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CANNES 2020

Cannes will reveal its list of films given the Cannes 2020 label in June

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- The festival will put an official seal on the films that would have been part of its 2020 selection. It will be on the directors, producers and sales agents to decide, as Venice remains uncertain

Cannes will reveal its list of films given the Cannes 2020 label in June
(© Christophe Bouillon/FDC)

After the health crisis forced the event to abandon its 73rd edition (initially set to unfold from 12 to 23 May) and with the inability to postpone to the summer since large events will be forbidden in France until September, the Cannes Film Festival will nevertheless reveal in early June a list of films given the Cannes 2020 label. Revealed yesterday by delegate general Thierry Frémaux and president Pierre Lescure via three interviews in the international and French media, the news nevertheless still comes with a certain degree of mystery, with many details depending on whether there will be a limited edition of the 77th Venice Film Festival (set to unfold from 2 to 12 September, but whose fate will be decided in late May in response to the evolution of the health crisis in Italy) and of the North-American festivals in Telluride (4 to 7 September) and Toronto (10 to 20 September), with no one yet knowing whether these will be able to go ahead or not, nor under which conditions.

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It is therefore in an uncertain climate that Cannes moves forward with the idea of promoting that films that would have normally screened on the Croisette by giving them a Label, which will act as a stamp of approval which will help their media visibility once they are released in cinemas, and which will also support cinemas once exhibition activities can resume in acceptable conditions. According to Thierry Frémaux, the films given the Cannes 2020 label will thus be those that will be coming out in cinemas between Summer 2020 and Spring 2021. It is worth nothing that certain films, such as Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, have already decided to wait for a year and to aim for Cannes 2021.

The ball is now in the court of the filmmakers, producers, sales agents and distributors of the films that have been offered a Cannes 2020 label, as they must choose between this Cannes offer and the still very uncertain future prospects of later festivals — all of this happening on top of intense financial tensions at all levels of the international film industry, where there is sometimes the hope of limiting damages by selling titles to SVOD platforms. Among several rumours, some say for example that French films such as Lost Illusions [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Xavier Giannoli
film profile
]
by Xavier Giannoli, but also Lovers [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nicole Garcia
film profile
]
by Nicole Garcia and Summer of 85 [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
by François Ozon might join the Venice competition line-up, though every choice is difficult at the moment between the all-powerful Cannes and the potential scenario of cinemas reopening around the world, with films coming out in cinemas again. To be continued…

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(Translated from French)

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