Yesterday, the Cannes Film Festival finally put an end to the speculation and announced a postponement of the May film event due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. Now, without a date, there’s still the chance that the Cannes Film Festival finds itself canceled, if the postponement lasts too long. That being said, Jury President Spike Lee is pleased with the announcement.
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Speaking to Variety, Lee opened up about his feelings now that Cannes 2020 has officially been postponed. The filmmaker was set to lead the competition jury this year, but he agrees that now’s not the time to take any chances.
“I agree 100% with Thierry [Fremaux, Cannes director] and the Cannes Film Festival,” Lee said. “The world has changed and it’s changing every day. People are dying and France’s president has said, several times — I’m paraphrasing — ‘We are at war.’ We are in a war-like time.”
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He added, “The stuff that we love has to take a back seat: movies, TV, sports, the NBA is a global sport, baseball. So many things have been postponed, and I agree with this move.”
And obviously, the worldwide impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) has been much more far-reaching than just film fans who will have to wait a little longer to go to Cannes.
“People are being laid off. People are being fired. People don’t know where their next check is going to come from, how they are going to see their children,” the filmmaker said. “When the schools close, who is going to take care of their children? This shit is crazy. This shit is bananas.”
One of the things that Lee takes particular issue with is President Donald Trump’s use of “Chinese virus” to talk about COVID-19. As is obvious, Lee isn’t a fan of Trump, but he thinks the use of “Chinese virus” is dangerous.
“He’s putting Asian Americans in this country in danger,” Lee explained. “Stop saying Chinese virus. There’s nobody around him to say, ‘You can’t say this anymore?’ That isn’t helping at all. Hopefully his base will understand. You just can’t say that.”
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As of now, the Cannes Film Festival doesn’t have a launch date, but it’s rumored that the event is considering a late-June start.