 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
also known as: Festival International du Film de Cannes
In 1945, the "Association Française d'Action Artistique" was asked to organize, for the following year, a Festival that would be held under the aegis of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education and from 1946 and onwards, of the newly founded National Centre for Cinematography (CNC). Despite the hardships of the time, the Cannes Film Festival, the first important postwar cultural event, started on September 20, 1946. It was more a film forum than a competition as almost all the films presented were to receive a prize. At first, the Festival was mainly a tourist and social event. Owing to the great increase of participants and the new economic stakes involved, the Festival gradually became the annual gathering of the film industry. In Cannes, the professionals could find a unique opportunity to meet, build up future projects and do business with partners from an increasing number of countries.
The films were
originally chosen by their countries of production, but, in 1972, the rules
changed. The Festival would, from then on, select the films among the recent
productions in each country, a decision that marked a turning point and was
quickly taken up by the other festivals. Thanks to a balance between the artistic
quality of the films and their commercial impact, the Festival has gained in
fame and has become a major crossroad for the international film scene. Not
only does the presentation of a film in Cannes guarantee international publicity
thanks to a high concentration of media, but the Festival also reveals as well
as reflects the evolution and trends in world cinema.
In the years before 1955 the main festival award was named 'Grand Prix du Festival International du Film'. From then on, the best film received the famous Golden Palm. Among the winners are classic movies such as The Third Man (Carol Reed), La Dolce Vita (Federico Fellini), Il Gattopardo (Luchino Visconti), Blowup (Michelangelo Antonioni), MASH (Robert Altman), The Conversation (Francis Coppola), Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese), Padre Padrone (Taviani brothers), Apocalypse Now (Francis Coppola), Kagemusha (Akira Korusawa), Barton Fink (Joel Coen), The Piano (Jane Campion), Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino), Secrets and Lies (Mike Leigh) and, recently, Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark.
also known as: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Berlinale)
Since its founding in 1951, the Berlin International Film Festival has numbered alongside Cannes and Venice among the leading film festivals of the world. On June 6, 1951, the International Film Festival opened at the tradition- steeped Titania-Palast film theater. The inaugural film shown was Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, an exquisite adaptation of the Daphne Du Maurier novel, the picture's star Joan Fontaine being among the highly celebrated Festival guests present. From the very first Festival, the "Golden Berlin Bear" was introduced.
After the FIAPF officially elevated the Berlinale to a status parallel to that of the festivals in Cannes and Venice in 1955, the Berlin Festival was in 1956 first able to appoint an international jury, this awarding the "Golden" as well as the "Silver Bear". In 1978 the Festival's director A. Donner opened the competition to films from Eastern Europe and Asia; he furthermore introduced the "Neue Deutsche Filme" ("New German Films") and the Children's Film Festival ("Kinderfilmfest").
In the heart of Berlin, capital and cultural meeting-point, the Berlinale offers a platform for the promotion of the art and industry of cinema. Its intention is to support a better cooperation and understanding between cultures from around the world by presenting innovative works of merit.
Numerous directors and actors that are today part of film history were "discovered" at the festival. Directors such as Akira Kurosawa, Ingmar Bergman, Satyajit Ray, Roman Polanski and the "Nouvelle Vague" directors Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut and Claude Chabrol enjoyed their first successes in Berlin.
also known as: Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica (1934-)
The Venice Film
Festival is the oldest film festival still to take place. The very first "Esposizione
d'Arte Cinematografica" was part of the 18 th Venice Biennale (held from
6 July to 21 August 1932).
The highest authorities in the land gave their blessing to what was rightly
considered to be the first international event of its kind. The 1932 Festival
was held entirely on the terrace of the Hotel Excelsior on the Venice Lido;
and though it was not yet competitive, it did attract such future classics as
Frank Capra's It Happened One Night, King Vidor's The Champ, James Whale's Frankenstein,
Aleksandr Dovzenko's Zemlja and René Clair's A nous la liberté.
The international
success of the Festival was clear when, in 1935, it became an annual event.
The 1936 Festival was the first with an International Jury. The entire event
continued to grow, with further increases in the number of countries participating
and films accepted.
Up until 1956 it were the individual foreign nations that chose which of their
films should get a
screening in Venice, and this foreign section of the event brought a whole range
of masterpieces to the Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica. From 1937
to 1942, the award-winning Italian films were often propaganda works. In 1948
the Golden Lion awards were introduced for the first time. During the 1950s
and 60s, the Festival became an increasingly international event, with the introduction
of new national cinemas and the arrival of the most important directors and
stars.
Over the years,
the Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica has had a noteworthy influence
on world cinema. Japanese cinema became known in the West largely thanks to
the 1951 Golden Lion award to Akira Kurosawa's Rashô-mon. The same might
also be said of Indian cinema, with the 1957 Golden Lion going to Satyajit Ray's
Aparajito. During the 1950s and 60s the Mostra saw the presence of some of the
great masters of Italian cinema: Fellini, Antonioni, Rosi, Olmi, Bertolucci,
Pasolini and Luchino Visconti Award-winners have included some of the most significant
works by the very greatest of the world's directors: Carl Theodor Dreyer (Ordet,
1955), the then newcomer Andrej Tarkovskj (Ivanovo Detstvo - Golden Lion in
1962), Luis Buñuel (Belle de jour, 1967) and Ingmar Bergman (The Face,
1959).
During the 80s and 90s, Venice made its contribution to New German Cinema, with
its most prestigious awards going to such figures as Rainer Werner Fassbinder
and Wim Wenders. Amongst those who in recent years have either established or
confirmed their reputations at Venice the following must be mentioned: Emir
Kusturica, Pedro Almodovar, Hou Xiaoxian, Jane Campion, Krzysztof Kieslowski,
Zhang Yimou, Tsai Ming-liang and Lee Tamahori.