Statement from Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival Co-Founders Halfdan Hussey and Kathleen J. Powell

SAN JOSE, CA, USA, March 7, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- At 10:00AM at the California Theatre, co-founders Halfdan Hussey and Kathleen J. Powell issued a statement about the Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival:

“We want to make clear that our very first concern is for the health and well-being of all our audience members, our artists, and our own staff. In keeping with the health safety directive from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department, and the concerned request from San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, we are rescheduling the second week of this, our 30th anniversary festival, to occur August 16-30.

That means that our carefully produced films and events scheduled for this coming Monday, March 9 through the following Sunday, March 15, will not take place. They are cancelled due to the public health concerns associated with the coronavirus. We are pleased to announce that all tickets and passes purchased will be honored for use at our Cinequest Film & Creativity Summer Fest in August.

The first week of the festival has already been a tremendous artistic success including the world premiere of John Pinette: You Go Now on March 3 and the March 5 presentation of the Kaiser Permanente Thrive Award to the maker of My Year of Living Mindfully. Numerous other films, plus virtual and augmented realities, have also held their world premieres this past week and this weekend.

Now, we need to be candid about the very real financial hardship that is occurring for Cinequest, especially because we are a non-profit 501c3,. The coronavirus news hit hardest just as our annual two weeks of revenue began. A big drop in our expected box office revenue occurred immediately. We’re aware we cannot replenish our costs associated with rescheduling and re-producing what took us a year to bring together in the first place. That’s why we’re so grateful to our sponsors and Cinequest ticket buyers who are helping us out by not asking for refunds.

We have two other strategies in mind. We’re planning to ask the City of San Jose and possibly the Governor for economic relief, despite our knowledge their available funds will be lessened and in demand by others. But most importantly, with our heads held high, we want to inform you of a special account set up for supporters and benefactors of the arts. We invite all interested and able supporters to join us here: making a donation to Cinequest.

Finally, please put a big, joyous exclamation mark on your calendar for those August 16-30 dates! Stay tuned for Cinequest’s further announcement at a later date after March 15 with details about the Cinequest Film & Creativity Summer Fest. And in the meantime let’s all do our very best to follow the recommended health protocol and keep our families, our friends and ourselves safe from the coronavirus.”


Halfdan Hussey and Kathleen J. Powell
Co-Founders, Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival

About Cinequest:
Cinequest fuses innovation with the arts to empower great creations and to connect audiences, youth, artists, and innovators with these creations and with each other—forging community, joy, and our future. Set in Silicon Valley, Cinequest’s uniqueness, impact, and legacy result from applying this powerful integration of creativity and technology to democratize opportunity and to transform lives. Cinequest does this through the Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival, Mavericks Studio, and Picture The Possibilities global youth programs. The Story of Cinequest video. www.cinequest.org

Cinequest 2020 Partners (partial list):
TJ & Valeta Rodgers, Clos De La Tech, Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT), Kaiser Permanente, ZOOM (NASDAQ: ZM), Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT), Canon (NYSE: CAJ), Seagate (NASDAQ: STX), AT&T (NYSE: T), Panasonic (OTCMKTS:PCRFY), Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Hint Water, Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA), Agile Ticketing Solutions, Barco (BAR.BR), Cinionic, VTA, Eddie Lira, The Wolff Family, NBC Bay Area, Metro, KQED, SF Media Co., T48 Telemundo, El Observador, India Currents, Cinemark (NYSE: CNK), Fairmont San Jose, Marriott San Jose (NYSE: MAR), AC Hotels by Marriott San Jose * Santa Clara, SV Creates, San Jose Downtown Association, The Morrison & Foerster Foundation, Team San Jose, and the City of San Jose.

###

Terry Downing
PRxDigital
+1 (408) 838-0962
email us here

The Story of Cinequest

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.