Cannes Film Festival Could Potentially Happen in September/October

I’m just a mere messenger, but I’m here to tell you to tamper down on those expectations for 2021, like, to the lowest levels possible. I’m not kidding. Fine, a vaccine has arrived, but the distribution will span most of the year, add to the fact that there’s now a more contagious variant of COVID-19 circulating all around the world, and, yeah, welcome to the cinematic apocalypse that is 2021.

And so, with all that laid out as an intro, take a deep breath and realize that 2021 will likely be the same kind of ordeal, movie-wise, as last year’s shitshow. We’re all going to have to rely on streaming platforms and VOD and that’s fine because we had an innumerable amount of great movies released during the pandemic last year. Digital editions of film festivals (Toronto, Sundance, SXSW, New York) helped as well, turning into launch pads for a number of great films, but not the Cannes Film Festival.

You see, Cannes, purists be damned, will never allow their festival to have a streaming/digital component to it – cinema is cinema to them and that means only theatrically-shown films. I understand that way of thinking, but, right now, it’s impossible to imagine watching a movie in a theater, with thousands of strangers, side-by-side. It’s such an impossibly inconceivable thought that, according to France24, the heads of Cannes are already planning to move their original May launching date. The rumor circulating has them switching the date from mid-May to sometime in late-June, early-July. That said, organizers assure fans that the event “will certainly take place in 2021.”

A well-renowned journalist for French outlet Canal+ indicated in late January that Cannes may even be pushed back to September, or even October. At least that’s what Didier Allouch was hearing, calling it a “growing rumor” around his circle of very important friends.

Now we have Paul Verhoeven giving a radio interview over the weekend with former IFFR director Bero Beyer. He confirmed the obvious, that his latest film “Benedetta” would indeed be at Cannes, and that the announced July date for the festival is not set in stone, with October being considered as the next option if July fails. [Thanks, Aurelius]

At this point, I’m not shocked about anything regarding Cannes and its continuous experimenting of 2021 dates. This year is turning out to be as unpredictable as the last, but if the Sep/Oct rumor were true, such a move would disrupt the status quo. A number of producers and sales agents have already said they prefer the festival not be delayed any later than July, a Cannes Film Festival taking place in September or October would mean a potential battle against Venice and TIFF (both taking place in September). A board member on AwardsWorthy said it best; how would Cannes in September/October even work? Many Cannes films rely on the fall fests to launch internationally. A Cannes that happens after Venice, Telluride, Toronto and potentially NYFF would throw everything out of whack.

Then again, a director choosing between Cannes, Toronto or Venice can’t be that hard of a decision — premiering your film on the Croisette is the golden standard, the dream, if you will, for any serious-mind filmmaker. What, I imagine, would essentially happen is that the glossy major studio titles would go to TIFF/Venice and the prestige arthouse fare would go to Cannes. Of course, it’s all speculation. So is my list of what to expect if Cannes 2021 does happen, a potential competition lineup fit for the history books, with 7 Palme d’Or winning directors ready with new films.

With all that being said, if we consider all the holdouts from this year’s canceled event, and add them to all the current productions set to wrap in the next few months, you have the makings for one hell of an official competition.

Directors rumored to have new films ready by 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)

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.