Introduction to Cannes Film Festival

Introduction to the Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival (English: Cannes International Film Festival, French: Festival De Cannes), also translated as Cannes (Cannes) International Film Festival, was founded Founded in 1939, it is the most influential and top international film festival in the world today. Together with the Venice International Film Festival and the Berlin International Film Festival, it is known as the three major international film festivals in Europe. The highest award is the Palme d'Or. The current Cannes Film Festival is held in mid-May every year and lasts for about 12 days. It usually opens on Wednesday and closes on the following Sunday. In addition to the film competition, a market exhibition was also held at the same time. The festival is divided into six sections: "Formal Competition", "Directors' Fortnight", "A Spectacle", "Critics Weekly", "New Looks in French Cinema" and "Outside Market Exhibition".

So far, the only Chinese-language films are "Farewell My Concubine" directed by Chen Kaige (Palm d'Or), Zhang Yimou's "Alive" (Jury Prize), and "The Devil Is Coming" ( Jury Prize) has won important awards.

1 Development History

Cannes International Film Festival (Festival De Cannes), also translated as Cannes or Cannes Film Festival, is one of the largest and most important film festivals in the world. In 1939, France decided to create its own international film festival in order to fight against the Venice International Film Festival, which was controlled by the Italian fascist regime at the time. The outbreak of World War II brought preparations to a halt. After the war, the first film festival was held in Cannes, a tourist resort in southern France, on September 20, 1946. Since its inception, except for the suspension in 1948, 1950 and 1968, it has been held once a year for about two weeks. Originally held in September every year. Starting from 1951, in order to be earlier than the Venice International Film Festival, it was held in May. In 1956, the highest award was the Golden Duck Award. In 1957, it was changed to the Palme d'Or Award, which was awarded to the best feature film, documentary, scientific and educational film, and artistic film. In addition, over the years, awards have been awarded for psychological love films, adventure detective films, musical films, biopics, entertainment films, debut films, directors, actors and actresses, screenwriters, photography, and editing.

The festival’s activities are divided into six units: “Formal Competition”, “Directors’ Fortnight”, “A Kind of Gaze”, “Critics Weekly”, “New Looks in French Cinema”, and “Extra” Market Exhibition?. There are two groups of judges who evaluate feature films and short films respectively. The "formal competition" is composed of people from the film and cultural circles from various countries. The candidates are all well-known directors, actors, screenwriters, film critics, soundtrack composers, etc. Among them One serves as chairman. The non-competitive part focuses on promoting new talents. Among them, "Directors' Fortnight" and "One Eye" have discovered many directors with great potential or achievements in the industry.

2 Founding History

Since its inception, the Cannes Film Festival has received support and funding from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, and National Film Center. Except for the 34th Film Festival in 1981, due to changes in the political situation in France and the assassination of Pope John Paul II on the opening day of the film festival, no one from the French government attended the opening ceremony. Generally, at the opening ceremony of every film festival, A French ministerial official attended and delivered a speech. At the 50th anniversary ceremony in Cannes, former French President Chirac flew from Paris to Cannes to express his congratulations. This is the first time in the half-century history of Cannes that a president has visited.

The Cannes Film Festival is a major event in the film industry that has lasted for more than 60 years. It is usually held in Cannes, France in May every year and lasts for ten days. During the film festival, various competition film awards include: Palme d'Or, Jury Prize, Best Director Award, Best Screenplay Award, Best Actor/Actress Award, Un Certain Regard Award, Cinéfondation Award, etc.

Cannes Film Festival - Development History

Early Years

Cannes Film Festival

In the late 1930s, France felt that Germany and The rising fascist arrogance in Italy, especially the German Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, vigorously promoted Leni Riefenstahl to film the Berlin Olympics in 1936, which later became the 1938 documentary "Olympia" (Olympia), was nominated for the Venice Film Festival in 1938 and also won the Mussolini Award for Best Foreign Film; so Jean Zay, the French Minister of Administration and Arts, accepted Philippe Ayre. At the suggestion of Philippe Erlanger, it was decided to create a new international film festival in Cannes; the full name of the first film festival was "Festival international du film" (Festival international du film). I chose Cannes because of the comfortable climate there.

In June 1939, Louis Lumière served as the chairman of the first International Film Festival. The first film festival ran from September 1st to September 30th. .

Starting in August 1939, the American film company Metro Goldwyn Mayer used luxury cruise ships to carry Hollywood stars such as Tyrone Power, Gary Cooper, Annabella, Norman Shearer, George Raft came to Cannes to hold parties and celebrations, which immediately attracted many movie fans. However, Germany invaded Poland on September 1, and the film festival was immediately canceled; France and the United Kingdom declared war on Germany on September 3.

After World War II

On September 20, 1946, with the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, and the Federation of Film and Television, the French Art Action Association organized the Cannes Film Festival again. In the first session. The first Cannes Film Festival was held in an old casino in Cannes. Later, it was jointly organized by the French Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Commerce.

Since the first session in 1946, it was suspended in 1948 and 1950 due to financial difficulties. But in 1949, the festival was held in a new building, the Palais des festivals; also called the "Red Carpet Building" by the French.

The show was suspended on May 19, 1968 due to the May Storm. The previous day, May 18, one of the judges, Louis Maloux, resigned. Chufu, Claude Berri, Jean-Gabriel Albicocco, and Claude Claude Lelouche, Roman Polanski and Jean-Luc Godard burst into the lobby of the festival building and insisted on interrupting the screening of the film in order to confront the striking students and Labor stands together?.

After 2002

It was not until 2002 that the film festival was officially named the Cannes Film Festival (Festival de Cannes);