The world’s first annual international film festival was inaugurated at Venice in 1932. By 1938, the Venice Film Festival had become a vehicle for Fascist and Nazi propaganda, with Italy’s Benito Mussolini’s and Germany’s Adolf Hitler’s dictating the choices of films and sharing the prizes among themselves. Outraged, France decided to organize an alternative film festival – Cannes Film Festival.
The festival schedule included Austrian American director Billy Wilder’s The Lost Weekend, Italian director Roberto Rossellini’s Open City, French director René Clement’s The Battle of the Rails, and British director David Lean’s Brief Encounter. At the first Cannes, organizers placed more emphasis on creative stimulation between national productions than on competition. Nine films were honoured with the top award: Grand Prix du Festival.
The festival had intended to make its debut in September 1939, but the outbreak of World War II forced the cancellation of the inaugural Cannes.
