Festival de Cannes

The idea of a grand French festival came about in the late 1930s, as the Venice Film Festival was under significant political pressure. Cannes was meant to be the opposite: an international, “free” festival focused on creativity. In June 1939, its launch was announced, with an opening set for September 1st. But World War II put an end to the plans: the 1939 edition never took place, even though preparations were already well underway.
The first actual edition happened after the war: from 1946 onwards, the Cannes Festival became a regular event. Since then, it has established itself as an annual meeting point, aimed at bringing together different film cultures and recognizing important works.

The Cannes Festival is often reduced to its flashes and gowns. In reality, its power lies in a dual driving force:

• An artistic showcase, driven by the Official Selection and an international jury.
• An industry platform, with the Film Market, professional meetings, international sales, and distribution deals.

The Film Market, made official in 1959, shapes this business dimension and reinforces Cannes’ central role in the global film economy.
The festival takes place at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, whose current building opened at the end of 1982, on the Croisette. This is where screenings, photocalls, press conferences, and ceremonies are held.

In Cannes, scale is measured as much on screen as in logistics. For the 78th edition (2025), the City of Cannes reported 39,772 accredited festival-goers and over 200 million euros in economic impact, with 13,400 jobs (direct and indirect) created and around 80,000 overnight stays — representing a significant share of the city’s annual hotel activity.

On the “festival machine” side, the organization welcomes between 35,000 and 40,000 attendees each year, and schedules 5 to 6 screenings per day across 9 theaters (from 8:30 a.m. to midnight over about ten days), giving a sense of the actual volume of screenings and traffic to manage.

On the media front, the Palais des Festivals highlights coverage by over 4,000 journalists and more than 2,000 media outlets from around 90 countries — a testament to Cannes’ powerful global reach.
Finally, the “business core” of the festival takes shape in the Film Market: over 15,000 participants from 140 countries, 600 exhibitors, 1,500 screenings, and around 250 professional events, along with national pavilions (Village International) representing more than 90 countries.

The Film Market is often reduced to “badges and meetings,” yet it is actually a comprehensive system for selling, financing, and distributing films.
The organizers describe it as the world’s largest international gathering of film professionals, with over 15,000 participants from 140 countries each year.
In concrete terms, it includes exhibition spaces, market screenings, and a dense schedule of events (around 250), featuring pitch sessions, one-on-one meetings, line-up presentations, and rights negotiations.

The Village International is the other key component: 60 pavilions representing over 90 countries, structuring both cultural diplomacy and commercial prospecting.
At its core, the Film Market serves three purposes: selling (sales agents ↔ buyers/distributors), financing (co-productions, investors, pre-sales), and fostering new projects (dedicated programs, project showcases).

The Market highlights platforms that provide access to over 4,000 films and projects in development, through targeted programs and sessions (producer networking, documentaries, animation, etc.).
The result: Cannes is not just a festival that “rewards”; it is also a place where part of the international life of films is shaped — well before their release.

The Cannes Festival is built on a carefully defined balance: an Official Selection decided by the institution, complementary sections (some of them independent), and juries that award films according to precise rules.
It all starts with a simple principle: the Festival “sovereignly” selects and invites the works it chooses to present.

From Submission to Selection

Films are submitted through a registration process, but submission does not guarantee selection or placement in a specific category.
The Festival reminds applicants that the selection committee alone decides in which section a selected film will be screened (Competition, Out of Competition, Un Certain Regard, etc.).
Substantively, the regulations also establish strict criteria: a film must have been produced within the twelve months preceding the Festival, must not have been presented at another international event, and must not have been released online.
This approach protects a key element of the “Cannes label”: the premiere status and rarity of the work at the moment it is revealed.
In terms of volume, the CNC notes that the Official Competition is the result of a selection process from among thousands of submitted films, carried out by a dual committee (French and international), with only around twenty titles ultimately chosen.

The Official Selection

According to the 2026 regulations, the Official Selection comprises the opening film, the closing film, films in Competition, Un Certain Regard titles, Cannes Première films, and Special Screenings.
In practice, this group serves several purposes: showcasing excellence (Competition), highlighting less conventional voices (Un Certain Regard), presenting major works outside the competitive framework (Cannes Première, Special Screenings), and creating “moments” (opening, closing) that shape the media narrative.

The Competition (where the Palme d’Or is awarded)

The Competition is the most closely watched section. The regulations also specify the awards the jury is required to grant: the Palme d’Or, Grand Prix, Best Director, Jury Prize, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress and Best Actor awards.
Two important details help to understand how Cannes works:

• the awards list may include only one tie, and never for the Palme d’Or.
• a film in Competition commits, if it wins the Palme d’Or or the Grand Prix, not to compete in any other international festival.

This gives Cannes a unique position — that of “locking in” the rarity of the title and shaping its global trajectory.

Un Certain Regard

Un Certain Regard was born out of a desire for renewal: the CNC recalls that in 1978, Gilles Jacob brought together several sub-sections into a single selection, which he named Un Certain Regard.
This section aims to highlight original films and emerging talents. Around fifteen films are presented each year, and since 1998, the section has been competitive, with its own jury (usually composed of five members).
This section aims to highlight original films and emerging talents. Around fifteen films are presented each year, and since 1998, the section has been competitive, with its own jury (usually composed of five members).

Cannes Première

The Festival explains that Cannes Première was introduced in 2021 to welcome major filmmakers whose works do not necessarily meet the criteria for the Competition.
Special Screenings, for their part, allow the inclusion of “event” films (tributes, unique proposals, films with strong impact) without subjecting them to competition for awards.
This flexibility is strategic: it enables Cannes to maintain the high standards of its awards while still showcasing major works outside the competitive framework.

In France, Cannes functions as a national cultural event: it brings together media, institutions, brands, and a level of public attention that goes beyond cinema.
The Festival proudly claims to be one of the most widely covered cultural events in the world, and a major festival thanks to its international reach.

Internationally, its strength lies in setting the calendar: being “selected for Cannes” is not just an honor — it’s an entry point into a global circuit of sales, festivals, and releases.
The regulations themselves reflect this logic of rarity and exclusivity (premiere requirements, withdrawal restrictions, post-award rules).
The result is quite unique: Cannes doesn’t merely reflect global cinema — it helps structure it, launch it, and sometimes even redefine it.

Cannes is one of the few festivals where the “audience reaction” becomes a cultural phenomenon in its own right.
Films are screened there under highly specific conditions: an intense, international audience, a constant media presence, and a real-time narrative dynamic.
This creates moments that have become nearly as famous as the films themselves — boos, standing ovations, walkouts, emotional outbursts.
This kind of folklore is far from trivial: it plays a role in shaping the Festival’s memory and, at times, gives a film a trajectory that reaches far beyond the Croisette.

The most striking example remains Taxi Driver. When it was screened in 1976, the film was reportedly met with boos — a sign that Cannes can be confrontational, even in the face of what would later become a classic.
And yet, that same year, the jury awarded it the Palme d’Or.
This contrast captures part of the Cannes myth: the institution is capable of going against the mood in the room and standing by an artistic choice that will age better than the noise of the audience.

Another moment that entered pop culture: 1994 and Pulp Fiction.
The awards list crowned Quentin Tarantino’s film with the official Palme d’Or — but the announcement was met with hostility from the audience.
Amid the uproar, Tarantino responded with a now-iconic gesture, widely shared as a symbol of a Cannes that can be electric, unpredictable, and at times emotionally brutal.
Once again, the point isn’t just the scandal itself: Cannes proves to be a place where a new cinematic language can assert itself live — without needing unanimous approval.

In a more extreme register, some films have left their mark on Cannes by testing the audience.
In 2002, the screening of *Irréversible* by Gaspar Noé reportedly caused fainting spells, with many viewers leaving the theater before the end, according to media reports at the time.
Moments like these reveal an important truth: Cannes goes far beyond the consensual. The Festival becomes a showcase for the artistic, moral — and even physical — limits that cinema can push.

Finally, Cannes has developed a very contemporary parallel narrative: that of timed ovations and “buzz metrics” — the length of applause, instant reactions, and awards rumors.
Some media outlets even detail their measurement methods and track supposed “records,” a sign that the event now unfolds as much in the screening room as it does through media coverage.

1968: The Festival Interrupted

May 1968 stands as the major institutional precedent. Amid a context of social unrest in France, tensions rose within the Festival until the edition was simply and entirely shut down.
Cannes notes that this was the “one and only time” in its history that the Festival was stopped, with no awards given.
The episode became symbolic: the country’s most high-profile cultural event could not pretend the rest of the world didn’t exist.
Since then, 1968 has often served as a reference point whenever Cannes is called upon to “take a stand.”

Netflix (2017–2018)

The controversy truly began in 2017, when Netflix films in Competition sparked a conflict with French theater owners and, more broadly, with the traditional model of theatrical release.
Cannes responded by changing its rules: from then on, eligibility for the Competition required a commitment to theatrical distribution in France.
The core of the conflict is structural: under France’s media chronology laws, there are significant delays before a film can be made available on streaming platforms — something Netflix generally refuses to comply with for its own productions.
The result: Netflix withdrew from the 2018 edition, turning what had been a technical debate (release windows) into a global cultural issue — namely, the very definition of “cinema.”

“Flatgate” (2015)

In 2015, several reports claimed that women were turned away from a red carpet screening because they were wearing flat shoes.
The incident quickly became a media firestorm, with celebrities speaking out and the debate shifting focus: was it an explicit rule, overzealous enforcement, or an unspoken dress code?
The Guardian covered the controversy in depth, highlighting the discomfort surrounding a dress code perceived as gendered.
The Festival, for its part, denied the existence of any “heels required” policy, while defending a certain level of formality.
Regardless, the episode left a lasting impression: at Cannes, dress codes fall somewhere between style and protocol — subtly shaping access and inclusion.

Selfies

Another controversy: selfies on the red carpet steps.
As early as 2015, Thierry Frémaux publicly criticized the practice, calling it disruptive to the flow of events.
French media highlighted the core argument: that selfies cause disorder and trivialize a ritual carefully designed for the press and official photography.
By 2018, the Festival made the ban more explicit, with Frémaux describing the practice as chaotic and “ridiculous” in widely circulated interviews.
This case illustrates a consistent point: Cannes protects its image.

Lars von Trier (2011)

In 2011, Lars von Trier sparked a crisis during the press conference for *Melancholia* by making a series of provocative remarks about Nazism.
The institutional response was swift: the Festival’s board of directors declared him “persona non grata” — a decision confirmed by multiple international media outlets.
This moment is significant because Cannes formalized a sanction, while still keeping the film in Competition.
Since then, the incident has become a textbook case on the boundaries between provocation, freedom of speech, and public responsibility.

Shock Films and the Culture of the Walkout

Some controversies focus on the raw experience of a screening. Irréversible (2002) remains one of the most frequently cited examples: audience discomfort, walkouts, and immediate media coverage.
Variety has even published features on Cannes screenings that sparked exits and debates — proof that the “walkout” has become a genre of its own in the Festival’s mythology.
The mechanism is always the same: artistic transgression provokes a visible reaction, the reaction becomes a story, and the story amplifies the film’s presence — whether it ends up celebrated or dismissed.

2025: Power Outage and Suspicions of Sabotage

More recently, the Festival faced a different kind of controversy: an infrastructure incident.
On May 24, 2025, a power outage hit Cannes and the surrounding area, disrupting part of the Festival’s operations.
Several media outlets reported suspicions of a deliberate act targeting electrical infrastructure, prompting an open investigation and raising broader regional concerns, as a significant number of households were affected.
The Palais switched to backup systems, and the closing ceremony went ahead as planned.