Amazon Will Partner With SXSW for a Virtual Film Festival

 

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A post shared by SXSW (@sxsw) on Apr 2, 2020 at 12:09pm PDT

Those who do participate in the virtual festival will be paid a screening fee and Amazon will not own the rights to the films.

Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, said, “We’re honored to be able to provide a space for the SXSW filmmakers to share their hard work and passion with audiences for the first time. It’s been a privilege collaborating with [SXSW director of film] Janet Pierson and the SXSW team to bring these diverse and inspiring films to viewers around the country. We are supporters of SXSW and other independent film festivals, and hope this online film festival can help give back some of that experience, and showcase artists and films that audiences might otherwise not have had the chance to see.”

According to Pierson, “Ever since SXSW was cancelled by the City of Austin, we’ve been focused on how we could help the incredible films and filmmakers in the SXSW 2020 Film Festival lineup. We were delighted when Amazon Prime Video offered to host an online film festival and jumped at the opportunity to connect their audiences to our filmmakers.”

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