Cannes Film Fest 2020: Event Cancelled, but Select Films Will Play at Other Festivals

Cannes Festival is cancelled as a physical event, but organizers may screen a selection of films at other festivals under the label “Cannes 2020.”

Cannes festival director Thierry Frémaux will unveil the first Cannes 2020 titles in early June and is in discussion on collaborating with various fall festivals, including Venice.

The Cannes 2020 lineup will only include films that had been picked for official selection this year, and that are scheduled to have a theatrical release between now and next spring. This includes films Cannes picked for its out of competition, Un Certain Regard and midnight screening sections. These titles will be packaged together under the Cannes 2020 label and screen at other festivals later in the year.

Frémaux has said Cannes might jointly present movies with the Italian event. Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera has said he is open to collaborating with Cannes as a “sign of solidarity towards the cinema world” during the coronavirus crisis.

But Venice is still weighing its options and could still call off the 2020 festival, currently set to run September 2-12. The Italian event will announce its plans by the end of the month.

Photo: Fremaux, Cannes Artistic Director

The Cannes 2020 selection could run at bigger fall festivals including Toronto, San Sebastian, Busan and New York, or at Frémaux’s own Lumière festival in Lyon.

Films that delayed their theatrical release by a year will be considered for Cannes’ 2021 edition, which will begin selection this fall.

U.S. films expected to premiere in Cannes — including Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch and Pixar’s animated feature Soul — have pushed back their releases for later this year.

The French Dispatch and Three Stories from Italian director Nanni Moretti, were two features that would not be part of this year’s selection.

There will be no jury and no awards for Cannes 2020 films.

Spike Lee, who was to head up the Cannes Jury this year, is welcome to come back for the next physical edition of the festival.

Lee’s new film, Da 5 Bloods, would have premiered out of competition at the festival this year and would have marked the return of Netflix to the event.