Cannes Film Festival Delayed Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

After a long debate on whether it should be postponed or not, the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival have decided to reschedule this year’s star-studded event due to the pandemic.

Taking it to Twitter, the world’s most prestigious film festival confirmed the news of postponement and noted that it would be impossible to organize an event in May with so many people because of the deadly coronavirus. The tweet further mentioned that the decision has been taken after seeing what has been happening across the globe for the last 2-3 weeks.

The organization also shared a statement along with the tweet that gave a better idea of why the event is being canceled.

The statement explained that the 2020 edition will not take place after an extensive discussion with the French government regarding the matter. Several options were considered but ultimately, it was decided that the “postponement” of the event is the best thing to do right now.

“Today, we have made the following decision: The Festival de Cannes cannot be held on the scheduled dates, from May 12-May 23. Several options are considered in order to preserve its running, the main one being a simple postponement, in Cannes, until the end of June-beginning of July 2020,” the statement read.

The press release concluded by extending support to the government’s idea of a “general lockdown” to prevent the spread of the virus.

Cannes is considered to be one of the best places for international directors to showcase their work. Last year, Bong Joon-Ho took his film “Parasite” to the festival and won the Palme d’Or (Best Movie). The movie went on to win numerous awards and was awarded the Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards.

One of the world’s oldest film festivals is the latest event to join the ever-growing list of cultural events that are either getting canceled or postponed. A couple of days back, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced that it will be closing its doors for the public and cancel all the events until May 15. Due to the Met’s decision, the organizers of Met Gala decided to postpone this year’s event indefinitely because of the crisis.

Other festivals that have been postponed or canceled are Glastonbury (canceled), Tribeca Film Festival (postponed), Coachella (postponed), and Eurovision Song Contest (canceled).

The deadly COVID-19 continues to wreak havoc in various parts of the world. The total number of positive cases has gone up to 245,613 and 10,048 people have died due to the illness. On the other hand, more than 88,000 people have recovered until now.