St. Patrick’s Film Festival and Coronavirus

March 11th, 2020

Irish Film London statement

Irish Film London takes the health and wellbeing of all guests attending our events, as well as those of the Irish community in London, the wider film and television community, and beyond, very seriously. We are monitoring the Coronavirus situation daily and we will take advice from the relevant health authorities should the current situation change.

As of Wednesday 11 March, the St. Patrick’s Film Festival London is still scheduled to go ahead from Friday 13 March to Sunday 15 March at the Regents Street Cinema.

The decision to continue with the festival was taken after discussions with our St Patrick’s Festival colleagues in the Mayor of London’s office, the staff at Regent Street Cinema and consultation with various other Irish organisations in London. The move is in accordance with the latest government guidelines on public safety that there is currently no decision to cancel such gatherings.

We will continue to liaise with public health officials on the developments over the coming days and be sure to keep you updated with any changes.

Precautions

However, we would ask any patrons to take simple precautions when attending our events.

If you feel that you may have any symptoms that could be related to the virus please follow the public guidance, and avoid coming into contact with other people at public gatherings. You can get guidance and advice on your symptoms by calling 111 or going online to 111.NHS.UK.

If you are someone in one of the high risk categories, such as someone with a serious medical condition, consider ways to minimize chances that you could come in contact with people affected by the coronavirus.

Everyone should take simple precautions, like washing your hands often, with soap and water, and for more than 20 seconds; always using a tissue when you sneeze and disposing of used tissues properly, and avoiding touching your face and eyes with your hands. You can get more advice on staying safe below.

We want you to fully enjoy your visit to our festival, but, more than that, we want you to be safe as well. We will be providing the necessary hygiene facilities for hand washing, and will actively encourage their use. Our cinema tickets are unallocated, and we will ask our audience to leave additional seats between them and other audience members.

Cancellation

Should we need to cancel an event, we will get in touch with ticketholders to inform them of the cancellation with as much notice as we are reasonably able to provide, and refunds will be issued directly via the venue. We will do our best to keep this page updated with any new information.

For further information, and regular health updates please visit the following sites:

World Health Organisation: www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus

NHS: www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19

GOV UK/Public Health England: www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public

If you have any questions about anything we have outlined above, please contact us at info@irishfilmfestivallondon.com.