The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has led to delays or cancellations of many large events, and now the Cannes Film Festival can count itself among that number.
The film festival released a statement saying that it would shift its event to July, citing safety concerns. "As announced last autumn, the Festival de Cannes reserved the right to change its dates depending on how the global health situation developed," reads the statement. "Initially scheduled from 11 to 22 May 2021, the Festival will therefore now take place from Tuesday 6 to Saturday 17 July 2021."
France, where the festival is usually held, remains in lockdown. During the first COVID-19 wave, Cannes was forced to cancel its 2020 event. Though immunization programs have been rolled out across the continent, progress has fallen below expectations as France hoped to innoculate a million citizens by the end of the month. Complicating matters is a dispute between the European Union and U.K.-based drugmaker AstraZeneca over a delay of vaccine shipments.
Another complication comes from the Venice Film Festival, which is expected to begin starting on Sept. 1. Cannes shifting its release date leads to a two month gap between the two festivals, with both Cannes and Venice competing for world premiere titles as well as star-studded guest lists.
Source: THR
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