Cannes Film Festival, biggest in the world, returns with SOPs

Armed with coronavirus tests and face masks, movie stars will start arriving in Cannes from Tuesday for the return of the world’s biggest film festival, which aims to help cinema bounce back from the blow dealt it by the global pandemic.

Organisers and local authorities are banking on strict coronavirus protocols and testing to keep the event trouble-free, as the French government steps up warnings over growing cases of the highly transmissible COVID-19 Delta variant.

The showcase – which will include US actor Sean Penn’s latest outing as director and a premiere of the new film in the blockbuster Fast & Furious franchise – also coincides this year with the start of the summer beach season, drawing thousands of more visitors to the city.

The Cannes Film Festival, normally a hectic 12 days of screenings, late-night parties, press conferences and star-spotting along the famed Croisette waterfront, is usually held in May but was cancelled last year due to the pandemic.

Cannes Mayor David Lisnard dismissed concerns over the contagion risks at the festival, which will be welcomed by restaurants and hotels emerging from shutdowns.

“There is no situation with zero risks, but… it’s safer to go see a film at the Cannes festival than to go shopping in a supermarket,” he told Reuters.

At the Palais du festival which will host the main screenings – and which is still functioning in parallel as a COVID-19 vaccination centre for locals – attendees were already showing their health passes on Monday, with some turned away to go and get up-to-date tests.

Top stars will also be subject to rigorous checks, festival director Thierry Fremaux told journalists.

Brazilian film director Kleber Mendonça Filho, who sits on the jury that awards the highest Palme d’Or honour for best movie, was completing a two-week quarantine in France to be able to attend, he said.

“We’re going to have to be reasonable and careful,” Fremaux said.

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