CineEurope, the leading European convention for cinema professionals, announced that its 2020 edition has been rescheduled for August 3-6, 2020, due to the current coronavirus crisis.
The convention organizers had previously announced that they would announce by May 4 whether the show would go on as planned in June. “However, with your safety and welfare being our absolute priority, and given current news across the globe, we remain uncertain that we can operate CineEurope safely by the time those dates arrive,” their press release stated. The organizers expressed hope that the new August date will be feasible, but added that a final decision will be made by June 19, 2020. The show remains at the CCIB in Barcelona, Spain.
“We feel that holding the 2020 show is important,” organizers stated, “not just for the morale of the industry (we will not by then have had a major convention for over 12 months), but also as a clear signal that we are again ‘open for business.’ It will be a great opportunity for the industry to gather and celebrate the resurgence of the business and for studios to show colleagues their upcoming film content and release schedule for the next 12 months.”
The statement continued, “We will of course not stage CineEurope 2020 unless it is safe to do so and we know that the convention will be successful. If the outbreak continues at that time, or if travel restrictions do not allow everyone to travel, then we will of course not proceed… Our priority remains the safety of our attendees and we commit to being absolutely transparent in our thinking over the next several months.”
In conclusion, the organizers urged attendees to “stay safe and join us in hoping that the current challenges are soon over so our industry can return to its magnificent best.”
The new dates were announced jointly by CineEurope managing directors Robert Sunshine and Andrew Sunshine, International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) CEO Laura Houlgatte, and UNIC president Phil Clapp.
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