The Cannes that didn’t happen. The 73rd Festival de Cannes was the only edition since World War II not held in its traditional May slot on the Côte d’Azur. The physical festival was first postponed and then cancelled outright as France entered its first COVID-19 lockdown.
Rather than skip a year of curation entirely, Festival President Pierre Lescure and General Delegate Thierry Frémaux announced a special Cannes 2020 label on June 3, 2020, anointing 56 films as “Cannes selections” without dividing them into the usual sections (Competition, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition, Midnight Screenings, Special Screenings). No jury convened in Cannes, no Palme d’Or was awarded, and no red carpet was rolled out.
The selected films instead carried the Cannes laurel into other festivals through autumn 2020 — Venice, Toronto, San Sebastián, New York, Busan — and into theatrical release thereafter. The selection still functioned as a tastemaker. Another Round won an Oscar. Lovers Rock topped year-end critics’ lists. The 73rd edition was, in effect, a curated distribution stamp rather than a festival.
By the numbers. 21 French productions or co-productions. 15 first features. The highest percentage of female-directed selections in festival history to that point. Countries represented for the first time included Bulgaria, Georgia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The 74th edition returned to the Croisette in July 2021, with Spike Lee as Jury President — the festival shifted to a summer slot for one year before reverting to May in 2022. See Cannes 2021 →