Another day, another stumbling block in the way of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival followed by more reassurance from the event’s organizers that there’s still hope. Honestly, at this point, it’s hard to know if Cannes is going to be canceled, appear in the fall, or perhaps be the shining moment that will unite the world (seriously, read some of the comments from the festival director below).
In a new interview with Thierry Fremaux, Artistic Director of the Cannes Film Festival, Variety talked with him about the recent announcement that the French government is forbidding public events until mid-July, as well as the possibility that Cannes might show up in the fall, perhaps in a collaboration with another European event.
While he didn’t shed light totally on what Cannes might look like in 2020, Fremaux once again confirmed that if the event happens this year, it won’t be virtual and it won’t be something smaller than it usually is.
“As we’ve said, there won’t be a virtual festival because it would make no sense considering what the Cannes Film Festival is,” he explained. “And there will be neither a shorter festival or one with fewer sections. If the Cannes Film Festival takes place, it will do so in full possession of its image and resources. If it does take place, it will mean that life has won.”
As for the much-discussed alternatives to the traditional Cannes Film Festival, the event director did tease a possible collaboration with his friend, and fellow festival boss, Alberto Barbera, the director of the Venice Film Festival.
“The Cannes Film Festival wants to be present in the fall to contribute to all this,” said Fremaux. “The cinema and its industries are threatened, we will have to rebuild, affirm again its importance with energy, unity and solidarity!”
He added, “As every year, I speak a lot to Alberto Barbera, who is himself worried, obviously. Since the beginning of the crisis, we have raised the possibility of doing something together if Cannes was canceled. We’re continuing to discuss it. Other festivals have invited us: Locarno, San Sebastian, Deauville. These are gestures that touch us a lot. And in Lyon, at the Lumiere Festival [in October] we have planned to host a number of world premieres as part of the program.”
If you’re wondering if all this uncertainty is going to prevent the festival from announcing a lineup (which was supposed to happen this week, under normal circumstances), apparently the folks at Cannes are still reviewing film submissions and they hope that an eventual announcement will take place. Unfortunately, they can’t announce a lineup for a festival that doesn’t, at this point, exist.
“In order to announce an Official Selection with films, one must have the approval of rightsholders, so we’ll see. In any case, we are working on several hypotheses,” Fremaux said. “The denomination ‘Official Selection’ implies that the festival is organized under its initial form. As we’ve said, it’s difficult to imagine that, as of today.”
Is the 2020 Cannes Film Festival happening? Yes…well, maybe…kind of…we’re not sure. But if this whole ordeal has proven anything, it’s that the organizers of the event are some of the most persistent people in the entire industry. We just don’t know if that’s a good thing, or maybe just making this whole thing worse.