The French-based international film festival will not take place in June, despite earlier discussions, given the current and continuous growth of the COVID-19 pandemic, but organizers are still exploring different options for this year’s edition.

Festival de Cannes said in a statement: ‘Following the French President’s statement, on Monday, April 13th, we acknowledged that the postponement of the 73rd International Cannes Film Festival, initially considered for the end of June to the beginning of July, is no longer an option. It is clearly difficult to assume that the Festival de Cannes could be held this year in its original form.’

‘Nevertheless, since yesterday evening we have started many discussions with professionals, in France and abroad. They agree that the Festival de Cannes, an essential pillar for the film industry, must explore all contingencies allowing to support the year of Cinema by making Cannes 2020 real, in a way or another,’ the organizers added.

©FESTIVAL DE CANNES

Following their 19^th March announcement that the 2020 edition wouldn’t be held in May, the festival was sketching a tentative strategy to postpone the event until the end of June or possibly through the beginning of July. Unfortunately, the continued rise of casualties caused by the coronavirus in France, as well as in the rest of the world, has made it impossible to move ahead with a summer festival.

In a televised interview on Monday evening, France’s President Emmanuel Macron said that festivals would be banned until the middle of July. Thierry Frémaux, the festival director, also told Variety that turning it into a virtual event ‘wouldn’t work’.

A possible outcome is for Cannes to be pushed to the fall, but such a timeline would be problematic for the festival circuit because September already has the Venice, Toronto and San Sebastian film festivals. October will see Mipcom taking place in Cannes for three days until 15^th October 2020. Merely putting the festival together in the French Riviera town would take about a month.

There is no news from Critics’ Week and Directors’ Fortnight, either, which usually run parallel to Festival de Cannes. They have yet to make any announcements on the matter, and the Cannes Film Market, which is also expected to unfold alongside the festival as always, has not made any decisions as to whether it will move to a digital platform in mid-June/late July of this year.

Since its first and much anticipated edition after World War II in 1946, Festival de Cannes has only been cancelled once back in 1968 because of the nationwide student riots, in which French New Wave legends François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard also participated. For the global film community, the festival’s cancellation would surely have a major impact, mostly for sales agents and distributors. After all, the Cannes film market is the year’s key event of movie deals. Last year’s film market reported a record of over 12,500 participants.

But there is another aspect that makes this festival so important. Besides its inestimable value to filmmakers, producers, agents and distributors, Festival de Cannes is crucial in positioning foreign-language movies into a commercial landscape—not to mention the festival circuit and the major awards ceremonies. The Academy Awards, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, the European Film Awards, the Spanish Goya Awards and the French Cesar Awards, among many others, have often drawn winners from Cannes. Last year alone, three of the five foreign-language movies nominated at the Oscars had their premiere at Festival de Cannes. ‘Parasite’ (2019) was the festival’s darling, making history with four statuettes, including a first Academy Award for the coveted Best Picture.

Despite many other festivals going the digital route this year in light of the coronavirus pandemic, both the Venice Film Festival and the Cannes Film Festival have stated that they will not host their events virtually.

Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux insists that should the option to host the festival physically drop, they will look for other alternatives to showcase the films, but that they will categorically steer clear of the digital alternative.

‘(For) Cannes, its soul, its history, its efficiency, it’s a model that wouldn’t work. What is a digital festival? A digital competition? We should start by asking rights holders if they agree,’ Fremaux tells Variety.

Hinting towards a few titles to be highlighted in this year’s edition, Fremaux added, ‘Films by Wes Anderson or Paul Verhoeven on a computer? Discovering “Top Gun 2” or (Pixar’s) “Soul” elsewhere than in (a) theater? These films have been postponed to be shown on a big screen; why would we want to show them before, on a digital device?’

THIERRY FREMAUX © BRIGITTE LACOMBE

‘Directors of “films” are driven by the idea of showing their movies on a big screen and sharing them with others at events like festivals, not for their works to end up on an iPhone.

‘If all the festivals are canceled, we will have to think of a way to showcase films, to avoid wasting a year, but I don’t think a precarious and improvised alternative of Cannes or Venice — no sooner done than forgotten — would be the solution’, Fremaux further elaborated.

Venice Film Festival’s Alberto Barbera seems to be on the same page as Fremaux on this matter. He disclosed in an interview with Italian news agency ANSA over the weekend that he is currently not taking into consideration any digital options. In the interview, he was weighing in on the Toronto Film Festival’s co-heads Joana Vicente and Cameron Bailey’s statement that they were ‘looking at both on-site and digital innovations’ for their event.

ALBERTO BARBERA © ANDREAS RENTZ

‘Toronto is a different type of festival, not comparable to Cannes or Venice,’ said Barbera, who also added that although it’s unclear at this point how things will develop, they are not considering dropping the physical aspect of their event.

A spokesperson for Venice told Variety on Monday, ‘The Venice Film Festival cannot be replaced by an online event.’ He went on to add, ‘there is obviously the possibility that we use technology for some initiatives,’ but that at present ‘it’s too early for this to be decided.’

The decision to digitalize their events doesn’t come without its own share of challenges for the festivals that chose to go down this path. This new approach has given birth to concerns regarding piracy, distribution and rights, among other issues. Given the uncertainty of the current global crisis, how the organizers will choose to deal with these obstacles remains to be seen.

For now, the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival are going ahead with their plans to host their events in September, and the Cannes Film Festival is still considering to go forward with this year’s edition at a later date, possibly in June or July, having postponed their initial May event.

The San Sebastian and Zurich film festivals have announced plans to introduce more productions at their events later this year, given the massive disruption to the spring and summer cinematic calendar caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

José Luis Rebordinos, Director of the San Sebastián Film Festival (SSIFF), and Christian Jungen, Artistic Director of the Zurich Film Festival (ZFF), confirmed their intention to offer a wider programme that will include films originally selected for showcasing at SXSW and the Tribeca Film Festival. The latter was officially postponed, but new dates have not been announced. Considering that the global efforts to flatten the curve will likely spill into the late summer, we’re not sure when or if we’ll get new dates for Tribeca.

According to Deadline, SSIFF and ZFF will aim to welcome buyers from across the globe, marking a first for both festivals. They will also be introducing new sales projects. CAA Media Finance is supporting this endeavour to transform San Sebastián and Zurich into greater sales markets that will bring together a massively international consortium of agencies, foreign sales companies, financiers, distributors and buyers. Independent film companies are said to be backing this initiative, Wild Bunch and Film Nation included among them.

SAN SEBASTIAN FILM FESTIVAL. PHOTO: MONTSE CASTILLO

Business has been done at these events before, but never on such a scale. ‘If the festival can be held under normal conditions, because the health authorities allow it, we want this edition to serve as an opportunity for films that have not been able to be seen at the festivals for which they were originally selected, to be shown to an audience of buyers and distributors and, at the same time, for these professionals, representatives of the most important companies in the world film industry, to get to know the size of the San Sebastián Festival, its line-up and its activities focused on the film industry’, Christian Jungen said.

He went on to add: ‘We live in disruptive times which also shatter the traditional festival landscape and threaten independent cinema. Many high-profile titles are orphans of a real premiere their cast and crew deserve. So, we are happy to help out holding screenings for buyers together with our friends of San Sebastián.’

The Zurich Film Festival is scheduled from 24^th September till 4^th October 2020. We’ll find out more about screenings and programming at a later date. Venice and Toronto might also attract a larger marked if they’re allowed to go ahead. Cannes, unfortunately, is still a mystery, though there are plans for online market options if the physical event is cancelled.

The Berlin International Film Festival, usually referred to as the Berlinale, is one of the ‘Big Three’, alongside the Venice Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival, and in its 70th edition, the veteran festival still remains the most political one. After 19 years of festival leadership under Dieter Kosslick, a new era has begun under artistic director Carlo Chatrian and executive director Mariette Rissenbeek.

This year’s program was slightly reduced from 400 screenings in 2019 to no more than 340 new films. The heart of the Berlinale remains the Competition section with 18 films competing for the Golden and Silver Bear, six of which are directed or co-directed by women. A number higher than at Cannes and especially Venice, whose 2019 edition only selected two women directors out of 21, but down from last year’s 45 per cent record. The festival honoured Oscar-winner Dame Helen Mirren with its Homage and awarded her the Honorary Golden Bear for her lifetime achievement.

DAU, ©PHENOMEN FILMS

This year the festival was not without controversies. From British actor Jeremy Irons heading this year’s jury to Berlinale’s first director, Alfred Bauer, being a Nazi, resulting in the Berlinale suspending a major prize named after Bauer. To these controversies, we have to add the negative criticism the film DAU received. The film is a gigantic multimedia art installation project, designed by director Ilya Khrzhanovskiy in which leading mathematicians, artists, philosophers, and mystics lived and worked between 2009 and 2011. ‘DAU’ finally made it to Berlin, the city where it was supposed to first be seen, receiving backlash over allegations that the non-professional actors were coerced and mistreated on set and subjected to both psychological and physical torture.

FARZAD PAK, BARAN RASOULOF, KAVEH FARNAM, ©BERLINALE

The Golden and Silver Bears were finally handed out to Iranian dissident director, Mohamad Rasoulof, whose government prevents him from leaving the country. He was awarded for Sheytan Vojud Nadarad (There Is No Evil), a tale concerning death penalty that was shot in secret by the director in his native Iran. The award was received by the director’s daughter, actress Baran Rasoulof, who portrayed Darya in the film, and producers Farzan Pak and Kaveh Farnam.

 

Authentic Narrative and Aesthetic Minimalism

In this review, we will take a look at a selection of films that we believe make this city and festival shine, with Sections that gift us with more than it seems. A reflection of a city open to the world and its diversity of gazes, thanks to the Berlinale Goes Kiez (since 2010), the festival has been branching out to various areas in Berlin inviting locals not only to experience film but also meet cast members in their neighbourhood and cinemas.

A festival with Sections such as Forum, Panorama, Generation and Retrospective, and a new series, Encounters, which presents works from innovative filmmakers who use unique narrative techniques, offers viewers everything from experimental films to documentaries. Looking at cinema beyond the glamour, unveiling stories viewers connect with and which leave a lasting impression, this year’s festival drew more visitors than ever, organisers reporting 272,000 sold tickets – 20,000 more than in the previous year.

Although the level of the competition might not seem especially outstanding this year, some of the films did catch our attention:

FIRST COW, © ALLYSON RIGGS/A24

First Cow

The US film, First Cow, from Kelly Reichardt. The American filmmaker co-wrote the screenplay with Jonathan Raymond, author of the novel upon which the film is based. The film premiere in Europe in the main competition section received terrific reviews. Adopting a minimalist style of the observer of this story about Oregon’s first settlers, where a cook who signs on to serve a party of fur trappers in the Pacific Northwest, establishes a friendship with a Chinese immigrant.

LE SEL DES LARMES, © RECTANGLE PRODUCTIONS – CLOSE UP FILMS

Le Sel des Larmes

Philippe Garrel latest film, Le Sel des Larmes. The filmmaker continues his exploration of love and sexuality in an elegant black and white line. In this case, the central male character boasts a confused mentality, which prioritises quantity over quality, and whose immaturity shines in front of the women who parade in his life.

NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS, © 2019 COURTESY OF FOCUS FEATURES

Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Never Rarely Sometimes Always by Eliza Hittman. The story of Autumn, a 17-year-old woman, who faces an unplanned pregnancy and decides to have an abortion on her own. The interpretive maturity of the young debutant, Sidney Flanigan, leaves you completely unarmed. It is not a film that aims to enter the abortion controversy, but a narrative of crude humanity and devastation, and the melancholic odyssey of Autumn, an introverted teenager. The international jury, recognising independent cinema, bestowed this film with the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, which finished top of Screen’s jury grid.

EL PRÓFUGO, ©REI CINE SRL, PICINI PRODUCCIONES SRL

El Prófugo

The Berlinale confirms the good state of the Latin American cinema, with El Prófugo (The Intruder), an Argentinian thriller written and directed by Natalia Meta, based on the novel ‘El mal menor’ by C.E. Feiling. After her remarkable debut, ‘Death in Buenos Aires’, Natalia Meta has created a highly original psycho-sexual thriller, with enjoyable doses of humour by a superb Erika Rivas. The film takes disturbing elements mixed with bits of the universe of terror that place the movie at the crossroads of genres.

The Berlinale will be back earlier in 2021, running from 11-21 February.