Coronavirus: Cannes film festival not possible ‘in original form’

GBNEWS24 DESK//

The Cannes film festival will not take place “in its original form” this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Organisers first postponed the festival last month, saying that they would aim to stage it in June or July this year.

But in an updated statement, they said that plan was now “no longer an option” after France extended its lockdown measures this week.
They did not elaborate on what the alternatives could be but said they hoped “to communicate promptly”.

The prestigious festival was originally scheduled to take place in the south of France from May 12 to 23.

When the festival was first postponed, its president, Pierre Lescure, said: “He was ‘reasonably optimistic’ that it would still go ahead this year.”

Mr Lescure told Le Figaro newspaper at the time that he believed the peak of the epidemic would be “reached at the end of March and that we will breathe a little better in April”.

But on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron said the country’s lockdown would be extended until 11 May, and that public events could not be held until mid-July at the earliest.