How Covid Changed Everything for Annecy Competition Feature ‘Jungle Beat’
Jamie Lang Sandcastle Studios’ “Jungle Beat: The Movie,” produced in collaboration with South Africa’s Sunrise Productions, had big theatrical plans for its post-festival life. But all that changed when the world went into lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.“When the pandemic came, we realized theatrical wasn’t going to happen, so we started thinking about putting it on VOD,” Sunrise founder Phil Cunningham told Variety in a call ahead of the film’s June 15 Annecy world premiere.“But then the big question became, how are people going to know about it?” he asked.In choosing to distribute themselves, Sandcastle also picked up the responsibility of marketing the film.