The International Film Festival, also known as Cannes Film Festival, has been postponed to July from May owing to the coronavirus pandemic, as per the official release.

The festival was scheduled for May 11-22. Now, the dates have been revised to July 6-17, the organisers said in a statement on Wednesday.

“As announced last autumn, the Festival de Cannes reserved the right to change its dates depending on how the global health situation developed,” the statement said.

This comes a month after Aïda Belloulid, the festival’s spokeswoman, told The New York Times that the event might be delayed due to the pandemic, as the virus was raging across Europe.

Belloulid added that whatever date the festival took place, she said, it would be “a ‘classic’ Cannes,” including stars on the Croisette.

Last year, the jury of Festival de Cannes decided to cancel it due to the pandemic. It also announced last autumn that it has reserved the rights to change its dates depending on how the global health situation developed.

According to media reports, this year the organisers are intent on holding the festival, one way or another.