It is no surprise that Cannes director Thierry Fremaux is now saying that Cannes will most probably be aiming for a July unveiling of the prestigious film festival. It had long been suspected that the fest, which has been happening in May for decades, was going to move its 2021 edition to later in the summer, although Screen Daily is reporting that a possible August date has been totally scrapped. That same write-up purports to the possibility of a hybrid digital/in-person festival this year — something I never thought Cannes would do, alas, I guess they're facing the reality that a traditional festival is very unlikely to happen this summer.
The fact that so many quality films were supposed to premiere at last year’s festival, not to mention plenty others skipped Venice and Toronto for a Cannes 2021 premiere, means that this year’s Cannes Film Festival could be one for the history books. That is why Fremaux also told the morning show “Nice Matin” that he may add 1-2 day to this year’s festival, there are just too many great films to choose from. With all that being said, if we consider all the holdouts from last year’s canceled event, and add them to all the current productions set to wrap up in the next few months, you have the makings for one hell of an official competition. Marquee films set to be ready for Cannes include:
”Soggy Bottom” (Paul Thomas Anderson)
”The French Dispatch” (Wes Anderson)
”Annette” (Leos Carax)
”Macbeth” (Joel Coen)
”The Way of the Wind” (Terrence Malick)
”Ahed’s Knee” (Nadav Lapid)
”Blonde” (Andrew Dominik)
”A Hero” (Asghar Farhadi)
”Memoria” (Apichatpong Weerasethakul)
”Benedetta” (Paul Verhoeven)
”Blossoms” (Wong Kar-wai)
”The Power of the Dog” (Jane Campion)
”Petite Maman” (Celine Sciamma)
”Bergman Island” (Mia Hansen-Løve)
”Chocobar” (Lucrecia Martel)
”Paris, 13th District” (Jacques Audiard)
”The Souvenir Part II” (Joanna Hogg)
”Tre Piani” (Nanni Moretti)
”Triangle of Sadness” (Ruben Ostlund)
”The Hand of God” (Paolo Sorrentino)
"Mektoub: Canto Duo" (Abdelatif Kechiche)
”Deception” (Arnaud Desplechin)
”Titane” (Julia Ducournau)
”Where is Anne Frank?” (Ari Folman)
”Fire” (Claire Denis)
”Incredible But True” (Quentin Dupieux)
”Flag Day” (Sean Penn)
”Everything Went Fine” (Francois Ozon)
That is 30 films that stand a good chance of being ready by July. With many more surely added to this list as the next few months come along. The European film industry has just gone through a terrible year, with the biggest titles being witheld for 2021, but now, it seems as though this year won’t be any better for theatrical releases — at least until September. This puts everyone (festivals, distributors, studios, filmmakers) in a precarious situation. Do you just adhere to the times and start complying to streaming/VOD releases? Or do you wait another year and hope that 2022 will be the best time to release your film?
As mentioned, the Cannes Film Festival was canceled in April due to COVID-19, but that didn’t stop them from releasing a list of 56 films that would have made up its 2020 edition. A total of 15 features were from first-time directors, while 16 of the films listed were helmed by women. The 56 films selected were chosen out of a potential pool of 2,067 features that were submitted. There are 147 countries being represented, and 21 of them coming from France. Despite the “Official Selection,” there wasn’t a competition lineup announced, instead, Fremaux insisted that all 56 films selected would just have an equal badge of honor of being part of this year’s selection.
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.