September 20: The First Cannes Film Festival

2015-09-20On 20 September 1946, the first ever Cannes Film Festival was held in Cannes, France. The festival ran until October 5 and included such notable films as Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend, Roberto Rosselini’s Rome, Open City, Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious, and Walt Disney’s Make Mine Music.

The Cannes film festival has a rich history beginning in 1939 when it was originally planned to have its inaugural screenings on September 1, the day Germany invaded Poland. The Wizard of Oz was scheduled to be screened at the 1939 festival, but the festival was called off after the screening of only one film; William Dieterie’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

The cancellation of the first Cannes Film Festival due to the actions of Adolf Hitler is ironic in that the Cannes Film Festival was originally created when the Venice Film Festival—the most prestigious film festival of its time—had become over run by Nazi propaganda. This frustration came to a head in 1938 when the top prize then known as the “Coppa Mussolini” or “Mussolini Cup” was given to Leni Riefenstahl’s Olympia, a documentary celebrating Nazi Germany’s success in the 1936 Olympic games over fan and jury favorite La Grande Illusion.

In fact, the users of this capsule express their opinion why not try these out generic viagra in the reviews. All these symptoms together indicates a term PCOS buy bulk viagra which is Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. It also makes the penis lose its ability tadalafil generic online to stay in an erected position. Alcohol and nicotine cheap cialis overnight may slowdown the process of brain sending signals to body. After the Venice upset, there was a movement by French filmmakers and artists to persuade the French Government to allow their own film festival that would be without bias. One of the biggest supports of this movement was Louis Lumiere who, along with his brother, invented the first cinema camera.

The festival was approved by Jean Zay, French Minister for Education and Fine Arts. It was finally able to take place after the end of World War II. Despite a rocky start due to low funding, the festival became the world’s most prestigious film festival in the 1950s and today attracts over 30,000 people to Cannes every year.

–Zachary Hay

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