The red carpet was there on Tuesday and onlookers were kept away -
F. Binacchi / ANP / 20 Minutes
After the cancellation of its 2020 edition, the Cannes Film Festival and the city hall organized a “special event” open to the public.
Scheduled until Thursday evening, it will offer four films in preview, which are part of the official selection of the event.
Joseph Morpelli did not make the trip to Saint-Raphaël.
Like most of his acolytes, the leader of the "gang of stepladders", these amateur photographers who usually congregate at the foot of the steps at each film festival, dried up the opening of the "Cannes Special" on Tuesday evening .
“Covid obliges, we were rejected during Canneseries.
We suspected that it was going to be the same for this event.
We were not in the mood anyway, ”he breathes.
The heart was really not there.
The current climate is less festive.
However, the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival and the town hall have scrambled to be able to offer this “symbolic” event organized for the public (invitations are available online), over three days, after the cancellation of the edition. 2020, in May, due to a global pandemic.
"Much quieter than usual"
This “Cannes Special” even held out against the curfew decreed last week in the Alpes-Maritimes department.
He adapted.
The three previews scheduled in the evening (in addition to other daytime sessions) were brought forward by one hour to allow spectators to return to their homes without being disturbed.
The public is invited to the screenings - ANP
So this Tuesday evening, yes, the red carpet was there to welcome 1,000 people (instead of the usual more than 2,300) at the screening of
Un triomphe
by Emmanuel Courcol.
But there were no swarms of photographers at the bottom of the steps despite the presence of the film crew.
A handful of them were waiting for the stars on the bill, without Kad Merad, absent this Tuesday evening, inside the convention center.
“At least it's a lot quieter than usual,” one of them quipped.
Inside the Grand auditorium, Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux, who have toured other festivals in recent months where the films of the Selection have been presented, have raised the curtain.
In the company of the mayor of the city, David Lisnard.
"It was unthinkable to have a blank year for black screens", loose the elected LR.
The "Special # Cannes2020" event launched on the stage of the Grand Théâtre Lumière of the Palais des Festivals by Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux as well as by the Mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard.
@villecannes pic.twitter.com/acsmZL2058
- Cannes Film Festival (@Festival_Cannes) October 27, 2020
"We are dying"
Outside, another atmosphere.
The municipal police stationed at street intersections and the national police who are on duty at the foot of the steps were responsible for preventing any gatherings of more than six people.
They have been served.
A “spontaneous” demonstration, not declared in the prefecture, formed just in front of the palace shortly before 6 pm.
A demonstration surprised the police shortly before 6 p.m. - F. Binacchi / ANP / 20 Minutes
About a hundred people from “restaurateurs, entertainment people, hotels, extras” came to say that they were “dying”.
"Rather than the aid of 1,500 euros, we would rather have preferred that the government give money to hospitals to avoid preventing us from working again during this second wave", explained Arnaud, "disaster victim" of the events. at the head of the procession.
In Cannes and throughout the Côte d'Azur, tourism and especially that linked to events, which provides a living for many companies, to plunge with the health crisis.
Like the series festival before it, a few days ago, this "mini" Cannes festival gives a little balm to the hearts of affected professionals.
Even if it won't really help their affairs.
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