2020 Spring Festival Postponed

Alberta Health and the City of Edmonton have announced a number of recommendations in regards to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Organizers have been asked to cancel all events with more than 50 attendees, especially events that expect to have international participants, involve critical infrastructure staff, seniors or other high-risk populations.

The majority of the local cancellations and postponements have been for events scheduled for March and into mid-April, however just a few days ago came the news that Hot Docs (scheduled for April 30-May 10) is also postponed. Our main screening venue, Metro Cinema, is also temporarily closed in order to help flatten the curve of COVID-19 transmission.

Keeping the health and well-being of our patrons, guests, volunteers and staff as our first priority, we will be postponing this year's edition of the NorthwestFest International Documentary Festival, with a reconfigured festival likely taking place this fall. This is not a cancellation however — we had a HUGE opening night film planned, and fingers crossed, there's a good chance we'll have the same announcement to share with you as soon as the festival's new dates are announced. Please consider joining our mailing list to stay up-to-date with on-going announcements on this year’s festival.

We thank you kindly for your support of our festival and your understanding at this time. We will be contacting pass/ticket holders in the coming days with updates and instructions. However, if it is possible for you, we strongly urge you to consider holding onto your passes for when the festival resumes.

For more information on the situation as it evolves in Alberta, please visit the Government of Alberta website directly. If you are looking for ways to get involved and help, please consider making a donation to The Edmonton Food Bank.

We wish everyone good health and warm hearts.