The Cannes film festival is the latest major entertainment event to fall victim to COVID-19.
The Cannes board announced on Thursday that the 12-day festival will not start on May 12, in light of the severity of the pandemic.
Its directors are looking at postponing it until late June or beginning of July.
However, there are doubts about whether Cannes will be able to go ahead, with film shoots halted or called off across the world.
The board said it would make its decision about whether to go ahead or not "in accordance with their ongoing consultation with the French government, Cannes city hall" and the film industry.
Several other smaller film festivals, including Tribeca, SXSW and Edinburgh
have already been cancelled or put back because of the coronavirus crisis.
Cannes has yet to announce its line-up however director Spike Lee is to head the jury.
Last year, the South Korean film "Parasite" won Cannes' top Palme d'Or award and went on to triumph at the Oscars, becoming the first non-English picture to win best film.■
<Photo: Yonhap News>
