Filmmakers and executives from the U.S. and U.K. hoping to attend this year’s Cannes Film Festival got some good news Wednesday as France, along with the rest of the European Union, reopened its borders to travelers from previously banned countries.
The new regulations mean that Americans and Brits — if they are fully vaccinated — can travel to Cannes and will not be required to quarantine upon arrival. Both the U.S. and U.K. are designated “orange” countries in the EU’s new traffic light system for travel. Fully vaccinated travelers from orange-list countries — which also include most of Africa and Asia — will be able to enter the country provided they show proof of vaccination and a negative PCR test taken 72 hours before travel.
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Only those vaccinated with one of the EU-approved vaccines — including those from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson — will be allowed to enter France under these new regulations. Others, including those partially vaccinated, will have to provide “pressing grounds” for travel. In France currently, attending a film festival does not qualify.
Proof of vaccination is first valid two weeks after the second shot — for the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines — or four weeks for the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. People who have had COVID-19 and have received a one-shot vaccine, need to show they got their jab at least two weeks before traveling.
Under the new regulations, all travelers from green list countries —which include all European Union nations, as well as Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Israel, Japan, Lebanon and Singapore—can enter France, though non-vaccinated travelers need to show a negative PCR test taken 72 hours before travel. Red list countries, which include South Africa, Argentine, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Turkey, and Uruguay, will need to have a compelling reason to visit, a negative PCR test, and will have to quarantine for seven to 10 days upon arrival.
The French government has outlined details of its new travel regulations, in English, on its COVID-19 site.
It is unclear what impact the looser regulations will have on Cannes attendance. More than 40 percent of the U.S. population is fully vaccinated and just over half of U.K. adults have now been vaccinated with two doses, according to the government. But vaccination rates vary between regions and between demographic groups. In Britain, priority was given to older, at-risk individuals, meaning seniors are over-represented in the total vaccination figures.
British visitors to Cannes could also face a hassle on their return to the U.K.. France is still on the U.K.’s “amber” list of countries, meaning returnees will have to quarantine for 10 days or pay for a private COVID-19 test in order to be released early.
But the latest re-opening could mean more Brits and Americans on the Croisette this year and something closer to a fully-flexed international film festival.
The 2021 Cannes Film Festival runs July 6-July 17.
