Cannes began as a Riviera answer to fascist Venice prizes
In 1938 Mussolini and Hitler overrode a Venice jury, handing cups to propaganda pictures. French, British, and American jurors walked out. France picked Cannes over Biarritz, planned a 1939 launch with Hollywood stars on an MGM liner—then Germany invaded Poland and the festival vanished until 1946.
Jean Zay, Philippe Erlanger, and Robert Favre Le Bret sketched an international festival to rival Venice, then the only such event and increasingly a fascist showcase. After Mussolini blocked a prize for La Grande Illusion and the 1938 Mussolini Cups went to Luciano Serra, Pilot and the Nazi-linked Olympia, Western jurors withdrew. On 31 May 1939 Cannes won the site; The Hunchback of Notre Dame screened privately on 31 August. War cancelled the rest.
Twenty-one countries returned from 20 September to 5 October 1946 at the old Casino. Money troubles skipped 1948 and 1950; a seaside Palais rose in 1949, then spring dates from 1951 avoided Venice. The Palme d'Or replaced the Grand Prix in 1955. The Marché du Film opened in 1959 as the first global film-trading floor. Parallel sections multiplied: International Critics' Week in 1962, Directors' Fortnight after the May 1968 shutdown, Un Certain Regard and the Caméra d'Or under Gilles Jacob from 1978.
A larger Palais—mocked as "The Bunker"—opened in 1983; a red carpet arrived in 1987. Cinéfondation (1998), La Résidence, and L'Atelier later nurtured new writers. FIAPF accreditation dates to 1951; Cannes sits in Europe's Big Three with Venice and Berlin and in the wider Big Five with Toronto and Sundance. The 2020 edition was cancelled rather than go online—the first blank year since 1968—showing how tightly the festival still binds glamour, commerce, and geopolitics. Politics bit early, too: Night and Fog (1956) and Hiroshima, My Love (1959) were barred from competition on diplomatic grounds, and only in 1965 did a woman, Olivia de Havilland, preside over the jury, with Sophia Loren following in 1966.
Source: Cannes Film Festival
