THE message from the Cannes Film Festival is: Coronavirus or not, the show must go on.

The iconic French festival, which was as scheduled to run May 12-23 but was forced to cancel its physical event due to the coronavirus pandemic, last week unveiled its lineup for Cannes 2020, a selection of films that will carry the Cannes brand to the screen at other events around the world.

The Cannes 2020 program includes many of the year’s buzziest art house and indie titles  —  among them Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” Naomi Kawase’s “True Mothers,” Francois Ozon’s “Summer of ‘85,” “ADN” (aka DNA), directed by and starring French filmmaker Maiwenn (Polisse); and Thomas Vinterberg’s pro-drinking drama “Another Round.”

Pixar’s “Soul,” the animated feature from “Inside Out” director Pete Docter, which was widely tipped to have its world premiere in Cannes, also made the cut for the Cannes 2020 selection. Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey and Questlove are among the voice talents on the picture, whose release Disney has pushed back to November.

British director Steve McQueen, who started his film career in Cannes, winning the best first feature award for his 2008 debut “Hunger,” returns, post-best picture Oscar for “12 Years a Slave,” with two films: “Lover’s Rock” and “Mangrove.”

Viggo Mortensen’s directorial debut “Falling,” which premiered at this year’s Sundance festival, also scored a Cannes 2020 slot. “God’s Own Country” director Francis Lee will make his Cannes debut with his new feature, “Ammonite,” a period drama starring Kate Winslet, Saoirse Ronan and Fiona Shaw.

Cannes unveiled the Cannes 2020 lineup in the UGC Normandie cinema in Paris.

Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux picked a total of 56 films for the Cannes 2020 selection, many of which had planned to premiere on the Croisette. Instead, they will now screen at different partner festivals around the world. The titles will be gathered together in a single list, not split up into the traditional festival categories of competition, Un Certain Regard, out of competition, midnight screenings, and special screenings. There is no competition, no jury and no prizes will be awarded. Spike Lee, who would have been president of this year’s Cannes jury, has been invited to head up the jury for next year’s festival.

In addition to the bigger names, this year’s lineup includes a typical Cannes mix of international art house titles. Highlights include “Sweat,” a Polish-language drama from Magnus von Horn, who made his directorial debut with “The Here After” in Cannes in 2015.

French and French-language films are particularly well represented in the lineup, with 21 titles in Cannes 2020, compared to 13 last year. The single Canadian film picked for official selection — “Nadia, Butterfly,” from director Pascal Plante — is also a majority French-language title.

(SD-Agencies)