The Cannes Film Festival traditionally runs for 12 days during May each year. Historically, the 12-day slot straddled Wednesday through Sunday-week. In 2018 it was announced that all future festivals will run Tuesday-Saturday. This move was widely believed to be an effort to bolster last weekend by having the closing ceremony on the Saturday night (rather than Sunday, when most people had already gone home).

Next Festival

The 74th (2021) Cannes Film Festival was originally scheduled run 11 - 22 May 2021. However, on 27 January the Festival de Cannes announced it was postponing the event until July. The new dates for 2021 are 6 – 17 July.

The new dates affect all sections of the Festival de Cannes and Marché du Film, as well as the Directors' Fortnight, International Critics' Week, and ACID.

Last Festival

The 73rd (2020) Cannes Film Festival was scheduled to run 12 - 23 May 2020. In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, the 2020 festival was ultimately cancelled. The festival managed a mini footprint in 2020, with a small virtual market event taking place in July, several other film festivals screening parts of the official selection in the second half of the year, and there was ‘mini-festival’ encompassing a limited number of screenings at the Palais in October.

The last full festival was the 72nd (2019) Cannes Film Festival which ran 14 - 25 May 2019.

For more information, you should visit the official festival web site at www.festival-cannes.org.

A full rundown on the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, is available in the book, Cannes - A Festival Virgin's Guide (7th Edition).
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