2020 Cannes Film Festival

2020 Cannes Film Festival
Special poster of the 73rd Cannes Film Festival featuring date of limited screenings in late October 2020[1]
LocationCannes, France
Founded1946
AwardsPalme d'Or
Websitefestival-cannes.com/en
Cannes Film Festival
Actor Stellan Skarsgård and the director of the Cannes Film Festival Thierry Frémaux (in the background) at the prémiere of Last Words during the Cinema Ritrovato Festival in August 2020. The film was scheduled to be presented at Cannes before the festival was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 73rd annual Cannes Film Festival was scheduled to take place from 12 to 23 May 2020.[2] On 13 January 2020, Spike Lee was named as the president of the Jury.[3] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France, festival management announced on 14 April 2020 that the festival could not be held in its "original form", with alternative means of observing the festival being explored.[4] It was cancelled for the first time since 1968.

Earlier, festival management considered holding the festival in June or July,[5] after not cancelling the event.[6] In mid-March, the festival's main venue, the Grand Auditorium Louis Lumière, was converted into a temporary homeless shelter.[7] In May 2020, it was announced that no physical edition of the festival would take place,[8] but a revised Official Selection of films was confirmed on 3 June 2020.[9][10][11] Before announcing the list of films from the official selection, Thierry Frémaux the director of the Cannes Film Festival, said in an interview that he was talking with Spike Lee and also was hoping to have him as president of the jury on the 2021 edition. He also confirmed that Lee's film Da 5 Bloods was supposed to be the return of Netflix to the red carpet in the Out of Competition category.[12]

In September, organizers announced that a limited outdoor festival, featuring screenings of four official selection films, the short film competition and the Cinéfondation Selection would take place on the Croisette from 27 to 29 October.[13] The Critics' Week program also launched a free online screening of its short film selections in October.[14]

  1. ^ "Cannes 2020 Is Back! Canceled Festival Is Revived With An October "Special" Event". Archived from the original on 30 January 2021. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  2. ^ "Cannes Film Festival Sets Dates for 2020". Variety. 14 June 2019. Archived from the original on 13 June 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  3. ^ "Spike Lee Makes History as Cannes Film Festival 2020 Jury President". IndieWire. 14 January 2020. Archived from the original on 8 April 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Cannes film festival says 2020 edition cannot go ahead 'in original form'". The Guardian. 14 April 2020. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  5. ^ "Cannes Jury President Spike Lee Responds to Festival Postponement". Variety. 19 March 2020. Archived from the original on 22 June 2020. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  6. ^ Stolworthy, Jacob (14 March 2020). "Cannes Film Festival update: Event not cancelled but unlikely to take place, according to insider". The Independent. Archived from the original on 15 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2020.
  7. ^ "Cannes opens its doors to homeless after coronavirus delays film festival". Reuters. 24 March 2020. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  8. ^ "Cannes Rules Out Physical Edition For Now, Will Host Screenings at Fall Festivals". Variety. 10 May 2020. Archived from the original on 18 June 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  9. ^ "Cannes Will Announce Official Selection in June, but There'll Be No Physical Edition This Year". IndieWire. 10 May 2020. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  10. ^ Buchanan, Kyle; Dargis, Manohla; Scott, A. O. (12 May 2020). "What Do We Lose When Cannes Is Canceled?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
  11. ^ "73 Cannes Film Festival Official Selection to Be Announced". Ikon London Magazine. 28 May 2020. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  12. ^ "Thierry Frémaux talks Cannes 2020 Official Selection plans, saving cinema, and Spike Lee's return (exclusive)". Screen Daily Magazine. Archived from the original on 18 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  13. ^ Manori Ravindran, "Cannes Film Festival Plans Three-Day Special Event in October" Archived 1 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Variety, 28 September 2020.
  14. ^ "Festival Scope presents the 2020 Critics' Week short films online" Archived 24 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Cineuropa, 22 October 2020.