Last year, as the second wave of COVID-19 swept through Europe, bringing many countries back into lockdown, the folks at the Cannes Film Festival revealed plans for alternative dates for the event if the typical May timeframe wasn’t a possibility. Let’s call May “Plan A” and the alternate dates in June/July were “Plan B.” Well, it appears Cannes is well past Plan A and already looking at Plan B…while drafting up a possible Plan C. All that to say, don’t buy your tickets to the festival just yet.
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According to Variety, the inevitable is becoming a very real reality for the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival. With COVID still being a major problem and the idea of anything happening in the spring almost an impossibility, it appears the folks at the French event are already carving out dates in July for the film festival. Specifically, the report claims dates between July 5 and 25 are being considered.
But let’s be real, the idea of a “normal” Cannes Film Festival in July seems like a very optimistic thought at this point. And the last thing Thierry Fremaux and the folks that put together the festival want to happen is what happened last year when they stood firm on dates and ended up having to cancel the proper festival eventually. So, with that in mind, the report claims that July isn’t even a make-or-break timeframe, as organizers are even considering alternate dates in August, which would put it right up against the Venice Film Festival, which is far from ideal for either event.
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We’ve known for weeks now that, behind the scenes, changes were being made in terms of when the Cannes Film Festival is looking to run. However, we have yet to hear any specific delay announcement. Of course, the organizers are hoping that in the next month or so, it’ll become more clear when the finalized dates are going to be. So, hopefully, we hear something official sooner rather than later.
As we saw last year, there are a number of films that delayed their premieres (looking at you, “The French Dispatch”) due to a desire to premiere at Cannes. So, there are likely a number of studios and filmmakers wondering when the event will commence. And then maybe we’ll see just what shape the 2021 Cannes Film Festival will take.