蜜柚直播

While COVID continues to dominate the headlines in 2021, Film Fest 蜜柚直播 is offering a bit of an escape through cinema, Oct. 14-17, as it returns this year with a hybrid schedule of streaming and in-person screenings.

Festival founder Herb Stratford said the fest has between 30 and 35 films total this year, with six of those films slated to be shown for free at two outdoor venues: the lawn of the Children鈥檚 Museum 蜜柚直播 downtown and the newly built LED wall at Main Gate Square, behind The Graduate 蜜柚直播 hotel.

鈥淭he LED wall is super awesome,鈥� Stratford said. 鈥淚t is incredibly crisp and bright. It allows us to expand our footprint. We can be closer to the students, too.鈥�

After canceling the film festival altogether in 2020, the initial plan in 2021 was to go completely online to keep the event鈥檚 mostly volunteer staff safe from COVID and because film festivals take a lot of effort and money and there are no certainties during a pandemic year.

When the opportunity to use Main Gate Square鈥檚 outdoor LED wall presented itself, Stratford reconsidered.

鈥淎ll of a sudden we had two outdoor venues which was really great,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is our fifth year and not quite the way we wanted to celebrate. But we are so excited about these films we came up with, we didn鈥檛 want to wait.鈥�

The brunt of the films, including full-length narrative features and documentaries, and a series of shorts, will be available to stream for a single $25 pass through the festival website, .

Some of the festival鈥檚 top picks will be in person.

鈥淏ernstein鈥檚 Wall,鈥� to be shown Friday, Oct. 15, at Main Gate Square, examines the life and career of famed American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein.

The documentary made its world debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in June.

鈥淚t is a big whoop-de-doo because it is a crazy good movie,鈥� Stratford said. 鈥淚 thought I knew a little bit about Bernstein. I didn鈥檛 know much.鈥�

The documentary, 鈥淭he Art of Making It,鈥� screening at Main Gate on Saturday, looks at how a new generation of artists are navigating the tumultuous industry built around art.

In 鈥淒ear Mr. Brody,鈥� also screening at Main Gate on Friday, director Keith Maitland tracks down folks from across the country who sent letters to millionaire Michael Brody Jr. in 1970, after Brody announced he would give away his $25-million inheritance to people who needed it.

鈥淧eople wrote him saying they were behind on rent or they needed a new pair of teeth,鈥� Stratford said. 鈥淗e ended up never giving any of the money away. But his family kept the letters.鈥�

Stratford said the move to include outdoor venues for in-person screenings was a good solution for the festival, and will probably continue beyond the pandemic.

鈥淓ventually, I would like to see our festival have three or four outdoor venues,鈥� Stratford said. 鈥溍坭种辈� in October is really nice. We should be taking advantage of that as much as we can.鈥�

For a full rundown of films and screening times for this year鈥檚 festival, visit .