Turner Classic Movies is bringing us a stay-at-home film festival this year

Traditionally held in Los Angeles, the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival will be replaced by a special home edition this year.

With pop-culture conventions and music festivals getting canceled and postponed left and right these days, those of us practicing social distancing and/or self-quarantine have turned to our favorite television series and movies for comfort. The Turner Classic Movies Film Festival was one of the first major event casualties due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. However, there is news today that the classic cinema network will still have the festival, only this year it will be an at-home experience.

According to TCM’s official announcement, the festival will be an “on-air celebration of TCM Classic Film Festival movies and moments from the past decade that fans can enjoy from the comforts of home.” The festival will begin Thursday evening on April 16 and go all the way into the early morning hours of Sunday, April 19.

TCM will be playing back-to-back movies, commercial-free and uncut, and will also feature taped introductions and panel discussions from previous festivals. Hosted by frequent TCMFF moderator Ben Mankiewicz, the event will begin with 1954’s A Star is Born as the opening film and conclude with the 1927 masterpiece, Metropolis. Additional movies scheduled include Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, Grey Gardens, A Hard Day’s Night, and Lawrence of Arabia.

One of the advantages to having the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival streaming is that you won’t have to pick between simultaneous showings. All films will be shown consecutively as the weekend progresses. The film festival has been a growing event in the Los Angeles area, with an audience getting bigger every year for the past 10 years. As far as classic entertainment while we’re all kept at home goes, a weekend-long film festival feels like the perfect comfort during these uncertain times.

Are you ready to snuggle up with a nice lineup of classic movies with the Turner Classic Movie Film Festival? Let us know in the comments section below.