THUNDER BAY — Multiple factors have combined to create an unacceptable degree of uncertainty for organizers of the annual North of Superior Film Festival.
It's why the NOSFA board has decided to pause the event for another year, and why there's no clarity yet for what might happen beyond that.
The festival, which started in 1994, was last held in April 2019, after which the COVID pandemic put it on hold.
Since then additional concerns have arisen which caused the board to do what president Marty Mascarin described in an interview Tuesday as a lot of soul-searching.
"We were uncertain about the lingering effects of COVID, we were uncertain about the volume of films available to us, we were uncertain about the activity on streaming services, and that led to questions about the configuration the film festival could possibly take."
NOSFA relies partly on the Film Circuit, the Toronto International Film Festival's outreach program that brings films to communities across the country.
It helps to secure titles, and provides a list of films and release dates on a quarterly basis, "and those lists have been very, very lean compared to pre-pandemic years," Mascarin explained. "There certainly wasn't a lot to choose from."
Compounding that challenge, he said, is that streaming services are increasingly getting rights to titles that might otherwise be available to NOSFA.
"They're being scooped up, and on video-on-demand, and so forth. Movies like Tar (a drama about the groundbreaking conductor of a major orchestra, starring Cate Blanchett), for instance, are on video-on-demand and there are licensing rights. So they're not available for theatrical presentation for outfits like us."
Mascarin noted that, "Even casting around for something a little more offbeat like Weird: The Al Yankovik Story with Daniel Radcliffe. That's on the Roku Channel, of all things."
"When we're faced with a lean menu to begin with, which means less depth and less variety, it leaves us with some serious considerations from the get-go," he said.
The NOSFA board also expressed concern about the status of the ongoing economic recovery in Thunder Bay, and the availability of corporate sponsorships.
Mascarin said because many businesses are "still licking their wounds financially" or have supply chain and staffing issues, the directors felt troubled about asking for the kind of financial support that's necessary to operate the festival.
He estimated that the 2019 event attracted 2,500 to 3,000 spectators.
Whether the festival returns next year is still up in the air, but Mascarin said the board is cautiously optimistic that the volume of available films will eventually return to the level of pre-pandemic years.
In the meantime, NOSFA hopes to continue with weekly film screenings at Silver City.
