AJFF Movie Cancelled After Faulty Fire Alarm
Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center's faulty alarm left 600 festival-goers in limbo, rescheduled showings just released.
The Wednesday Atlanta Jewish Film Festival showing of “It Must Schwing” at the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center took an unexpected “schwing”, ultimately leading to a cancellation with hundreds of festival-goers already in their seats.
“A member of the custodial staff inadvertently set off the fire alarm located near the theaters. The alarm was determined to be false, and the alarm reset,” said Sharon Kraun, Sandy Springs’ director of communications.
Initially, audiences were told to expect a short 10- to 20-minute delay, but, unfortunately, unexpected complications in the reset process forced the cancellation.
“A piece of the alarm panel was damaged during the reset process, which prevented restoration of the audio system in the theaters, which is automatically disabled when a fire alarm is activated,” Kraun said.
Movie-goers were immediately offered refunds at the onsite AJFF booth, repairs to the system were completed and will not delay any additional showings at the arts center.
“We are working with the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival on rescheduling the film planned for Wednesday evening,” Kraun said.
Yesterday’s screenings at the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center of “City of Joel” and “Who Will Write Our History” had no unexpected technical difficulties and were shown as planned.
The AJT followed the developments throughout the day and learned that the AJFF was able to reschedule the additional screenings of the cancelled movie and responded, “Though early indications suggested severe weather was a contributing factor, City Springs ultimately traced the source of the alarm to an accidental trigger by maintenance crews. For the safety of patrons, it is reassuring that the alarm system performed exactly as it was intended to. AJFF was fortunately able to schedule two alternative screening dates, and offer an exchange or full refund to those impacted by the cancellation. We are grateful to our audience for the patience and understanding they demonstrated in the face of what was obviously a disappointing and frustrating set of circumstances,” said Kenny Blank, executive director of the AJFF.
Here are the new screening dates/times/locations, just announced last night:
Monday, February 25 at 3:20 PM
Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center
Wednesday, February 27 at 7:40 PM
UA Tara Cinemas, 2345 Cheshire Bridge Road NE
Tickets for these screenings are now available to all festivalgoers for purchase through the AJFF call center and box office, and online:
www.ajff.org/film/it-must-schwing-blue-note-story
comments