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How Cannes was
founded

Cannes reflections

Croisette and port

Every year Cannes is looking like a “besieged” city for twelve days. When time comes, and weather had been nice for a month, suddenly rain comes pouring down during the festival week! This is such a normal way of happening that even nobody is surprised anymore. The Croisette is packed with producers, directors, tycoons, film stars and starlets, autograph hunters and full of baloney people looking for sponsors. Everywhere there are men in sharkskin suits, crocodile shoes, ponytails and Hawaiian T-shirts that look like a nose bleed on a road map. They lie around the hotel-pool, sipping from Perrier bottles and murmur at each other, hoping that their dark glasses will mask the fact that they are watching the topless bathers.
Very so often, one of them will break off to do a quick calculation on a pocket computer. He will then say something like: “But I get the satellite rights on this one.” They then shake hands on a movie deal and say: ”I’m sure we can‘t get into bed on this one.” But each party knows that the handshake will not be binding once they return to the real world and the balance sheets look a bit different away from the glare of the noonday sun.
The first festival was inaugurated in 1946 when the Venice film festival was still the biggest film event of the year. It was common to see the Aga Khan strolling into the screenings of the Cannes festival. Throughout the 1950’s it was possible to fit everyone involved with the festival onto a small motorboat and it was also common for the jury to included illustrious members of the Académie Française. One particular member gave an opening speech in which he said that he was delighted to return watching cinema since the last film he had seen had been in 1913!! Maybe the festival was not very big in those days but it attracted a lot of publicity and had its share of scandals. An English starlet, Simone Silva, made history by ripping off the top of her bikini and thrusting her talents into the surprised arms of Robert Mitchum, who just happened to be strolling nearby. Of course a lot of pictures were taken and duly printed word wide, leading to the horror of the American leagues of decency and to general increase in the interest of the festival.

Robert Mitchum

Brigitte Bardot made an enormous impact on the 1955 and 1956 festivals thatthere were complaints about her hogging in the limelight, much as were in 1991 over the appearance of Madonna.
The serious world wide respected festival began in 1959 with its modern crowded aspect. The Americans had realized that this festival was a perfect opportunity to sell American products or to show them in the shop window. After a brief adventure in 1968, moved by the sprit of the “Parisian events”, when the stage in Cannes was invaded by Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, François Truffaut and many other younger talents.
The film festival is awarded each year by the “Palme d’Or”, the highest reward a film can gain besides a Hollywood Oscar.

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Some black
ideas and
the lively rue Meynadier

Film Festival

Cannes today