The Festival International du Film, held annually in Cannes, France, has become the world’s most prestigious film festival—the spot on the beach where the newest films from the world’s top directors compete for both publicity and awards.
Originally created in 1939 in response to reports of rigged judging at the 1934 Venice Film Festival, the first festival at Cannes was delayed until 1946, when films in competition included Jean Cocteau’s BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946), Emilio Fernandez’s MARIA CANDELARIA (1944), Alfred Hitchcock’s NOTORIOUS (1946), Roberto Rossellini’s OPEN CITY (1945), Charles Vidor’s GILDA (1946), and Billy Wilder’s THE LOST WEEKEND (1945).
The Grand Prize of the International Jury went to René Clément’s quasi-documentary THE BATTLE OF THE RAILS (1945).
Although the quality of films screened has always been high (directors who have received their “starts” there range from Satyajit Ray and François Truffaut to such recent discoveries as Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee, Steven Soderbergh, and Jane Campion), the manner in which the competition has been organized has changed over the years.
The selection of the members of the international jury sometimes generates as much controversy as the selection of the films themselves.
The judges have always voted on the festival’s best film; at various times they have also administered numerous other awards.
During the first festival the judges awarded eleven grand prizes and two “Peace” prizes.
They also recognized films for best direction, performance (male and female), screenplay, music, cinematography, color, documentary, and animation.
By 1947 the prizes were more creatively titled and were offered in separate genre categories, such as Films Psychologiques et d’Amour (Psychological and Love Films) and Films d’Aventures and Policier (Adventure and Detective Films).
In the year 1955 the festival created the film community’s most coveted award after the Academy Award for best picture, the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm).
Awarded to the best film of the festival, it went that year to Delbert Mann’s MARTY.
Subsequent winners have included some of the most memorable films in history—Marcel Camus’s BLACK ORPHEUS (1959), Luis Buñuel’s VIRIDIANA (1961), Luchino Visconti’s THE LEOPARD (1963), Michelangelo Antonioni’s BLOWUP (1966), Lindsay Anderson’s IF… (1968), Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H (1970), Francis Ford Coppola’s THE CONVERSATION (1974), Martin Scorsese’s TAXI DRIVER (1976), Akira Kurosawa’s KAGEMUSHA (1980), and Wim Wenders’s PARIS, TEXAS (1984).
In 1979 the Camera d’Or (Golden Camera) was created, to be presented to the filmmaker who delivered the best first feature.
The festival was cancelled in 1948 and 1950 due to problems in the French film industry and again in 1968, owing to the tumultuous political climate in Paris.
