Movies in the 2020 Cannes Film Festival Official Selection will be eligible to compete at Spain's San Sebastian Film Festival for the first time.
The annual French film event, which usually takes place in May, was cancelled in its physical form this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Accordingly, Cannes bosses made the decision to revise their Official Selection of movies, which will be unveiled on Wednesday evening, and present the titles across other film festivals, with each project receiving a "Cannes 2020" label for their alternative festival and/or theatrical releases.
The transcript of the speech Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux will give at the Official Selection unveiling in Paris was released on Tuesday, revealing that, in an unprecedented move, films that were set to compete at Cannes will be able to compete at San Sebastian, which is set to be staged in September.
"Many other festivals around the world have expressed the desire to welcome the Cannes 2020 selection films," he said, reeling off film festivals in Toronto, New York, and Telluride, among others. "They will do it again this year with the active support of Cannes and its teams.
"Lili Hinstin, the Locarno Festival's director wanted to be the first to welcome Cannes films (before she too was unfortunately forced to give up), and we also spoke with Jose-Luis Rebordinos, the director of the San Sebastian festival, who decided that the films included in the Cannes 2020 Official Selection could also compete in San Sebastian. He changed the rules, just for us. Exceptional circumstances, exceptional measures."
Fremaux had previously spoken about a potential collaboration with organisers of the Venice Film Festival, which is set to kick off in September, but did not mention the event in his speech.
This year's Official Selection will be compromised of 56 films. It features a record 15 first films and an increase in female directors and will be presented in one single list, rather than the traditional strands.
Fremaux noted that some projects expected to appear on the list may be absent as the filmmakers have decided to postpone release dates.
