you have a group of people that are scared, and then you have another group of people that didn’t even have the option to obtain a visa,” Jerome told Boston.com.
As a result, the 23rd annual Boston International Film Festival, running from April 10 through 15, is showing the fewest number of films in the festival’s history.
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While the festival has played over 100 films in some years, Jerome said the festival usually screens about 50 on average.
This year, there are only 36 in the festival’s lineup.
“We are doing our best, but it has been a challenge,” Jerome said. “A very, very big challenge.”
Each year, the Boston International Film Festival brings short and feature length films to Boston from a select group of directors to “promote understanding of diverse cultures by displaying the passions and unique visions of these filmmakers,” according to the festival’s website.
Typically, two representatives for each film attend the festival. So far this year, only two international filmmakers in total checked in on Thursday, Jerome said.
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However, the festival will still be screening films in some cases, even if the filmmakers are not in attendance.
“It’s not something that we would want to promote, because the nature of the festival is the intimate setting that we create between the audience and the filmmakers,” Jerome said.
Nevertheless, Jerome said he remains “optimistic for the future.”
“It is a shame because film festivals are created to promote art, it gives hope, and then it just connects people from different parts of the world in a peaceful way,” he said. “I hope there’s a better path for this world in the near future, so we can live more peacefully in celebrating cultural events like this.”
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