What will become of film festivals in the post-COVID era?

But then they moved from gruelling slogs of obscure films and into the multiplexes, growing in number over recent years until there are too many festivals and screenings to keep up with, even for a film writer who gets paid to attend and cover them.

As cinemas recall their staff over the coming fortnight and prepare to reopen their doors, a number of folk around the country whose livelihoods are the many film festivals that grace the annual cultural calendar are paying close attention.

Will audience confidence return? How will the shared experience change without a festival-goer on either side of you?

Some of the bigger film festivals whose dates fell across the past few months of COVID shutdown had the difficult decision of postponing or cancelling their 2020 festival, or taking the financial risk of exploring other delivery methods.

Already the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival has postponed its 2020 festival, as did Flickerfest with the national travelling program from its January festival.

Organisers of the Gold Coast Film Festival had to cancel their 2020 festival of over 300 screenings, days before its April opening night.

On their website, festival director Lucy Fisher said, "While we were heartbroken the festival was cancelled after it had already been curated and announced, we were more devastated for the filmmakers."

The festival moved screenings of their short film competition online, and held an online ceremony to award the festival's prizes, including handing their Best Film trophy to With the Festival Jury awarding prizes to Kriv Stenders' documentary Slim & I.

This past fortnight, a slimmed-down version of the 2020 Sydney Film Festival screened online with affordable single-film pricing at $14 for an individual film and some of its panel discussions available at no cost.

For their 2020 program, Melbourne's St Kilda Film Festival appointed film industry innovator Richard Sowada as director, and his inventive nature has been put to the test as this past week the festival screened a series of films online for guests to watch at their own pace, along with live online events including a discussion with iconic Indigenous performer and activist Gary Foley.

As Sowada also heads up Perth's Revelation Film Festival, opening in an online format on July 6, he can channel what did and didn't work for St Kilda into the Revelation program.

I've often read through the programs of distant cities' film festivals, wishing I could afford either the week off or the airfare to attend, and so the idea of enjoying the Revelation film program without the expensive flight to Perth feels like one of the few silver linings of the COVID era.

Internationally, a number of bigger film festivals moved their dates to the second half of 2020, hoping that their audiences will move with them, with the Hong Kong International Film Festival recently announcing a move from April to August, and the restored film-focused Il Cinema Ritrovato in Bologna, Italy, also making the same announcement, perhaps ambitiously.

Locally, John Frohlich has begun work harvesting the short film entries from around the country for the special milestone 25th Canberra Short Film Festival, due to run in September, while the Canberra International Film Festival has already made the decision to cancel their 2020 plans.

Festival director Andrew Pike says the decision was made in part because their audience has traditionally been an older demographic.

"Many of our usual audience might take more time to willingly go into a crowded place again," Pike says.

Pike also cites the challenges that social distancing might place on a small, community-run festival.

"We're dependent on the income from our full houses and I'm not sure we can afford to play to quarter-capacity," Pike says.

In addition to the audience demand, film festivals play an important part in the marketing cycle of a film and in the careers of the team of professionals who work on them.

Both Sydney and St Kilda Film Festivals are accredited Academy Award qualifying festivals, and their closure would have meant a number of Australian filmmakers might have missed out on the chance to compete for the coveted Oscar next year.

A positive review or online buzz from a festival screening months ahead of a cinema release can make all the difference to a film's success, and so many festivals will find considerable industry pressure to return to a traditional format.

I've personally enjoyed the what-I-want-to-see-when-I-want-to-see-it of the recent online experiments, and I'm looking forward to what comes next.

Some film festivals have recently announced their new formats or dates for screening. In the meantime, add these upcoming online film festivals to your screening calendar: