Thierry Fremaux on Cannes 2020 Selection: ‘Film is More Alive Than Ever’

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentParis-based sales company Totem Films has unveiled a teaser for “Gagarine,” a feature debut by Fanny Liatard and Jeremy Trouilh which is part of Cannes’ Official Selection. Totem Films will be hosting two virtual market screening at Cannes’ online Marché du Film that kicks off on Monday.

By Andreas Wiseman

Pixar’s “Soul,” Wes Anderson’s star-packed “The French Dispatch” and Steve McQueen’s “Mangrove” and Lover’s Rock” are among the 56 movies which will receive a Cannes 2020 label as part of the festival’s eclectic Official Selection.

The selections for the 2020 Cannes Film Festival have been announced despite this year’s live event being cancelled.

«What are next year's Oscars going to look like?» It's a question the industry, awards forecasters and armchair pundits alike have been wondering as release schedules are scuttled and film festivals are canned amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

PARIS — Director Wes Anderson’s latest outing, a debut turn behind the camera for actor Viggo Mortensen and an animated Pixar movie about jazz would have starred at this year’s canceled Cannes Film Festival, organizers said on Wednesday.

Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” Pete Docter’s “Soul” and two films from Steve McQueen, “Lovers Walk” and “Mangrove” (both from his anthology series “Small Axe”), are among the films that would have gone to this year’s Cannes Film Festival if it had taken place, Cannes organizers announced at a press conference in Paris on Wednesday.

A bit earlier today, in lieu of the actual fest (canceled due to the Coronavirus pandemic, of course), the Cannes Film Festival announced what their Official Selections would have been. Of course, these movies won’t actually be playing at Cannes, but they will be showing at other festivals around the world over the next handful of months (barring a resurgence of COVID-19, obviously).

Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” Pete Docter’s “Soul” and two films from Steve McQueen, “Lover’s Walk” and “Mangrove” (both from his anthology series “Small Axe”), are among the films that would have gone to this year’s Cannes Film Festival if it had taken place, Cannes organizers announced at a press conference in Paris on Wednesday.

After weeks of “will they or won’t they?” the Cannes Film Festival was recently officially canceled due to COVID-19.

By Elsa Keslassy

There will be no Palme d'Or this year. But the films picked for the Cannes 2020 lineup, which the French festival will announce Wednesday, will have a chance to win the Golden Shell, the top prize at Spain's San Sebastian film festival.

By Andreas Wiseman

What cinephiles have missed most this spring are the cries of “hon hon hon!” — the bitchy sound of French laughter — bellowing from the Côte d’Azur.

Thierry Fremaux doesn’t just help run the Cannes Film Festival. He’s also one of the heads of the Lumière Film Festival that happens each fall.

Perhaps even more important than actually screening your film at the Cannes Film Festival (which is a great honor and pretty damn important itself) is the badge given to filmmakers to add to marketing materials calling your feature an “Official Cannes Selection.” Well, the French film festival understands this and is planning on unveiling its 2020 selections in a week. But before that, according to Variety, we know some of the films that are expected to be given the selection badge.

By Elsa Keslassy