2020 Telluride Film Fest Canceled
Festival organizers said in a statement on Tuesday that their “heartbreaking but unanimous” decision came after “months of intense due diligence around physically holding an event.” They also indicated that they had a “very good plan” to move forward “until the past week or so,” when key pieces of the puzzle began to fall apart. (On July 9, the Telluride News indicated that local officials were forbidding the use of two key festival venues, the Palm and Galaxy theaters, which are housed in a local school.)
Since the festival’s first edition in 1974, it was only once previously in jeopardy of not happening, back in 1993. That year, it was boycotted by some after voters in Colorado passed a measure “forbidding the enactment of any laws protecting gay men and lesbians from discrimination,” as it was described at the time in the Los Angeles Times — but it did still take place.