the festival circuit

Cannes Festival 2021 Pushes Its Dates From May to July

Take us back to this moment. Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

The 74th annual Cannes Film Festival is definitely, for sure, happening this year, according to the organizers. The international festival in which filmmakers, critics, and fans from around the world descend upon a small French town to schmooze, mingle, and sit elbow to elbow in theaters will happen in 2021. However, presumably because of the ongoing global pandemic, the festival is pushing its dates two months back, from May to July. Originally scheduled from May 11 to 22, the official Cannes Festival Twitter account announced today that the festival will now take place from Tuesday, July 6, to Saturday, July 17.

Last year, organizers responded to the pandemic by canceling the in-person festival entirely. If Cannes does take place on its revised date this year, it’ll be like that time in 2016 when Hanukkah and Christmas overlapped, but for Francophiles: Cannes will overlap with Bastille Day, making for the Most French Day Ever. If, you know, the festival actually happens.

Cannes Festival 2021 Pushes Its Dates from May to July