Coronavirus France: Cannes Film Festival POSTPONED - Daily Mail

Cannes Film Festival is POSTPONED for the first time in history amid the coronavirus crisis as event organisers hoping to reschedule it for the summer

• The annual film festival was due to take place between May 12 and May 23, but organisers have said the event 'cannot be held on the scheduled dates'
• No plans are yet in place, but organisers are looking at pushing it back until late June or early July, with a firm decision set to be made in due course
• Organisers said in a statement: 'At this time of global health crisis, our thoughts go to the victims of the COVID-19'
• The 2019 event saw Bong Joon-ho earn the coveted Palme d'Or award for his film Parasite, which went on to win four Oscars including Best Picture
• Music festivals including Coachella in the US and Glastonbury in the UK have been impacted by the virus, the latter was cancelled on Wednesday 
• Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?

By Roxy Simons For Mailonline

Published: 20:49 GMT, 19 March 2020 | Updated: 22:02 GMT, 19 March 2020

The Cannes Film Festival has been postponed for the first time in its history due to the coronavirus crisis, it was revealed on Thursday.

The annual film festival was due to take place between May 12 and May 23, but because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic organisers have said the event 'cannot be held on the scheduled dates'. 

No plans are yet in place for the festival, but organisers are looking at pushing it back until late June or early July, with a firm decision set to be made in due course. 

Cannes Film Festival is POSTPONED for the first time in history amid the coronavirus crisis (pictured: Margot Robbie at the Once Upon A Time In Hollywood premiere at last year's event)

Organisers said in a statement: 'At this time of global health crisis, our thoughts go to the victims of the COVID-19 and we express our solidarity with all of those who are fighting the disease.

'Today, we have made the following decision: The Festival de Cannes cannot be held on the scheduled dates, from May 12 to 23. 

'Several options are considered in order to preserve its running, the main one being a simple postponement, in Cannes, until the end of June-beginning of July, 2020.

Postponed: Organisers took to Twitter to reveal the news, and they said in a longer statement: 'Our thoughts go to the victims of the COVID-19 and we express our solidarity with [them]'

Prestigious event: The 2019 Cannes Film Festival saw Bong Joon-ho earn the coveted Palme d'Or award for his film Parasite, which went on to win four Oscars including Best Picture

'As soon as the development of the French and international health situation will allow us to assess the real possibility, we will make our decision known, in accordance with our ongoing consultation with the French Government and Cannes' City Hall as well as with the Festival's Board Members, Film industry professionals and all the partners of the event.' 

The 2019 Cannes Film Festival saw Bong Joon-ho earn the coveted Palme d'Or award for his film Parasite, which went on to win four Oscars including Best Picture. 

The event is just one of the many events being postponed or cancelled in the wake of the pandemic, which as of the time of writing has claimed almost 10,000 lives, with over 240,000 confirmed cases around the world. 

Postponed, for now: In a longer statement event organisers shared their hope of reschedule the event for the summer (pictured, Elton John and Taron Egerton at the Rocketman premiere)

Music festivals including Coachella in the US and Glastonbury in the UK have been impacted by the virus - which is also known as COVID-19 - whilst several musicians have been forced to cancel or postpone tour dates. 

It was confirmed on Wednesday that organisers of Glastonbury had decided to pull the plug on the 50th anniversary edition of the music event this June, where Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney and Kendrick Lamar were due to headline. 

It had previously been reported that a major announcement was expected to happen this week and 'big meetings' were set to take place with staff beforehand. 

Curtain call: It was confirmed on Wednesday that organisers of Glastonbury had decided to pull the plug on the event this June (pictured: Sunday headliner Taylor Swift)

Breaking the news to ticket-holders: Glastonbury founders Emily and Michael Eavis made the announcement on Twitter

Glastonbury founders Emily and Michael Eavis broke the news on Twitter on Wednesday. 

'We are so sorry to announce this, but we are going to have to cancel Glastonbury 2020. Tickets for this year will roll over to next year. Full statement below and on our website. Michael & Emily', they posted.  

The film industry has also been hit, with upcoming movie releases such as James Bond flick 'No Time To Die', Marvel movie 'Black Widow', and 'Fast and Furious 9' have all seen their release dates pushed back.  

How the coronavirus is affecting festivals

BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend

 

It was announced on Friday that BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend, which was due to take place in Dundee over the late May bank holiday (22– 24 May), had been cancelled.

The annual event was set to see Harry Styles, Dua Lipa, Calvin Harris and Camila Cabello perform in the Scottish city. 

A spokesperson said: 'After careful consideration we have come to the decision that Radio 1's Big Weekend 2020 in Dundee will not go ahead. 

'This decision has been made in conjunction with our event partners, in line with the advice from the Scottish government, and while we know fans looking forward to purchasing tickets will be disappointed, it is important that we prioritise the health and safety of all those involved.' 

Edinburgh International Festival 

The Edinburgh International Festival has announced that it is cancelling all its launch events, due to take place from 18 to 25 of March, in response to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The festival, which was set to run in both Edinburgh and London, will instead broadcast a live digital event on its Facebook page on the 18 March at 12pm where viewers can ask questions to the programming team.   

Festival Director Fergus Linehan said: 'In light of the current Coronavirus outbreak, we will cancel all gatherings associated with our 2020 programme launch. Prioritising the wellbeing of our city, our audiences and artists, all launch events will shift online to an interactive format. 

 

'At this point, the Festival is almost five months away. For now we remain committed to running the International Festival as planned. In hope that the pandemic will be curbed by August, we must continue to provide security for our artists and for our sector. 

'We hope that in August, our Festival will provide a much-needed moment of joy after what will have been a challenging summer. To reassure our audiences, we have also revised our refunds policy to offer anyone with Coronavirus-related concerns a ticket refund.' 

The 2020 programme will be announced next week with the actual festival taking place from 7-31 of August in Edinburgh. 

Glastonbury 

200,000 people have been left disappointed after Glastonbury founders Emily and Michael Eavis announced they would be postponing the festival. 

The decision to axe the event was made before 1 April, when festival-goers were due to pay the remaining balance of their £270 tickets. 

Tickets will be rolled over until June 2021, with the option to request a refund.   

Glastonbury bosses said: 'We are so sorry to announce this, but Glastonbury 2020 will have to be cancelled, and this will be an enforced fallow year for the Festival.

'Clearly this was not a course of action we hoped to take for our 50th anniversary event, but following the new government measures announced this week - and in times of such unprecedented uncertainty - this is now our only viable option.

'We very much hope that the situation in the UK will have improved by the end of June. 

'But even if it has, we are no longer able to spend the next three months here with the thousands of crew here on the farm, helping us with the enormous job of building the infrastructure and attractions to welcome more than 200,000 people to a temporary city in these fields.' 

 

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