Coro­n­avirus throws the 2020 Cannes Film Fes­ti­val into jeopardy

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 73^rd 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.