Postponed but not canceled: the Cannes Film Festival, whose 2020 edition had paid the price for the health crisis, was postponed to July, in a context of a rebound in the Covid-19 epidemic.

The organizers of the largest film festival in the world have been considering this postponement for several months.

The Cannes Film Festival, the world's largest film festival, which is traditionally held in May, has been postponed to July due to the coronavirus pandemic, organizers said on Wednesday.

"As announced last fall, the Cannes International Film Festival gave itself the possibility of modifying its dates according to the evolution of the global health situation. Thus, initially scheduled from May 11 to 22, 2021, the Festival will take place from Tuesday July 6 to Saturday July 17, 2021 ", they specify in the press release.

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Contacted by AFP, the general delegate of the Cannes festival, Thierry Frémaux, was not immediately reachable.

The most important film festival in the world, which is traditionally held in May, preferred to anticipate a postponement rather than be forced, if the health situation were to deteriorate, to cancel, a second time, its holding.

Festival calendar disrupted

What effect will this postponement have on the Festivals calendar?

The first festival to start the year, the Berlinale, which was originally scheduled to be held from February 11 to 21, was forced to postpone its edition to early March, where the competition will be held online due to the pandemic.

Screenings open to the public will be organized as a second step, and if sanitary conditions permit, in June.

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All eyes are now on the Venice Film Festival, which is to be held from September 1 to 11.

But with the postponements of the Berlinale and Cannes, the Mostra or the San Sebastian Festival, which is to be held in mid-September, will they be able to maintain their schedule?

The question is asked.

For the French festival, still traumatized by the cancellation of its 2020 edition, the postponement to the summer had been considered for months.

"Cannes 2021 will take place"

"Cannes 2021 will take place", had hammered with one voice the president and the general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémeaux, during the organization, at the end of October, of a symbolic edition of the festival, where four films from the 2020 official selection were screened.

This mini-festival, which took place under strict sanitary conditions, aimed to lay the foundations for a 2021 edition, still marked by the circulation of Covid-19 in France and around the world.

Because the Cannes Film Festival is not only a glamorous event where international stars converge: it is above all a gigantic showcase for French and foreign films.

A huge economic and cultural machine where 40,000 professionals and around 200,000 spectators converge each year, eagerly awaited by the profession.