American Conservation Film Festival announces changes to schedule, submission rate
By Tabitha Johnston Special to The Journal
The American Conservation Film Festival is putting a pause on its regular schedule this year, after 17 years of annual seasons. While it would normally be gearing up right now to hold its 18th season in a couple of months, the festival’s board has made the decision to wait until 2021 to hold its next season.
This change is, surprisingly, not due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to ACFF Executive Director Jennifer Lee.
“Our festival has been traditionally held in the fall of each year, but through sheer serendipity, we made the decision in December 2019 to shift the festival to spring, starting in 2021. We’ve been wanting to switch the festival from the fall to the spring for a while, for a number of reasons,” Lee said in a July 7 interview. “With climate change, October is like an extension of summer, but it’s also kind of the last month that people can really enjoy getting outside. There was a lot happening in October in Shepherdstown, and there were a lot of issues with getting venues secured.”
