Cannes Film Festival postponed early this year due to the COVID19 pandemic, will present a special Fall edition titled “2020 Special Cannes” featuring part of the 2020 Cannes Official Selection. The event, organized in collaboration with the Cannes City Council, will be held at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès from Tuesday October 27th to Thursday October 29th.
Open to the general public, four previews of films from the 2020 Official Selection, the short films selected in Competition and the Cinéfondation’s school films will be screened at the 2020 Special Cannes. A Jury, to be announced later, will award the Palme d’or for short films and the Cinéfondation prizes.
The event will open with Un triomphe (The Big Hit!) by Emmanuel Courcol and with Kad Merad, and will conclude with the preview of Bruno Podalydès’ Les Deux Alfred (The French Tech), in the presence of the director and lead actress Sandrine Kiberlain. Asa Ga Kuru (True Mothers) (Haut et Court) by Japanese director Naomi Kawase, a regular at the Festival de Cannes, as well as the debut film by Georgian director Déa Kulumbegashvili, Beginning which just won the Concha de oro for Best Film as well as the awards for Best Director, Actress and Screenplay at the 68th San Sebastián International Film Festival, will also be screened.
Pierre Lescure, President of the Festival de Cannes said: “We are delighted to see the Festival hosted by the Cannes City Hall in October, just as we were sad not to have held the event in May. Thanks to this collaboration, films from the Official Selection will now be shown on the Croisette again. This is our way to be in Cannes, alongside its population and all the professionals with whom we work hand in hand every year.”
Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate of the Festival de Cannes added: “The collection of four films from the Official Selection, the short film competition, the film school competition, and the dinners and meetings epitomize the happiness we’ll all feel to be together in Cannes in October! The films of the Official Selection are currently playing to cinema-goers in France, in Europe and throughout the world. It’s a great sign to see them making a stopover in Cannes, before we turn our attention to the 2021 season.”
David Lisnard, Mayor of Cannes: “We wanted the presence of the Festival de Cannes in 2020 to symbolize our fight on behalf of the events sector, which provides a living for hundreds of families, as well as the cultural impact for our city. It was imperative therefore that the Festival show up in Cannes for this extraordinary event, which respects all the usual rules: quality screenings in front of a regular audience, in evening dress, on the famous red carpet.
The next Festival de Cannes, – the 74th in the series – will take place from May 11 to 22, 2021