There will be no Night Terrors horror film festival in Timmins this October.
Organizer Eddie Levesque says COVID-19 has put the kibosh on it for this year.
“We found out recently that we could reopen the cinemas, but unfortunately they have a lot of restrictions,” he tells My Timmins Now Dot Com. “I think it’s 25 to 30 people per cinema and when you’re used to having 150 to 200 people per night, it’s not the kind of restrictions we want to work with this year.”
And even though it’s been fully sponsored in the past, Levesque couldn’t bring himself to approach businesses.
“I wouldn’t be able to look at myself and say ‘Yeah, I went out to all those companies asking for money when they’re having to lay off staff and all this other stuff.’ So it’s insensitive right now to go out to sponsors.”
This would have been the fifth annual Night Terrors festival. October has five Friday nights on which to screen movies. Levesque hopes to just put his plans on hold until next October – which also has five Fridays — when the festival can rise from the dead.