The Cannes Film Festival will not be held from May 12 to 23: news was expected as the coronavirus epidemic progresses. Its president, Pierre Lescure, was to announce on April 15 if the 2020 edition was maintained in May. But he has already announced his postponement.
"Several hypotheses are being studied in order to preserve their progress, the main one of which would be a simple postponement, in Cannes, at the end of June - beginning of July 2020," the organizers said on Thursday evening. Perhaps this is due to the Annecy Animated Film Festival being held from June 15 to June 20. It is a must for cinema professionals.
Anyway, the Cannes Film Market, the largest in the world, has anticipated by developing a digital solution for professionals. The global film economy is at stake. "It is a very bad idea", however judges Nelly Kafsky, the producer of "Le Triporteur de Belleville" or "I only dream of you", by Laurent Heynemann, with Elsa Zylberstein and Hippolyte Girardot. This film, released in theaters on January 15, is sealed by the cancellation of international festivals. “At the Market, buyers make the effort to go to theaters, even if they only stay a quarter of an hour at a film, that means that they are interested. But if they have a profusion of projections, they will not see them. Or then only those that we absolutely talk about, the essentials. Many films will suffer from it and for us it is vital ”, argues the producer.
If successful, the Festival will be chaired by fiercely anti-Trump African-American director Spike Lee. The list of films competing for the Palme d'Or is due to be released on April 16.
Two interruptions in 60 years of existence
"As soon as the evolution of the French and international health situation allows us to assess the real possibility, we will make our decision known, within the framework of the current consultation with the State and the City of Cannes as well as with the festival board, cinema professionals and all of the event's partners, ”said the organizers.
Due to the health crisis and faced with the evolution of the situation, the 73rd Cannes Festival cannot be held on the dates scheduled from May 12 to 23. More info: # Cannes2020 👉 https://t.co/0TxKGmsBkO pic.twitter.com/6xDvWgfhgF
- Festival de Cannes (@Festival_Cannes) March 19, 2020Until then, Pierre Lescure and the general delegate, Thierry Frémaux, join their "voice to all those who firmly ask that each and everyone respects general confinement and show solidarity in these difficult times for the whole world" .
So far, the Cannes Film Festival has known only two interruptions in more than sixty years of existence: the very first edition, in 1939, was canceled due to the Second World War, and that of 1968 abridged after nine days following the events of May-68.
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VIDEO. Spike Lee, an activist "president" at the Cannes Film Festival