Cannes Reporter:
Though the doyennes of Venice and Berlin may not like it, Cannes, at the turn of the 21st Century, has grown to become the premier film festival in the world.
But did you know?
a) The town of Cannes was founded by Monks in the 11th Century.
b) The Man in the Iron Mask (believed to be the twin of King Louis XIV) was imprisoned on the nearby island of St Marguerite in the 17th Century.
c) Lord Brougham was so enamoured by Cannes that he introduced British aristocracy to the city following his first visit in 1834.
d) The current Cannes Film Festival was founded in 1946, but the very first Cannes Film Festival occurred in August 1939, only days before the outbreak of the Second World War. Just one film screening was hurriedly organised, the American film Quasimodo by William Dietrie. A cardboard replica of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was erected on the beach of Cannes.
e) Brigitte Bardot was a Cannes discovery in the 1950’s.
f) In 1960, Frederico Fellini’s Palme d’Or winner, La Dolce Vita, was considered to be pornographic by the Vatican who threatened to ex-communicate anyone who saw it! A year later, Luis Bunuel’s Palm d’Or winner, Viridiana. so angered Spanish dictator Franco and the Orthodox Church that they forbade Bunuels’ return to Spain!
g) On 19th May 1968, mid-way through the Cannes Film Festival, amid a backdrop of mass demonstration and rioting in Paris, film directors and producers packed their bags and the Palais immediately emptied out.
h) The present day Palais des Festival des Congres opened in 1983 and was immediately nicknamed ‘The Bunker”. It replaced the much smaller Palais de Croisette.
i) In 1998 Italian actor-director Roberto Benigni fell to his knees, in gratitude, upon being awarded the Palme d’Or by the judges for his film Life is Beautiful.
j) Nearly 4,000 journalists covered the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, making it the second largest media event after the Olympic Games.
k) The official Red Carpet is changed 3 times a day, and the total length unravelled over the period of the festival measures 2 kilometres.
Bolash1 @ Cannes:
So, it’s that annual pilgrimage to the Cote d’Azur where the beautiful and not so beautiful people migrate to every May, a glitzy glam film-fest that some would run a mile from. But hey! This is the movie business, it’s only make believe.(And yes! It does rain in Cannes.)
We, here at Bolash1, like our day in the sun so we took our latest FBH Produced feature film – The Warehouse– to Cannes.
Here are some pics (2012) and (2013).
Chas and Steve – bolash1 – “Lovely view!”
The team arrive…
“Let’s get this show on the road..”
(I mean boat!)
Sorry! Us again…. We don’t get out much.
Lovely view, ladies!
“Great party” – “Who stole our hands?”
‘We’ll be back!’
