Organizers at the Cannes Film Festival had previously planned to postpone their 2020 edition in an effort to help control the spread of COVID-19. Now, they've decided to cancel this year's fest entirely.
The festival had originally been scheduled to take place from May 12 to 23 but was postponed for obvious reasons. Though they had hoped to regroup in July, the fest will simply not happen this year.
Festival director Thierry Fremaux confirmed the cancellation to Screen Daily, saying the following:
Under the circumstances, a physical edition of Cannes 2020 is hard to envisage, so we'll have to do something different.... A 'festival' is a collective party, a spectacle that brings together an audience in a given location, in this case on the Croisette, in the presence of thousands of people. Everyone understands that that's impossible this year. The Cannes Film Festival, which by its nature is a globalized institution, can't escape being a victim in the same way as the rest of human activities.
Cannes will still reveal an official selection list in June highlighting films that are scheduled to be released theatrically between then and spring 2021, but they will not hand out their coveted awards this year.
The festival had originally been scheduled to take place from May 12 to 23 but was postponed for obvious reasons. Though they had hoped to regroup in July, the fest will simply not happen this year.
Festival director Thierry Fremaux confirmed the cancellation to Screen Daily, saying the following:
Under the circumstances, a physical edition of Cannes 2020 is hard to envisage, so we'll have to do something different.... A 'festival' is a collective party, a spectacle that brings together an audience in a given location, in this case on the Croisette, in the presence of thousands of people. Everyone understands that that's impossible this year. The Cannes Film Festival, which by its nature is a globalized institution, can't escape being a victim in the same way as the rest of human activities.
Cannes will still reveal an official selection list in June highlighting films that are scheduled to be released theatrically between then and spring 2021, but they will not hand out their coveted awards this year.