‘In spite of our efforts to move heaven and Earth, it has become clear that we simply will not be able to make the festival happen this year,’ the organisers said in a statement
“With great regret, we must announce that this year’s Glastonbury festival will not take place, and that this will be another enforced fallow year for us,” organisers Michael and Emily Eavis said in a statement. “In spite of our efforts to move heaven and earth, it has become clear that we simply will not be able to make the festival happen this year. We are so sorry to let you all down.”
The event will not be rescheduled for this year. Information for ticket holders is available on the festival’s website. “We are very confident we can deliver something really special for us all in 2022!” the Eavises said. [ . . . ]
Two Welsh filmmakers have spoken of their joy of being shortlisted at this year’s Iris Prize.
Anna Winstone who directed Rhiw Goch (On the Red Hill) and Ian Smith, who made Go Home Polish, made the final 15 for the Best Short category.
For the first time in the Cardiff LGBT+ film festival’s history a film from the Netherlands was awarded the £30,000 prize.
Short Calf Muscle, by Victoria Warmerdam, was crowned the winner.
The organisers of the festival, which is now in its 14th year, said the money would allow the producer to make a new short film in Wales.
Winstone, 27, from Cardiff, said she was “screaming” when she learned her film had been shortlisted.
“Iris is such a big deal in the film world and for our short, whereby we borrowed a camera and only had a budget of £150, to have been selected was incredible, I thought they had made a mistake,” said Winstone.
Her documentary tells the story of a gay couple, Mike and Peredur, who inherit a house just outside Machynlleth, Powys, from an older gay couple George and Reg. The story is of the house – their sanctuary
The festival’s creative producer said limiting the number of artists who fly in to perform was ‘the responsible thing to do’
A Scottish festival celebrating international folk, roots and traditional music has said it may have to limit the number of overseas artists it invites to perform in response to the climate crisis.
Celtic Connections’ creative producer, Donald Shaw, described the issue as “the biggest challenge” facing the festival. “We cannot bury our head in the sand. It’s not really enough to fly 300 artists from all around the world and justify it on the grounds that art is important. Festivals like this one are going to have to think very seriously about whether we can do that any more.”
Speaking at the opening of Celtic Connections 2020, Shaw said he anticipated that the festival would have to “make a statement” about reducing international travel. “The number of international artists will be reduced unless someone comes up with a solution which appeases the climate emergency.”
He said the move was necessary because it is “the right thing to do. It is the responsible thing to do. We all have to take responsibility for what is happening at the moment.”
Shaw said that artists performing at the 2020 edition of the festival had been asked to avoid air travel in order to attend, but the limits of that suggestion are evident in its heavily international bill: artists from Canada, Mali, Portugal, Lebanon, America, France, Guinea, Spain, Finland, India, Senegal, Burma and Cameroon will perform across 300 events in Glasgow this week, with the Malian stars Fatoumata Diawara and supergroup les Amazones d’Afrique among the most anticipated acts.
Closer to home, Shaw said the festival organisers had been assessing the environmental impact of the CalMac ferry, compared to flights. “We’ve already discussed what the difference is between using a CalMac ferry from Stornoway to Ullapool and flights between Stornoway and Glasgow. If it is very clear that as flights cause by far the worst damage to the environment, then we have to reduce them.”
One potential solution, he suggested, was to plant “acres of trees” for every artist that flies in for the festival and to encourage alternative ways to travel from Europe.
