Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
This just sucks. Last year, I was lucky enough to go to Montreal for 10 days of the FantAsia festival, an experience I adored. I was looking forward to this summer, and then Mitch Davis, one of the many kick-ass people I met up there last year, sent me this letter, with an official press release attached. I’m running his letter rather than the release because it says it all so much more eloquently:
Bad news, friends,
It kills us to have to announce this to you, but it's official. We have to postpone FanTasia until 2003.
Here's what's happened: Just recently, the air conditioning system at the Imperial - which had been on weak legs at best for the last bit of forever - finally blew out for good. It was inspected and the punch line is that its well beyond any hope of repair and must be completely replaced at a substantial cost (the cinema's unique 1920's layout and architecture makes everything fall into the realm of high priced specialty work and logistical nightmares). The government's already signed on to bail the cinema out, but the money won't come through for another few weeks and from that point, it can take up to two months for the parts to arrive. For those who think that a lack of air conditioning isn't really such a big thing, I can tell you from experience that it is - there was a period in our 2000 fest where the air conditioning broke down for a few days and within a day the entire balcony began to feel like the newsroom in DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE, as the body heat from the sold out crowds on the floor rose up to engulf the balcony in a smothering humidity that had people drinking multiple bottles of water per screening just to endure it. The Xenon lamp houses in the projection booth heated to extremes where the room was almost unbearable if the door wasn't kept open at all times. Adding to the festivities, the Imperial recently developed serious problems with its plumbing and roofing, which are also being taken care of. In any case, the cinema has announced to us that they can no longer assure us of anything for this summer.
We only got word of this situation April 27, and we immediately began chasing down alternatives. The first thing was to look into an alternate venue. Of course, being virtually 10 weeks away from start time, there were no sizeable places that had a three week opening in their summer schedule. We had the option of booking a much smaller venue, with a total capacity of under 300, but after our emotions cleared, we realized that we had to decide against that - going this route would have meant that each selection would have needed to be screened at least 4 times if everyone was going to get a chance to see what they wanted. This would have totally diffused the energy and excitement that we all love, not to mention the event's overall scope. FanTasia is not a multiplex festival. It had to be out of the question, no matter how desperately we wanted to do it.
We briefly considered having the festival in October, but then, could you imagine people lining up around the block for hours in freezing winter wind chills of -40? That really wouldn't be fair to anyone. FanTasia needs to remain a summer event. In the end, the only thing that made sense was to push everything back to 2003, where we can do the show properly without down-sizing and giving people a half-assed festival.
None of us ever could have imagined something like this happening, and to be honest, it all still feels like some sickening dream. Just the other day, things were rocketing forward to July blast-off. You've got to remember, we've been programming the 2002 festival since the end of last year's show and have amassed a lineup of films we adore that we couldn't wait to show to people. This decision was not an easy one to come to. After 7 years, it seems impossible that we won't be seeing all of our crazy friends this summer (those countless amazing people who we only seem to run into in July).
Anyway, all I can really say at this point is that FanTasia itself is still healthy and very much alive and will absolutely be back in 2003 bigger and more dangerous than ever, with two years worth of pent-up programming charged to explode across your retinas. I guess that in the festival's grand scheme of things, the year 2002 will lay alongside those missing 13th floors of most North American high rises...
If you wish to speak with someone from the festival, you can reach fest president & founder Pierre Corbeil or myself at the numbers given below. I am also attaching our official press releases. Damn it.
Until next year,
Mitch Davis
Director Of International programming, FanTasia
Mitch... Pierre... all my condolences. I hope everything is resolved with as little additional hassle as possible, and I look forward to seeing you in 2003. I’ll definitely miss seeing you this year.
"Moriarty" out.
