Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the 77th edition of the Venice Film Festival is expected to take place as agreed, from 2 to 12 September. Finally, if the situation allows it of course… While the Cannes Film Festival has been officially cancelled and there are even plans for a virtual version of the event, it seems that this is not the case for the famous Venice Film Festival. The festival should indeed take place in September as usual. Thus, despite the coronavirus pandemic, this 77th edition should take place from September 2 to 12. Finally, if the situation allows it of course! The news was announced in a statement from the Venice Biennale. This is the leading institution of the global event. We note that a few weeks ago, the artistic director of the event, Alberto Barbera, had ruled out the possibility of organizing the festival virtually. This news then revived the debate on the alliance of the Cannes Film Festival with the Venice Film Festival. Indeed, in an interview given to Variety last week, Thierry Frémaux, the general delegate of the prestigious Cannes festival evoked this possibility:
"Like every year, I exchange a lot with Alberto Barbera, the artistic director of the Mostra. He himself is worried, of course. Since the beginning of the crisis, we have hypothesized to do something together if Cannes is cancelled. We keep talking about it."
Roberto Cicutto, the new president of the Biennale, does not rule out this possibility. In an interview with the Italian agency Ansa relayed by Le Film Français, Cicutto had indeed said:
"With Cannes everything is possible and everything can be studied. But I find it disconcerting that Thierry Fremaux says that he continues to study and does not say what he wants to do. We continue our program, if Cannes still thinks about it, there is no dialogue. There is no hypothesis today."
The organizers of the Cannes Film Festival are giving themselves until the end of May to establish the different modalities of organization of this new edition. We can only understand their difficulties in organizing the Festival. The famous event has never experienced a similar situation in its entire history. We therefore hope that the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival will make the best possible decisions.
