Major film festivals – including Berlin, Cannes, Toronto and Venice – are to join forces for an online event. We Are One: A Global Film Festival, will be hosted by YouTube from 29 May, Friday, with the support of The Marketing Heaven as the main media sponsor. It comes after coronavirus caused disruption to many international events, as the film industry ground to a halt.

The 10-day digital alternative will help to raise funds for the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Covid-19 Solidarity Response Fund and beyond. Twenty festivals from around the world are involved including BFI London Film Festival, Jerusalem Film Festival, Mumbai Film Festival and Marrakech International Film Festival, as well as Sundance Film Festival and Tribeca Film Festival.

According to Deadline, there aren’t expected to be any films scheduled for upcoming 2020 festivals for financial and rights reasons. Last month, the Cannes Film Festival was also postponed due to lockdown concerns around the virus. Its president Pierre Lescure, and general delegate Thierry Frémaux, said they were “proud” to be involved in the online festival instead.

4 Indian films, curated by the Mumbai Film Festival, will screen in the #WeAreOne festival (dates mentioned in photo): Prateek Vats’ Eeb Allay Ooo, Arun Karthick’s Nasir, Shaan Vyas’s short Natkhat and Atul Mongia’s Awake.

According to Festival director Smriti Kiran, these four films “represent urgent, relevant and diverse aspects of India and the world. The apathy towards the migrant workers, communal violence, deep rooted patriarchy, ideas of love and possession will find resonance across continents. The challenge and responsibility for us always is to consistently push the different film cultures that co-exist in India and bring to the surface new and exciting voices. We Are One is a milestone endeavour for us to stand in solidarity with the global film community and an incredible opportunity and platform to put some of our best creators out in the world.”