Cannes Shifts Screening Times for Next Week as France Extends COVID Curfew

Labor News, Industry News

Reprinted from Deadline Hollywood by Nancy Tartaglione on October 22, 2020.

A government-mandated curfew that was set in place in France last week has been widely extended across the country, and will come into effect from Friday night. An estimated 46M people (69% of the population) will be impacted by the new measures announced by Prime Minister Jean Castex [Thursday] evening.

Residents of the 54 total areas (or départements) now involved (38 were added today) will be under strict curfew from 9PM-6AM as France looks to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Along with the ongoing effect this will have on cinemas, which make most of their box office from evening showings, a three-day Cannes Film Festival event scheduled for next week has immediately responded by tailoring its timetable.

A festival rep tells Deadline that the premiere screenings originally scheduled to begin at 7PM from October 27-29 will now be pushed back to 6PM. Other screenings will take place as planned during the day. A dinner previously planned to follow the opening ceremony on the 27th has been kiboshed. The Cannes Film Festival was canceled earlier this year owing to the coronavirus crisis, but nevertheless curated a 2020 official selection which has seen some movies travel to other events with the Cannes label. …

Deadline Hollywood 10/22

About Jeffrey Burman 861 Articles
Jeff Burman served on the Guild’s Board of Directors from 1992 to 2019. He is now retired. He can be reached at jeffrey.s.burman.57@gmail.com.