How it all started
The first festival took place in 1946, seven years after film makers, alarmed by the interference of fascist governments in Germany and Italy at the selection for the Venice Film Festival, floated the idea of a French festival. The festival was supported by the Americans and the British, but for several years Cannes and Venice competed with each other. In 1951 agreement was reached to hold the Cannes Film Festival in May and the Venice Film Festival in the autumn.
The Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) was created in 1955 and was awarded until 1963 when it was replaced by a different award (the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film). In 1975 it was reinstated. Other innovations included the highly successful and commercial Film Market in 1959.
The Festival was not without its political difficulties however; the 1968 Festival was stopped in sympathy with the student riots. In the 1970s the system of different countries choosing which films they wanted represented at the festival was changed and two committees were created -- one to choose the French films, and the second to choose the foreign films. In 1983, the Palais des Festivals et des Congres was built to host the festival.
The Winners
The winners of the coveted prizes is a Who’s Who of the film industry, though some of the films are now only well known to film enthusiasts. The major prize has gone to such diverse films as Union Pacific (Cecil B DeMille), Billy Wilder’s Lost Weekend; Rossellini’s Rome, Open City; Carol Reed’s The Third Man, Orson Welles’ The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice and Clouzot’s The Wages of Fear. Since 1955 it’s gone to William Wyler for Friendly Persuasion; Fellini for La Dolce Vita; Visconti for The Leopard; Bob Fosse for All That Jazz, Costa-Gavras for Missing and many other of the world's great films. Recently it has been awarded to Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley; Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon (in 2009) and in 2010 to the Thai Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.
Cannes Film Festival Events
Sections which are not in the competition show other aspects of cinema and include Cannes Classics; Tous les Cinemas du Monde; Camera d’Or; and Cinema de la Plage.
The 2011 Cannes Film Festival
The news of what is going to be shown and in competition will appear in mid April. Watch my blogs and 2011 article for up-to-date information.
