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As dusk fell, the audience settled down in
their convertible sports cars and family run-arounds, popcorn on
the dashboard and children hanging out the windows, to watch
Steven Spielberg's 1980s Classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
With cinemas, theatres and restaurants still closed as France
cautiously unwinds its coronavirus lockdown, people were content
to watch a movie outdoors on a balmy evening on the
Mediterranean coast.
"You've got to make the most of the moment. It makes up for
things a bit," said one woman. She had driven to the Palm Beach
with her grown-up son, who sat next to her wearing a face mask.
The 51 vehicles allowed to the screening were parked in every
other space and staff wearing face-shields scanned barcodes on
tickets.
The Cannes Film Festival was originally scheduled to take place
from May 12-23. Beyond the star-studded screenings, production
and distribution firms head to the Cote d’Azur to complete
deals.
It is not the first time the festival has been postponed. Its
inaugural event in 1939 was cut short after the opening
screening of the “Hunchback of Notre Dame” because of Germany’s
invasion of Poland the next day.
It was also interrupted in May 1968 as a student revolt and
labour protests swept across France.
Cannes mayor David Lisnard said it was the town's way of paying
hommage to cinema, and to show that "we miss the movies."
(Reporting by Eric Gaillard; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing
by Raissa Kasolowsky)
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