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The ongoing Los Angeles wildfires have prompted the Mammoth Film Festival to postpone its 2025 event originally scheduled for Feb. 20 to 24 in Mammoth Lakes, California.
“The devastating and unforeseen wildfire tragedies in the state have not only affected the region’s environment and infrastructure but have also impacted travel and attendance capabilities for potential festivalgoers,” the festival, which launched in 2018, said in a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
The Mammoth fest in California’s Sierra Madre Mountains is used to dealing with snowstorms and high winds, but the historic destruction caused by wildfires in Los Angeles County has only added to the logistical challenges facing the event.
The fires raging across Southern California have left at least 11 people people dead, with more than 12,000 structures burned since the blazes began on Tuesday. The flames have consumed around 56 square miles.
The concerns of fest organizers to secure indie filmmakers, actors, directors, writers and producers and their work for the 2025 event also includes film buyers from Los Angeles, including those representing the major streamers, potentially being unable attend the event to view and acquire indie film titles in the official lineup.
No new date for the 2025 event has been announced. Festival organizers also said “expenses associated with hosting events in Mammoth Lakes have skyrocketed,” which posed another factor in deciding to push the festival dates for this year.
“We pride ourselves on providing an unparalleled platform for independent filmmakers and creators, and this postponement will allow us to uphold the high standards that have defined the Mammoth Film Festival experience,” Festival founders Tanner Beard and Tomik Mansoori added in their own statement.
Numerous Hollywood events, including awards season celebrations and premieres, have been canceled or delayed due to the fires, most notably the Critics Choice Awards and Oscars nominations announcement, both of which were pushed back.
And many entertainment industry figures have revealed that they lost their homes in the fires, including Anthony Hopkins, Billy Crystal, Mel Gibson, Jeff Bridges, Mandy Moore, Milo Ventimiglia, Paris Hilton, Jamie Lee Curtis, Diane Warren and Cary Elwes.
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