In an announcement that caused little surprise, the Cannes festival sidebars – the Semaine de la Critique, Quinzaine des Réalisateurs/Directors’ Fortnight and ACID – have decided to call off all events for 2020. The Cannes Film Festival itself is still toying with the idea of going online, or saving the event in some form.
The cancellation follows those by major Cannes events such as MIPIM, Midem and the Cannes Lions. In the releases, they say that the idea of postponing them until June or July “is no longer an option”.
It goes on, “the health crisis that we are all presently facing makes it impossible to anticipate the practical course of events”. They are, however, considering ways of featuring the movies that had already been submitted to the parallel sections.
The off-Cannes selections at Cannes
The three sidebars have been mostly running alongside the official Cannes Film festival from the sixties. Each of them offers a completely independent selection of movies that are considered more innovative. The events have their awards, such as the Grand Prix (Nespresso award), the SACD Prize for best screenplay and the ACID Prize. The main benefit, however, is the help they bring in getting distribution. They are generally considered to be less competitive than the main Palme event.
Directors that have been discovered at the Critics Week, for example, include Bernardo Bertolucci, Leos Carax, Wong Kar-wai and François Ozon.