Salem Film Fest Brings 'World' Back To North Shore Big Screens

SALEM, MA — Salem Film Fest was all set to hit the theaters.

The screenings were booked. The program was complete. The venues were all lined up.

"Everything was ready to go," Salm Film Fest Co-Director Michael Johnson told Patch. "Then we got shut down a week before it was going to start."

It was March 2020. At the time, there were few indications it might be years before the film-viewing experience would return to the way it always was. But after shifting to a virtual event two years in a row, Salem Film Fest will be back on the big screen with the customary events and question-and-answer sessions with documentary filmmakers starting Thursday.

"We're definitely looking forward to moving back toward an all in-person program if it's at all possible in the future," said Johnson of the SFF, which will include a hybrid program of in-person and virtual screenings in its 15th year.

The theme of the festival is: "Come to Salem, See the World."

The live screenings will be at The Peabody Essex Museum, Cinema Salem, The Cabot Street Cinema Theater in Beverly and the Manninen Center for the Arts at Endicott College. The films will then be available for streaming in the United States from March 28 through April 3.

"We actually spent the first couple of months a little leery about what was going to happen," Johnson said of the return to live screenings. "We attended a few festivals and saw a slow draw of customers. But ticket sales so far have blown our expectations out of the water."

Johnson said the advance sales are about a 50/50 split between live and virtual screenings, with about 40 percent of in-person tickets already sold.

"It shows how dedicated audiences are to the Film Fest," Johnson said. "The connection to the filmmakers is very important."

Most of the 47 features and shorts that were selected to screen will do so for the first time in Massachusetts. Twenty-seven of the documentaries and four shorts will screen in-person during the weekend of parties, live music and interaction with many of the filmmakers.

"Documentaries offer a way for us to connect with the world, and the discussions that follow our film screenings are so important." Salem Film Fest Co-Director Sadry Assouad said. "Salem Film Fest is all about connection and engagement.

"While streaming the Fest online the past couple of years helped us connect with new audiences, we dearly missed the conversations and interaction that in-person screenings provide."

More on Salem Film Fest and advance ticket purchases can be found here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza).