Actually, the famous
Cannes Film Festival was supposed to take place in May (12.-23.5) as usual, but also here the corona virus forces the organizers to rethink. They are now considering postponing the Cannes Film Festival until the end of June in the hope that by then the spread of the virus will have stopped (worldwide) to such an extent that large gatherings of people can again take place without fear of mutual infection, which sounds like a rather unlikely development at the moment.
The organizers make their decision and the exact postponement date dependent on the current development. However, if Cannes were to be postponed even further towards the end of summer 2020, Cannes would clash with the
Venice Biennale Cinema, which is scheduled for September 2-12.
The Cannes Festival is still accepting film submissions, thus giving hope that a cancellation will be avoided. This would be important for the global film industry, because in addition to its function as an audience film festival, it is also of vital importance as a market for the latest productions of the film industry, where films find their buyers worldwide.
An alternative in case of a continuation of the crisis and the prohibition of mass gatherings (and visitors from all over the world, possibly from regions where the coronavirus is not yet contained) could be on the net. Thus Cannes could follow the example of other events such as the NAB Show and temporarily transform itself into an online event.
Apart from the major public events, the film market, like the film competition including awards by the jury, could also be possible on the net. The latter also fulfils an important function for the promotion of new films worldwide - for example, the surprise success and
Oscar-winner "Parasite" was also a winner in Cannes last year.