We hope you and yours are safe. It is a strange time, calling for patience, solidarity and societal self-reflection. There is a good chance we can emerge from this, wiser and better positioned to create a more sustainable and fairer future. Let’s hope so.

In some ways a film festival may seem irrelevant, but in this new context, a film festival becomes even more important, a pointed way for people to get together, to watch films and celebrate human endeavour. Stories help us understand the world we live in. They help us evolve.

With this is our hearts, submissions have been open since May and we are excitedly watching a steady stream of yet-to-be-discovered gems come in.

We can’t wait to be blown away by what we unearth. I n terms of how exactly these gems will be showcased, we feel it is prudent to watch how the film festival landscape develops over the coming weeks, especially in terms of government directives. The future is unknown but based on discussions with our key funders and partners, we are planning away. Hopefully, KIFF will be able to announce the exact shape of our 2020 event very soon.

We’re going to celebrate our 21st edition having faced and survived our toughest year yet. But survived we have because films matter.

See you in October. We will have the hand sanitizer ready!