The actor Vincent Cassel came to the Arras film festival in 2018. -

G. Durand / 20 Minutes

  • The Arras film festival, which was scheduled to be held from November 6 to 15, has been canceled.

  • Because of the coronavirus, the husband of Arras decided to close two places essential to the organization of the festival.

  • Instead of a sedentary festival, it is a touring event throughout the region that is in preparation.

Adapt or die.

This Tuesday, the Plan-Séquence association, organizer of the Arras film festival, announced the cancellation of the event which was to take place from November 6 to 15.

A decision taken reluctantly and at the last minute, the mayor of the town having taken a decree on Saturday, forcing the closure of two places essential to the organization of the festival.

However, Plan-Séquence has not said its last word.

Last Saturday, the Pas-de-Calais prefecture took new measures to fight the coronavirus epidemic.

If no town in the department is affected by the implementation of the curfew, Pas-de-Calais must however apply certain rules common to the entire territory such as the ban on wedding celebrations or student evenings in establishments open to the public.

In the process, the UDI mayor of Arras, Frédéric Leturque, adopted an even more restrictive municipal decree.

In particular, he decided to close the casino and the Hôtel de Guînes, the coup de grace for the Arras film festival.

A traveling event across the whole region

“The casino served us as a large cinema hall and we had planned to apply the very strict protocol already in force in classic theaters which, for their part, do not close.

The hotel had to house our teams, guests and the press, ”

a source within the organization

explained to

20 Minutes

.

All side events, under a marquee for example, had already been canceled by the organizers.

Result of the races, the festival will not exist in 2020, even in a degraded version.

Nevertheless, "in view of the fight led by cultural players for their survival, the gravity of the economic crisis which is shaking the cinema industry", Plan-Séquence has concocted an emergency plan.

"The idea is to create a traveling event across the entire Hauts-de-France region", we are told.

The films to be shown during the festival will ultimately be shown in traditional cinemas located in cities whose list has yet to be confirmed.

There will also be some at Mégarama, in Arras.

The organization does not necessarily exclude areas subject to a curfew, such as the Lille metropolis, "it will simply be necessary to adapt the schedules as places such as the Lille Opera have done".

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  • Lille

  • Arras

  • Culture

  • Coronavirus

  • Cinema