Considered one of the ‘big three’ movie festivals, alongside Venice and Berlin, the Cannes Film Festival lights up the French Riviera metropolis yearly in May, premiering the newest movies from round the world. Originally launched in 1939, it was first touted as a rival to Venice, which had been used as a propaganda machine by the Italian Fascist Party.
The first version noticed Hollywood’s greatest stars transported to the South of France by way of an Ocean Liner chartered by MGM Studios, with Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Norma Shearer, Spencer Tracy and James Cagney on board. Yet it was cancelled simply two days in, following Germany’s invasion of Poland, with the Axis powers of France and the UK drawn into struggle. It returned in 1946, with the present iteration being its 77th version. In the Sixties, it noticed performing royalty like Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren and Elizabeth Taylor strolling La Croisette’s well-known purple carpet, whereas actual royalty, including Diana, Princess of Wales, have since attended.
Over the years, it has awarded the whole lot from Pulp Fiction to La Dolce Vita with its coveted Palme d’Or, designed since 1998 by Chopard Haute Joaillerie.
