American actress Meryl Streep (6 lakhs), Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, French actress Eva Green, Italian actor Pierfrancesco Favino, French actress and master of ceremonies of the 77th Cannes Film Festival Camille Cottin, along with American director Greta Gerwig. , Lebanese director Nadine Labaki, American actress Lily Gladstone, Spanish director, producer and writer Juan Antonio Bayona, French actor Omar Sy and Turkish writer and photographer Ebru Ceylan, pose after receiving the honorary Palme d’Or during the opening ceremony of the 77th edition Giving. of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France on May 14, 2024. , Photo courtesy: AFP

Every year in May, when the Festival de Cannes opens, the world of cinema seems to revolve around the Palais de Festival Hall in the quiet French Riviera city of Cannes. The longest-running festival of films in the world, the festival aims to “encourage the development of all forms of cinematographic art” and promote “the spirit of co-operation among all film-producing countries”.

The brainchild of French writer and art critic Philippe Erlanger, the festival first began in 1939, in the months before the outbreak of World War II. Erlanger was a member of the jury of the Venice Mostra, held in Italy under the regime of Benito Mussolini in 1938. Erlanger and other members of the jury became angry with Mostra when she went against the jury’s call to award the Mussolini Cup, the festival’s top prize, to a Nazi propaganda film. Olympia and italian film Luciano Serra, pilot,

After leaving Mostra after vowing not to return, Erlanger contacted French authorities to organize a rival festival before the next Mostra, and the authorities considered it a matter of state. After much planning, the Festival was scheduled to open on 1 September 1939 in the Winter Casino of Cannes. But fears of impending war forced the invitees to leave Cannes.

Germany invaded Poland on the day the festival was scheduled to begin, leaving officials no choice but to postpone it. The declaration of war two days later meant the end of the first edition which featured only William Dieterle’s screening Hunchback of Notre Dame At a private screening. The Six Years’ War did not dampen Erlanger’s spirit, and the festival resumed with its second first edition on September 20, 1946. “The world indulged itself in this first festival in a state of intoxication under a constantly shining sun”, Erlanger said of the festival.

Born under such theatrical fashion as a symbol of resistance to fascism and growing with post-war Europe, the Cannes Festival soon became a meeting place for artistic films from around the world.

But Cannes got its reputation not from the countless masterpieces that were premiered and performed year after year, but from an interrupted version that was forced to close without completion. In 1968, as France grappled with nationwide student protests, the pioneers of French New Wave cinema, Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, led a group of directors and jury members to disrupt the proceedings in Cannes in solidarity with the students. Led.

“We’re talking solidarity with students and workers, and you’re talking about dolly shots and close-ups,” Godard said during the uproar, setting off the perennial debate about the nature of cinema’s relationship with society. Said while doing.

history of resistance

This edition of the festival is no less than its contribution to the rich history of resistance and solidarity. Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, whose film sacred fig seed, was about to be screened, is facing an eight-year prison sentence in Iran for his public statements. He managed to quietly flee the country a few days before the opening of the festival. The Guardian reported that he crossed the border after abandoning all trackable devices and has been granted asylum in Germany.

This edition also takes place against the backdrop of the #metoo movement sweeping France, with director Judith Goderache premiering her short film. Me too (Me Too), a few months later she alleged that two prominent film producers had sexually abused her when she was a teenager.

This year’s festival is significant for India as the country ended its 30-year-long wait to compete for the Palme d’Or, the best film honor at the festival. India made its mark in the inaugural edition of the festival with Chetan Anand low town Sharing the Best Picture award. Now We imagine everything as lightA Malayalam film directed by Payal Kapadia, against the likes of Yorgos Lanthimos types of kindness and Francis Ford Coppola Metropolitan For major awards.

The last time an Indian film competed with another Malayalam film for the award was in 1994. SwahamShaji N. Directed by Karun.