[Insight] The Secret Behind Cannes Becoming the World's Top Film Festival... (Part 1)

Reasons for Cancellation Despite Inviting Gary Cooper and Others
The Opening Film Was Jean Cocteau's 'Beauty and the Beast'
Closed Just One Day After Opening Due to Directors' Protests

The Cannes International Film Festival is undoubtedly the premier film festival. It is commonly referred to as one of the world's top three film festivals alongside Berlin and Venice, but its reputation and status are truly overwhelming. No star hesitates to be invited. Renowned masters eagerly await their works to be selected. What has driven this small Mediterranean seaside town's festival to grow so much? The key lies in the delicate balancing act between the artistic and industrial extremes of cinema. It protects the essential value of film by judging artistic merit with strict standards while simultaneously attracting Hollywood stars to invigorate the market. An Su-jeong, who worked at the Busan International Film Festival and others, asserted in her book Red Carpet that "As long as this balance remains intact, the Cannes Film Festival, together with the Cannes Market (March?), will continue to attract numerous filmmakers and tourists every May to this small Mediterranean coastal city."

'If you look closely,' we deliver useful information in a somewhat scattered manner.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

*The French government felt threatened in 1932 when the Venice Film Festival, established by the fascist Mussolini regime, took a leading position in the global film industry. Especially Jean Zay, the Minister of Education, felt the need to restore national pride as the birthplace of cinema and to establish a film festival representing the Western free world camp. With support from American and British civilians who shared this sentiment, the Cannes Film Festival was announced in 1939. Louis Lumi?re accepted the chairmanship in June of that year, and the festival was scheduled to run from September 1 to 30. Films were secured for screening, and numerous Hollywood stars such as Gary Cooper and Mae West were invited. A grand pre-opening event was held the day before the opening. However, on September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, and on September 3, Britain and France declared war on Germany, causing the grand plan to fall apart. Consequently, the official inaugural year became 1946, right after World War II ended. The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cannes City Hall took the lead in the festival's full-scale launch.

*1946 was a significant year not only for Cannes but also for several important European film festivals. The Locarno Film Festival was held in August, one week before Cannes opened, followed by the resumption of the Venice Film Festival, which had been suspended due to the war. The Karlovy Vary Film Festival, representing Eastern Europe and Czechoslovakia, was also established that year.

*The film that opened the Cannes Film Festival was Beauty and the Beast, produced by poet and playwright Jean Cocteau. It was screened on September 20, 1946.

*The Cannes Film Festival did not take place in 1948 and 1950 due to budgetary failures. At that time, the financial structure was very poor compared to the current Cannes Film Festival.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

*In its early days, the Cannes Film Festival promoted itself by emphasizing artistic merit while excluding political elements. However, this festival was born as a reaction against the fascist governments of Italy and Germany selecting films for the Venice Film Festival. This is also why it received support from American and British civilians.

*The actual first opening day of the Cannes Film Festival was September 20, 1946, with about 300 film professionals attending. The following year, it was held under the name of an international film festival, inviting films from sixteen countries. Based on the principle of equality, the jury was composed of one representative per country.

*Andr? Malraux, a French novelist and politician, became the Minister of Information in charge of cinema in 1945 after World War II ended. He emphasized that "cinema is an industry" and sought to rebuild the French film industry. A representative achievement was the Blum-Byrnes Agreement, a screen quota negotiation to block American films and protect French cinema. France established a screen quota system requiring cinemas to show French films for four weeks every three months, later extending it to five weeks every three months. Regionalist tendencies appeared not only in the government but also among Nouvelle Vague artists. Influenced by regional cultural identity, the Cannes Film Festival maintained a nationalistic character for a long time, protecting regional identity. Interest in Asian films and American commercial films began only in the 1980s.

*Europe was engulfed in sorrow immediately after World War II due to the devastation of war. France, in particular, was in a desperate situation needing to restore its severely damaged national pride and identity due to Nazi occupation. The successful hosting of the Cannes Film Festival played a significant role in restoring the wounded pride of the French people and uniting them.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

*France established the Cannes Film Festival to counterbalance the Venice Film Festival but secretly made an agreement with Italy. After discussions on how to avoid direct competition, the festival's schedule was moved to spring starting in 1951. Cannes developed into an equal counterpart to Venice by establishing its first market in 1959. It created a commercial character and facilitated exchanges between sellers and buyers. It can be said to be the first platform that set the standard for international film festivals today.

*In 1968, the Cannes Film Festival was interrupted just days after opening due to the May Revolution in Paris. It could not overcome the opposition from Nouvelle Vague directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Fran?ois Truffaut. The Directors' Guild, established that year, created the Directors' Fortnight in the non-competitive section the following year to showcase more progressive and artistic works. During this period, Cannes aimed to be a film festival that defended and devoted itself to the status of art films more than any other festival at the forefront of film art. Although fully funded by the French government, it developed an independent operating system free from interference. Today, it receives 60% of its budget from the National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image (CNC), the equivalent of Korea's Film Council.

*The Directors' Fortnight was established to pay more attention to filmmakers facing crises worldwide due to the emergence of electronic visual media such as television and video. The resistance movement led by young directors like Jean-Luc Godard and Fran?ois Truffaut was quite intense. They occupied the festival's main screening room, stopped the film being shown, and held a press conference. They declared, "French filmmakers stand in solidarity with workers on strike nationwide for a month and students protesting in major cities for the workers." They urged, "The Cannes Film Festival, which naively discusses films and enjoys parties despite the times, must stop immediately." After the statement, directors such as Milo? Forman, Alain Resnais, Louis Malle, Claude Lelouch, and Roman Polanski protested by demanding the return of their films, and the festival closed just one day after opening.

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*The directors' protest did not end there. They were outraged that Andr? Malraux, then French Minister of Culture, tried to dismiss Henri Langlois, the director of the Cin?math?que Fran?aise, using a minor mistake as an excuse. They immediately organized the Committee for the Defense of the Cin?math?que and fought for his reinstatement. As a result, Langlois regained his position, and those who participated in the struggle united to form the French Directors' Guild. The Directors' Fortnight at Cannes was established under the leadership of this organization.

*Henri Langlois is a legendary figure who transformed the Cin?math?que Fran?aise, founded in 1936, into the world's largest film archive and museum. He not only preserved film materials but also saved films at risk of disappearing during the Nazi occupation in World War II and collected all equipment related to film production and screening, creating the Langlois Film Museum. His Cin?math?que was a paradise for film study where the Nouvelle Vague generation?Truffaut, Godard, Rivette, Chabrol, Resnais, and others who revitalized French cinema in the late 1950s?lived almost daily. This is why they were called "children of the Cin?math?que."

*Actress Sophia Loren was appointed the first female president of the Cannes Film Festival jury in the competition section in 1966.

*In 1972, the Cannes Film Festival changed its film selection method. Separate committees were organized to select domestic and foreign films. In 1978, the number of selected films was reduced, and the festival duration was shortened to eleven days. From this time, celebrities and experts joined the jury, which had previously been composed mainly of film scholars.

*For about 20 years after its inception, the Cannes Film Festival had to play the role of the American Cold War political stage due to the East-West confrontation in world affairs. Countries belonging to the Soviet Union refused to submit films to Cannes due to ideological and diplomatic interference.

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*1983 was a significant turning point for the identity and direction of the Cannes Film Festival. First, the main event venue was moved to the Palais des Festivals, greatly expanding the festival's scale. This marked a major shift from the previous direction that solely advocated pure art films. The Palais des Festivals, which became the festival's headquarters, symbolized this new identity. The second change was the strengthening of the market's importance. Cannes began to pursue corporate expansionism by forming close relationships with sponsor companies. It added a market function that evaluates the value of films as commodities on top of its existing role of defending the status of films as art. It transformed into a festival where two different values precariously coexist.

*The Palais des Festivals and Congress (the festival headquarters) is a large concrete building constructed in 1983. It is often called a bunker (warehouse) due to its lack of architectural beauty. The underground passage connecting the market booths to the fifth-floor festival offices branches off in many directions, making it feel like a maze to first-time visitors. However, the view from the festival building overlooking the blue Mediterranean Sea is superb.

Reference materials: Kang-mi Park, published by Storyhouse, The Birth of International Film Festivals (2013); An Su-jeong, published by Myeongin Munhwasa, Red Carpet: Welcome to Film Festival (2014); Im An-ja, published by Bon Books, Korean Films I Met (2014); Kim Dong-ho, published by Munhakdongne, Films, Filmmakers, and Film Festivals (2010), etc.