Disruption in times of COVID-19? The hybrid film festival format

The first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic had unprecedented implications for cultural sectors. With film festivals, music concerts and other cultural events being postponed or even cancelled, there was an urgency to respond to changing circumstances. Cultural events increasingly relied on hybrid or online formats to remain accessible for audiences. Because such formats caused controversy about programming and release strategies, they were easily conceived of as having a disruptive impact on cultural sectors. This paper puts such assumptions about disruption into question. It focuses on the film festival sector, which is increasingly invested in strategies of online accessibility and audience reach. The research is specifically based on the hybrid festival format. Drawing on case studies of hybrid film festivals such as London, Ghent and Rotterdam, it argues that their strategies and operations should be understood from the perspective of cultural change rather than disruption. © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.