The experience of making or watching a film in a cinema is all about groups of people coming together to collaborate on art. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic and physical distancing. “The German film industry came to a halt in March,” says Mariette Rissenbeek, Executive Director of the Berlin International Film Festival (BIFF). That is, “all stages of the film business, exhibition, production, financing – cinemas closed down, film and tv production was stopped.”
Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian (Artistic Director, BIFF) joined C.M.Rubin, Founder of CMRubinWorld, to talk about movie-making and movie marketing during a pandemic. “Everyone is looking for the right way to respect COVID-19 restrictions on set without damaging the film,” says Rissenbeek.
Rissenbeek and Chatrian are focused on joining forces with cinemas to strengthen the power of cinema. “It is too early to judge whether “normality” will return to the cinema in a short or mid-term. It is likely we will have to cope with restrictions for the next 8 or 10 months,” adds Chatrian.