In the current health environment, it is not a good idea to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with an auditorium full of strangers for two hours. (And it’s not a good idea to stand in line with folks before the movie, either.) The Movie Gourmet sees about 250 movies each year, including about 100 in theaters, and I recommend that you help suppress the community transmission of COVID-19 by staying away from movie theaters for a while.
Cinequest has been suspended, with its second week to resume in mid-August. (Ironically, the best American film in this year’s fCinequest is Before the Fire, in which the plot is triggered by a flu pandemic).
This month’s SXSW has already been cancelled, and I expect April’s San Francisco International Film Festival to cancel or postpone.
On Thursday night I did see a film at Cinequest, but I knew that it was going to draw a crowd of no more than 300 in an 1100 seat theater. Instead of waiting in line, I waited until everyone else was seated and then slipped into a section of unoccupied seats so no other patron was within 15 feet of me. There are a couple of promising films coming out soon that I’ve been waiting months to see (The Whistlers and The Wild Goose Lake). I’m probably going to use the same strategy and see them at a sparsely-attended weekday matinee.
But I’m generally going to be STAYING AWAY from movie theaters for a couple months – but not staying way from movies themselves. Fortunately, there are plenty of good movies to watch on video at home. I think that The Movie Gourmet will be emphasizing video choices until this pandemic peaks. Safety first.