Streaming services hooked people during the pandemic. Even international film festivals have been meeting online. But the Central Michigan Film Fest wants people back in the matinee.
Patty Williamson is the festival director and a professor at Central Michigan University. She said the festival was fortunate to have one of its strongest years right before the pandemic hit in 2020.
But even before that, they were already feeling the effects of streaming. Attendance was declining since 2015. Williamson said this year it could pick back up to pre-pandemic levels.
"I think in some ways our film festival is partly for people who just love film and love that experience of going to the theatre, and eating popcorn, and sitting in a dark theatre but with other people and being able to talk about it," she said.
People often go to movie theatres to experience blockbusters, but she said not many attend slower dramas.
"Some of the films that maybe don’t have quite as much mass appeal, and I think that’s where the film festival comes," Williamson said. "We’re able to come in and bring those 'small pictures' that maybe aren’t going to bring a big crowd.
This year, the festival is celebrating its 20th anniversary and will run February 15th to the 19th.
Other Michigan film festivals coming back from the pandemic, like the Traverse City Film Festival, made over $100,000 last year, according to a press release.