The Reality of Remote Screenings

Remote festival screenings come with unique challenges

Egyptian Theater during the Sundance film festival (Photo: Shutterstock)

Dear Squawkers,

A couple weeks ago, I wrote about the experience of attending TIFF and cranking out film reviews and standing in long lines. But TIFF is not the only film festival I’ve covered this year. Thanks to online screening opportunities, I was also able to cover Sundance and the genre-focused Fantastic Fest remotely. Remote festival coverage became a thing in response to COVID-19—my coverage of TIFF in 2021, for instance, was remote—but the experience of covering a film festival remotely is, obviously very different. For one thing, no queues, which means vastly reduced opportunities for gossip. (Not no gossip, just less gossip. You can still gossip through email and WhatsApp.) So, in terms of hearing anything juicy while doing remote film festival coverage, it’s a different game. Not even really a game, more like a hobby. Like pickleball.