Coronavirus throws the 2020 Cannes Film Festival… | Little White Lies

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Coro­n­avirus throws the 2020 Cannes Film Fes­ti­val into jeopardy

05 Mar 2020

Words by Charles Bramesco

Red steps leading up to the entrance of the Festival de Cannes, with event signage visible above.
Red steps leading up to the entrance of the Festival de Cannes, with event signage visible above.
The fes­ti­val is con­fi­dent the show will go on, but con­cerns are mount­ing as the virus con­tin­ues to spread.

The new glob­al pan­dem­ic known as coro­n­avirus has had a cal­cu­la­ble effect on pret­ty much every major indus­try, and of course enter­tain­ment hasn’t been exempt. Efforts to halt the spread of germs have led to many the­atri­cal shut­downs across Asia and Europe, and that was only the beginning.

Tal­ent sched­uled to vis­it New York for Lin­coln Center’s Ren­dez-Vous with French Cin­e­ma series has all can­celed their trav­el plans, South by South­west in Austin, Texas, has seen a num­ber of head­line with­drawals, and con­cerns about plum­met­ing tick­et sales has delayed the next 007 out­ing, No Time to Die. (Odds are that Disney’s remake of Mulan calls it next, post­pon­ing to the fall.) Now, the most major dis­rup­tion yet seems inevitable, as Vari­ety reports that France has declared a ban on indoor gath­er­ings over 5,000 peo­ple until the end of May.

That means that the Cannes Film Fes­ti­val will be effec­tive­ly out­lawed, and though head hon­cho Thier­ry Fre­maux has yet to make the offi­cial announce­ment, it looks like the 73rd annu­al con­ver­gence of the cin­e­ma elite will not take place in 2020. Where every­thing goes from here is a com­pli­cat­ed yet cru­cial question.

It’s not just that it’d be a bum­mer if the press didn’t get to feast their eyes on new Apichat­pong Weerasethakul before every­one else, though of course it would. The Cannes mar­ket is the linch­pin of the glob­al film econ­o­my, a deal­mak­ing space where sales deter­mine the cin­e­ma cal­en­dar around the world for the rest of the year. Rep­re­sen­ta­tives being unable to con­sid­er the films up for grabs would have a rip­ple effect that could affect much more than block­buster releases.

Fre­maux and the pow­ers that be around Cannes remain uncon­vinced of their own per­il, how­ev­er. A report at Screen Dai­ly quick­ly fol­lowed the Vari­ety item, assert­ing that key deci­sion mak­ers are con­fi­dent that both the fes­ti­val prop­er and the mar­ket will con­tin­ue unim­ped­ed. Fre­maux offers the ratio­nale that the largest the­ater in Cannes seats 2,300, well below the mag­ic num­ber, but the Vari­ety item also states that the mar­ket (which takes place in the Palais, a con­fined space by any rea­son­able def­i­n­i­tion) attracts upwards of 12,000 vis­i­tors. This chap­ter of the ongo­ing sto­ry remains unfinished.

But even if they do forge ahead, whether any­one will attend is anoth­er ket­tle of fish. Many mem­bers of the press and indus­try may be weary about enter­ing such a high-risk zone, not to men­tion the work­places that have cho­sen to ground them pre­emp­tive­ly. In the event that this sit­u­a­tion some­how resolves itself, the logis­ti­cal night­mare won’t van­ish overnight.

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