Washington D.C. [USA], Mar 13 : The Tribeca Film Festival which was set to take place from April 15 to 26 has been postponed due to Coronavirus with now new dates being announced.
According to Variety, the announcement came on Thursday (local time) through a statement issued by Jane Rosenthal, co-founder, and CEO of Tribeca Enterprises stating that they want to ensure the health and safety of the public and want to extend care to the community.
"We founded the Tribeca Film Festival as a way to heal our community after the devastation of the 9/11 attacks in 2001. We were determined to overcome our fear and anxiety by joining together. It is in our DNA to march forward while caring about our community," the statement read.
"We have made the difficult decision to postpone the 19th Tribeca Film Festival (April 15-26) based on the announcement by Government. Andrew Cuomo that events of 500 people or more are banned due to the spread of the novel coronavirus. We are committed to ensuring the health and safety of the public while also supporting our friends, filmmakers and storytellers who look to Tribeca as a platform to showcase their work to audiences. We will be back to you shortly with our plans," it further read.
No new dates have been announced yet.
The festival had selected a total of 12 filmmakers representing 33 countries. On April 15, 'Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President' was supposed to open the festival with a premiere screening at the Beacon Theatre and live performances from Willie Nelson and Nile Rodgers.
The line-ups also included the U.S. premiere of 'Bad Education' starring Hugh Jackman; the New York premiere of Judd Apatow's comedy 'The King of Staten Island' with Pete Davidson, 'Call Your Mother' featuring Bridget Everett, Tig Notaro and Awkwafina, Elisabeth Moss in 'Shirley'.
Premier of 'Fries', a documentary from Chrissy Teigen and Malcolm Gladwell, was also scheduled to take place at the festival.
( With inputs from ANI )