Cannes film festival officially delayed

The annual Cannes film festival will now take place at the height of summer, following concerns over the Covid pandemic.

The festival had been scheduled to take place from 11-22 May; now it will run from 6-17 July. "As announced last autumn, the Festival de Cannes reserved the right to change its dates depending on how the global health situation developed," explained a press release.

Holding the event in July would mean that Cannes retains more than a month’s head start on the autumn festivals: Venice, Telluride and Toronto, which begin in late August. The Cannes Lions advertising festival is scheduled to take place as planned in the city’s Palais des Festivals in June.

Local hoteliers were reported to be positive about the change as their hopes of a normal tourist season this year rapidly diminished. The event usually attracts some 200,000 visitors to the Riviera hotspot, generating an estimated 200m euros’ worth of economic benefits for the area, The Guardian reported.