The Palme D’Or turns 60
Last summer I was on a scheduled bus tour of Western Europe, and we spent one night in the South of France, ten miles from the beach resort where the Cannes Film festival was going on. I understand that each night they show a few selections on big screens on the beach for those not invited inside the festival doors. I wanted to go so badly, but there was a great concern about whether I would be able to make my way there and back safely and in time to catch the bus in the morning. So my hopes were dashed. All the same, I have a great deal of respect for the festival and the folks behind it. Here is an editorial by Gilles Jacob, President of the festival, on the 60th anniversary of the festival
“Soon to be 60? That’s so young for a Festival! It’s barely the time it took Alfred Hitchcock to release doves on the steps of the Palais, the time of one twirl of Charlie Chaplin’s walking stick, of one endless ovation to Ingmar Bergman when crowned Palme of Palmes, or the time to softly sing Tourbillon de la vie to Jeanne Moreau…. It’s not surprising then, that, emboldened by such childhood memories, the Festival is still as demanding, as ambitious and as enthusiastic as ever!
An inventive selection that is neither too traditional nor too sophisticated, a selection that is the most international in the world, open to all film genres and without forgetting the foremost among them - that of the love of film, a selection that is attentive to the arrival of new generations and which combines all the necessary conditions for the films to be hosted and honoured in the great tradition of the Festival de Cannes, a daring selection that seizes the best of the moment, a selection that creates desire, that triggers curiosity, that carries that certain vitality which currently fills film today and gives a hint of the film of tomorrow, a selection that helps these films, cinema, its creators and artists to exist and to continue their work….
As for the rest, always place film at the centre of our acts. Generally, to take nothing into account other than the art of film and the pre-eminence of artistic talent, finally to facilitate transmission, so that tomorrow’s Festival can continue the adventure with the combined strengths of experience and modernity.”
Gilles Jacob
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