Monaco (AFP)

Monaco canceled Thursday the 60th Monte-Carlo Television Festival due to the health crisis: its 8,000 participants, including many American studios, were expected from June 19 to 23 and now have an appointment in June 2021 for this anniversary edition .

"We are faced with an unprecedented situation which unfortunately deprives us, to this day and for an indefinite period, of our freedom. It is with great regret that I am obliged to cancel the 2020 edition of our Festival of Television ", indicated in a press release the associate vice-president of the festival Laurent Puons, giving an appointment in June 2021 at the Grimaldi Forum.

"The invitation to propose the presidency of the jury was already gone, and we were finalizing", told AFP the executive director of the festival Cécile Enrici. About 220 TV VIPs come every year and "the strength of the festival comes from the large proportion of American studios," she said.

Created in 1961 by Prince Rainier III, the Monte-Carlo Television Festival has presented trends on the small screen for sixty years and anticipates revolutions in the sector, attracting world stars, producers, directors, screenwriters and managers of studios and TV channels.

The Principality, whose economy depends in particular on tourism and sporting and cultural events, records cascading postponements and cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic. The biggest blow is the cancellation of the Formula 1 Grand Prix scheduled for May 24.

© 2020 AFP