Cannes Film Festival trivia: 102 amazing facts about the festival that everyone talks about!

Cannes Film Festival is one of the three most well known festivals in Europe! It is a great platform for films to open there.

But do you know everything about the film festival?

The Cannes Festival was called, until 2002, the International Film Festival
And known in English as the Cannes Film Festival
It is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France
Which previews new films of all genres
Including documentaries from all around the world
Founded in 1946, the invitation-only festival is held annually
Usually in May
At the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès
It is one of the “Big Three”
Alongside the Venice Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival
On 1 July 2014, co-founder and former head of French pay-TV operator Canal+, Pierre Lescure, took over as President of the Festival
While Thierry Fremaux became the General Delegate
The board of directors also appointed Gilles Jacob as Honorary President of the Festival
The 2018 Cannes Film Festival took place between 8 and 19 May 2018
The jury president was Australian actress Cate Blanchett
And Shoplifters, directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, won the Palme d’Or
The Cannes Film Festival has its origins in 1932
When Jean Zay, the French Minister of National Education, on the proposal of historian Philippe Erlanger
And with the support of the British and Americans
Set up an international cinematographic festival
Its origins may be attributed in part to the French desire to compete with the Venice Film Festival
Which at the time was shocking the democratic world by its fascist bias
The first festival was planned for 1939
Cannes was selected as the location for it
But the funding and organization were too slow
And finally the beginning of World War II put an end to this plan
On 20 September 1946, twenty-one countries presented their films at the First Cannes International Film Festival
Which took place at the former Casino of Cannes
In 1947, amid serious problems of efficiency, the festival was held as the “Festival du film de Cannes”
There films from sixteen countries were presented
The festival was not held in 1948 and 1950 on account of budgetary problems
In 1949, the Palais des Festivals was expressly constructed for the occasion on the seafront promenade of La Croisette
Although its inaugural roof, while still unfinished, blew off during a storm
In 1951, the festival was moved to spring to avoid a direct competition with the Venice Festival which was held in autumn
During the early 1950s, the festival attracted a lot of tourism and press attention
With showbiz scandals and high-profile personalities’ love affairs
At the same time, the artistic aspect of the festival started developing
Because of controversies over the selection of films
The Critics’ Prize was created for the recognition of original films and daring filmmakers
In 1954, the Special Jury Prize was awarded for the first time
In 1955, the Palme d’Or was created
Replacing the Grand Prix du Festival which had been given until that year
In 1957, Dolores del Río was the first female member of the jury for the official selection
In 1959, the Marché du Film (Film Market) was founded
Giving the festival a commercial character and facilitating exchanges between sellers and buyers in the film industry
Today it has become the first international platform for film commerce
Still, in the 1950s, some outstanding films, like Night and Fog in 1956 and Hiroshima, My Love in 1959 were excluded from the competition for diplomatic concerns
The 1968 festival was halted on 19 May
Some directors, such as Carlos Saura and Miloš Forman, had withdrawn their films from the competition
On 18 May filmmaker Louis Malle along with a group of directors took over the large room of the Palais and interrupted the projections in solidarity with students and labour on strike throughout France
And in protest to the eviction of the then President of the Cinémathèque Française
The filmmakers achieved the reinstatement of the President
And they founded the Film Directors’ Society (SRF) that same year
In 1969 the SRF, led by Pierre-Henri Deleau created the Directors’ Fortnight
A new non-competitive section that programs a selection of films from around the world
Distinguished by the independent judgment displayed in the choice of films
During the 1970s, important changes occurred in the Festival
In 1972, Robert Favre Le Bret was named the new President
And Maurice Bessy the General Delegate
He introduced important changes in the selection of the participating films
Welcoming new techniques
And relieving the selection from diplomatic pressures
With films like MASH, and later Chronicle of the Years of Fire marking this turn
In some cases, these changes helped directors like Tarkovski overcome problems of censorship in their own country
Also, until that time, the different countries chose the films that would represent them in the festival
Yet, in 1972, Bessy created a committee to select French films
And another for foreign films
In 1978, Gilles Jacob assumed the position of General Delegate
Introducing the Caméra d’Or award
For the best first film of any of the main events
And the Un Certain Regard section
For the non-competitive categories
Other changes were the decrease of length of the festival down to thirteen days
Thus reducing the number of selected films
Also, until that point the Jury was composed by Film Academics
And Jacob started to introduce celebrities and professionals from the film industry
In 1983, a new, much bigger Palais des Festivals et des Congrès was built to host the festival
While the Directors’ Fortnight remained in the old building
The new building was nicknamed “The Bunker”
Provoking a lot of criticism
Especially since it was hardly finished at the event and several technical problems occurred
In 1984 Pierre Viot replaced Robert Favre Le Bret as President of the Festival
In his term, the Festival started including films from more countries
Like Philippines, China, Cuba, Australia, India, New Zealand and Argentina
In 1987, for the first time of the Festival, a red carpet was placed at the entrance of the Palais
In 1989, during the first Cinéma & liberté forum, hundred directors from many countries signed a declaration “against all forms of censorship still existing in the world”
In 1998, Gilles Jacob created the last section of the Official Selection: la Cinéfondation
Aiming to support the creation of works of cinema in the world and to contribute to the entry of the new scenario writers in the circle of the celebrities
The Cinéfondation was completed in 2000 with La Résidence
There young directors could refine their writing and screenplays
And in 2005 L’Atelier
Which helps twenty directors per year with the funding of their films
Gilles Jacob was appointed Honorary President in 2000
And in 2002, the Festival officially adopted the name Festival de Cannes
During the 2000s, the Festival started focusing more on the technological advances taking place in the film world, especially the digital techniques
In 2004 the restored historical films of the Festival were presented as Cannes Classics, which included documentaries
In 2007 Thierry Frémaux became General Delegate
In 2009 he extended the Festival in Buenos Aires, as La Semana de Cine del Festival de Cannes
And in 2010 he created the Cannes Court Métrage for the Short Film competition
Festival Director Thierry Fremaux is known to have ‘banned’ selfies on the Red Carpet of the world’s largest Film Festival back in 2015
In 2017, along with the 70th anniversary events of the Festival, the issue of changing the rules on theatrical screening caused controversy
The enforcement of theatrical screening in 2018 resulted in Netflix being banned