History of Cannes Film Festival

Many movie lovers think Cannes Film Festival is the most prestigious film festival in the world. The festival, as it is said in its own website, reflects the dual nature of cinema at the crossroads of art and industry.

The oldest film festival in the world is Venice Film Festival. It was founded in 1932. Towards the end of 1930s, the fascist governments of Italy and Germany started to interfere with the selection of the movies in Venice Film Festival. The idea of Cannes Film Festival was born as a reaction to this fascist interference. In 1939,French minister for Public Instruction and Arts proposed the idea of an international film festival in France. They chose Cannes because of its beautiful setting and weather.

Cannes is one of the most famous tourist destinations and best known cities of the French Riviera. For me it was a disappointment. It was much bigger and crowded than I expected. Although I was expecting it to be touristy, I wasn't expecting to be as touristy as it was. In between all the places I have seen in France, Cannes was my least favorite. It is very expensive and the restaurants and cafes weren't good at all. Having said that, yes it has a good weather (too hot for me and the beaches are very crowded) and it has a nice shore. Rent a car and drive out of Cannes, and then it gets gorgeous.

The decision of a film festival in Cannes was given in 1936 but due to war, the festival had to be postponed. The first film festival in Cannes was on September 20, 1946 in the old Casino de Cannes. The festival has taken place every year since than except for 1948 and 1950. After 1951, the festival date was moved from September to May, because Venice Film Festival was taking place in autumn.

The film industry has changed a lot since 1946, so did the Cannes Film Festival. Hundreds of full-length movies were produced in the 40ies including Citizen Kane (1941). Humphrey Bogart got famous and the most popular genre of the time was Film Noir. At first, Cannes Film Festival was more like a social event, a forum rather than a competition at the time.

In time, the number of participants Cannes Film Festival increased and the festival received a lot of media coverage. The film industry in the 1950s changed a lot as a result of television and the advancements in technology. These were the years when directors Alfred Hitchcock and Akira Kurosawa got popular as well as actors like Marlon Brando, John Wayne and James Stewart.

The festival gained a commercial side to it when the film market was founded in 1959. The festival started to facilitate exchanges between the buyers and sellers and its impact got bigger. To many, the prize part of the festival doesn't mean anything, they are more concerned about buying, selling our distributing their movies.

In 1968, due to the political developments, some directors like Carlos Saura(Carmen, Ay Carmela) and Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus) withdrawn their films from the festival.

During the 70ies, Cannes Film Festival went through imperative changes. Before 1972, different countries were choosing which film was going to represent them in the festival. In 1972, one committee was formed to choose the international films and a second committee was formed to select the French films.

In 1983 a bigger hall for the festival was built to host the festival. Quite an ugly one. It was nicknames as "The Bunker".

Cannes Film Festival is one of the world's most prestigious film festivals. It has a budget of nearly 20 million euros. It has more media coverage than Berlin and Venice Film Festivals. It appreciates the artistic side of films more than the Oscars.
sources
www.festival-cannes.com
e.wikipedia.org
www.brightlightsfilm.com