And so, the Venice Film Festival, it officially appears, is only going to happen if people can physically attend the late August/early September event. That means, either we feel comfortable by late summer to sit in a darkened room, with thousands of cinephiles, to watch a movie or the event is canceled altogether. Speaking to Variety, a spokesperson for the Venice Film Festival has shot down the notion of turning into a digital event: The Toronto International Film Festival has already hinted at an interest in going digital, that is if, by its September event date, the pandemic has still not been totally contained. Venice boss Alberto Barbera has said, “Toronto is a different type of festival, not comparable to Cannes or Venice.” He is correct. Steering clear from the American film industry for a second, Venice and Cannes are heavily relied upon by Euro distributors to launch competition titles all around the continent and the world. That means big bucks. By all accounts, there should probably, at the very least, I would hope so, be the announcement of the Cannes competition titles, that would, at least, give the 21 or so films selected the stamina and energy to carry on for fall theatrical distribution and release all over Europe, even if Cannes ultimately does not happen. The European movie market is desperately counting on an announcement of titles and if that doesn’t happen then 2020 will be a year of immeasurable financial losses for these distributors. Contribute Hire me
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