The Cannes Film Festival often takes place annually in May, but according to the organizers, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a delay of two months. As it stands, the new dates for this year’s edition of the festival will be 6th July – 17th July 2021.
Film festival organizers released a statement in which they said, “As announced last autumn, the Festival de Cannes reserved the right to change its dates depending on how the global health situation developed. Initially scheduled from 11 to 22 May 2021, the Festival will therefore now take place from Tuesday 6 to Saturday 17 July 2021.”
Last year, Cannes Film Festival was cancelled entirely due to the pandemic, whilst some other international film festivals still took place, including Venice, Berlin, and even Cairo, which were executed on the proviso that strict health regulations and safety measures were adhered to.
Not the only film festival to be postponing its regular schedule, the Berlin Film Festival, which usually happens in February, announced in December 2020 that its 2021 edition would run in two stages; an online offering for industry professionals in March followed by a public event in the summer.
Every year, Cannes Film Festival attracts over 45,000 people, and prior to the pandemic, the only other time the event was cancelled was when there was an outbreak of war in 1939. Despite being cancelled for 2020, the festival still made an official selection of 56 films — including the latest offerings from Wes Anderson, Francois Ozon and Steve McQueen — allowing them to use the “Cannes official selection” label.
