The Cannes Film Festival made a statement last week by releasing 56 stamp-approved films that would have made it to this year’s canceled edition, which is usually held every May. Missing from this year’s “lineup” were films such as Leos Carax’s “Annette,” Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta,” Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria,” Nadav Lapid’s “Ahed’s Knee,” and Mia Hansen-Love’s “Bergman’s Island.” Why were these titles conspicuously absent? Because, rumor has it, they are opting for the 2021 edition of the festival instead. That means we will likely not see these films premiering this fall at TIFF or Venice because they would rather premiere at Cannes next May. Fair enough.
Next May’s Cannes Film Festival is set to be packed with buzz-worthy titles and you can add another one to that list. Skipping the Venice Film Festival this year will be hometown boy Nanni Moretti, whose “Tre Piani” is now set for a Cannes 2021 world premiere [via Il Fatto Quotidiano]. This is a crushing loss for Venice boss Alberto Barbera, who was counting on Moretti’s film to launch his festival this coming September. Barbera is refusing to go digital and is planning on a live, physical edition of the festival, one which would have hand sanitizer at every corner, face masks, and rooms filled at half capacity. Good luck with that Mr. Barbera.
The Il Fatto Quoptidiano piece also mentions a few titles aiming for Venice 2021 and, suffice to say, they all are Italian. Those include new films by Ferdinando Cito Filomartino, Daniele Luchetti, the Manetti bros, Susanna Nicchiarelli, Michela Cesco, Daniele Vicari, Stefano Sollima and Gabriele Mainetti.