In a new interview with Fremaux, the Artistic Director of the Cannes Film Festival is now telling Variety that Cannes might show up in the fall, perhaps in a collaboration with the Venice Film Festival. Fantastique. Obviously, no details about this potentially immense partnership were divulged, but this could be just what the doctor ordered to reignite a film industry completely shaken by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Fremaux again confirmed that, if Cannes does happen this year, it won’t be digital and it won’t be something smaller than it usually is: As for that elusive lineup of competition films which we’ve been trying to decipher these last few months, Fremaux confirms he is still reviewing film submissions with the goal to eventually announce some kind of lineup with the Cannes stamp of approval. The problem, of course, is that, if a lineup is indeed announced, the festival first needs to take place. This is all music to my ears. Here’s the real problem Fremaux and, really, most of the world’s businesses are facing right now: unpredictability. We don’t know enough about this virus to truly know how life is going to look like even a month from now. There is no point in even theorizing how Cannes can move forward when we are clueless about how, even just, tomorrow will look like. We’ve never experienced a moment in history quite like this one. Sure, the 1918 pandemic happened, but that was the pre-internet/pre-globalization age. This is a whole other world we live in, filled with the obligation of connectivity between countries and nations. This economic reliance for one another may have to change, whether short or long-term, for us to reignite normal life — does anyone actually believe in a global event like Cannes, with hundreds of critics and industry people from all parts of the world flying to the Croisette, actually happening this fall? That’s the million-dollar question and it just can’t be answered right now. Contribute Hire me
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