An abbreviated Cannes Film Festival to take place, five months late

The organisers of the Cannes Film Festival are to stage a mini version of the event, in its traditional home at the Palais des Festivals on the Croisette next month, five months after the event was originally scheduled to be held.

The twelve day event was cancelled for the first time since the Second World War, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The programmers selected more than fifty films but rather than screening them online, as many other festivals have done, they decided to support their selection at other festivals.

Beginning, from Georgia’s Déa Kulumbegashvili, was the big winner at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

They’ve now arranged to screen four of their selection – and all of this year’s short film programme – at socially-distanced screenings at the Palais in Cannes.

A jury will award a Palme d’Or to the best short film.

What they’re calling Cannes 2020 Special will open on 27th October with Emmanuel Courcol’s comedy-drama The Big Hit. The closing film will be the split-identity comedy French Tech, from Bruno Podalydès, with the other films being Naomi Kawase’s Two Mothers and Dea Kulumbegashvili’s Beginning, which won four major awards at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

The head of the festival, Thierry Frémaux, said it was a great sign to see films from the official 2020 selection make a stopover in Cannes before the organisers turn their attention to the 2021 season.

The mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, said, “We wanted the presence of the Festival de Cannes in 2020 to symbolise our fight on behalf of the events sector.” The resort has lost approaching 1bn euros as a result of the cancellation of dozens of trade events, conferences and festivals because of the ongoing global pandemic.