How quickly will people return to cinemas once they reopen?

Roger Gibson, artistic consultant and president of the Chichester Cinema at New Park, which hosts the festival every August, said he expected he would need to make a decision early in July as to whether to go ahead or not. Initially as lockdown loomed, Roger believed that people would flock back to cinemas at the earliest opportunity. But he admits that now he is not quite so sure: “I do think there are anxieties about coming back. I mean from the general public, not specifically here in Chichester. Responses are very varied, but I do think people might wait to come back.

“Whatever we do will be in strict guidance with social distancing. But obviously that is not great for a festival in terms of atmosphere.

“But the festival is still a possibility. It has not been struck out yet, but it might be that we shorten it to eight days, and we could be looking at extending open air screenings.”

A clear problem is that New Park’s cinema-goers tend to be older: “And we are supposed to be the more vulnerable, me as well!”

The cinema has just sent out a questionnaire: “We are asking people whether they would come back, what sort of festival they would want, whether they would come back to a postponed festival or whether we should cancel it and have the full festival next year.” There is talk of films being released in July: “But the other big problem would be financial. We can only seat 100. We would only be able to seat 45 with social distancing. Plus the festival is a different beast to normal. The atmosphere just wouldn’t be the same.”

On 45 per cent attendance, Roger doubts the festival would cover its cost: “It means we would have to have more sponsorship to an extent, and I wonder how many of our patrons would come. It is very, very difficult. The festival shows a lot of films in a short time so it is more costly than just showing a film for a week.”

As for operating the cinema on a normal, non-festival basis at 45 per cent, Roger believes it is something they could sustain financially for a “short amount of time.”

“It just depends how long it goes on. I just don’t know how much financial assistance we could get anyway. But yes, it would be possible to do it for a short amount of time. We would have to have fullish houses for that length of time, but yes, we could cover that for a bit. We are concerned… but we could manage for a while, but there is also the staff to think about.

“We are a small venue anyway. We would have to be careful about the numbers of people coming in and out.

“But I don’t think everybody is going to come rushing back. I don’t think it is going to be that easy. There will be so many reasons why people come back or don’t come back. I would probably risk it actually if I thought it was relatively safe, but it is all very difficult with people coming in and out and keeping at a distance. But I am just so frustrated. My interests are the arts and just none of the things are happening.”

However, if it came to it and if Roger felt he could safely organise the festival, at least he is a position where he could put into practice a fair amount of the planning he has already done in terms of themes and retrospectives: “I would keep those in and it would then just be a case of finding the new films.”

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