The Lisbon-based Portugese distributor Zon Lusomundo Audiovisuais had scheduled a Thursday, May 5th screening of Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life. This would have been yet another violation of the Cannes Film Festival exclusivity assumption. Portugese journalists getting a looksee two days from now would have meant reviews written in advance of Cannes and in all likelihood tweets and whatnot appearing prior to the big unveiling.

But this morning I heard from a Lisbon-based journalist friend who said that “I’ve just received news of the cancellation of our screening by ‘international imposition’. According to the Portuguese distributor, they’ve just received information today that all screenings must happen after May 17th.” I presume this means that The Tree of Life will screen at the Cannes Film Festival on this date. Or one day earlier.