Cannes 2020 is still on (sort of), with The French Dispatch and Pixar's Soul among its selections

In a year that’s seen several of film’s most iconic festivals canceled or taken online, Cannes is eschewing digital workarounds for the real thing. After announcing a postponement in March, the festival revealed today (via The Hollywood Reporter) that its 2020 lineup will play on the screens of other festivals throughout the world.

Cannes artistic director Thierry Frémaux announced on Wednesday that Cannes’ selection of 56 films will screen at “partner festivals” in Toronto, New York, Tokyo, Rome, Mumbai, and more.

“Cancellation has never been an option,” he said. “As you probably know, the Festival was canceled only once, in 1939. And only one other edition did not go to completion, it was in 1968. In 2020, if [the festival] could not take its usual form, it was necessary for it to take another form. It could not just disappear.”

Cannes typically splits its films into five categories—Competition, Un Certain regard, Out of competition, Midnight Screenings, and Special Screenings—but not this year. No prizes will be given, and Spike Lee, who was scheduled to head up the Cannes Jury this year, will instead return next year. Cannes films, however, will apparently be eligible for prizes at other festivals—for example, THR notes that Cannes titles will screen in competition for the San Sebastian festival’s Golden Shell in September.

Will all 56 films screen at every one of these partner festivals? That, per THR, is still unclear. But one should hope so because the lineup is stacked with highly anticipated titles and loads of rising international talent. Of particular note is Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, which was set to open this July until COVID-19 pushed it back to October. Pixar’s Soul, a June release that was pushed to November, will also be one of Cannes’ top titles.

Other standouts include François Ozon’s Summer of ‘85, Naomi Kawase’s True Mothers, and Falling, the directorial debut of actor Viggo Mortensen. 12 Years A Slave and Widows filmmaker Steve McQueen will see not one, but two movies, Lover’s Rock and Mangrove, debut under this year’s Cannes banner.

See Cannes’ full 2020 lineup below, which has been broken up by the festival into The Faithful, The Newcomers, and The First Features, with a few genre distinctions thrown in.

The Faithful

The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson)

Summer Of ‘85 (François Ozon)