This year’s Cannes Film Festival, unsurprisingly, will not go ahead in physical form, so reports Variety. This year’s festival, the 73rd edition, in the south of France was set to start this very week on 12th May but now will allow its films to be showcased at other festivals around the world later in the year.
Speaking on Sunday, a spokesperson for the festival said: “As of today, a physical edition seems complicated to organize, so we are going forward with an announcement of films from the (initial Official) Selection at the beginning of June.”
Delegate General Thierry Frémaux said in an interview with Screen Daily in an exclusive interview: “Cannes could only have taken place as it normally does with the stars, the public, the press and the professionals. It wasn’t possible for health reasons, so it wasn’t possible at all. The festival should always show its best face.”
Selected films will potentially appear at other festivals around the world later in 2020 when the coronavirus outbreak eases. “We’ll go to Toronto, Deauville, Angoulême, San Sebastian, New York, Busan in Korea and even the Lumière festival in Lyon, which is a festival of contemporary and classical cinema, which will host numerous films. And with Venice, we want to go even further and present films together,” Frémaux added.
An official selection will reportedly be announced at the beginning of June with all of those films set to be released theatrically between now and the spring of 2021.
Spike Lee was set to head up the jury this year. It has been revealed that he will be invited to return for the next physical edition. His film Da 5 Bloods was set to see Netflix’s return to the Croisette before its debut on the streamer on 12th June.
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