Beyond the Red Carpet: Unravelling the Socio-Cultural Significance of Film Festivals and its Evolution Post-Pandemic

Beyond the Red Carpet: Unravelling the Socio-Cultural Significance of Film Festivals and its Evolution Post-Pandemic Author: Anju Maria Sebastian Film festivals are opportunities to celebrate, enjoy and appreciate the art of cinema. They provide a platform for diverse voices and stories from across countries, cultures, and perspectives. Festivals like the Cannes and Toronto International Film Festivals enable cultural exchange and help in a deeper appreciation and understanding of global cinema. However, the Covid pandemic brought a huge blow to the smooth functioning of film festivals all over the world. Festivals were either postponed or cancelled altogether, leaving the whole film ecosystem disrupted. They resorted to platforms like Google Meet and Zoom for online interaction and discussions. Online streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Videos and Disney+ Hotstar also gained popularity. The hybrid mode of festivals was quickly adopted by the film fraternity as it helped the easy and convenient functioning of festivals without losing much of its essence. This paper is an analysis of the challenging times during COVID, how film festivals thrived, their evolution and what their future might look like. Keywords: Film festivals, cultural exchange, pandemic, online streaming, hybrid festivals Anju Maria SebastianAssistant ProfessorDepartment of English Rajagiri College of Management and Applied SciencesRajagiriPin: 682039IndiaPh +91 9746091454Email: [email protected]: 0009-0009-0307-0454