Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival) Best Director Award (Cannes Film Festival) The Best Director Award () is an annual award presented at the Cannes Film Festival for best directing achievements in a feature film screened as part of festival's official selection (i.e. films selected for the competition program which compete for the festival's main prize Palme d'Or). Awarded by festival's jury, it was first given in 1946. The prize was not awarded on 12 occasions (1947, 1953–54, 1960, 1962–64, 1971, 1973–74, 1977, 1980). In addition, the festival was not held at all in 1948 and 1950, while in 1968 no awards were given as the
2017 Cannes Film Festival 2017 Cannes Film Festival The 70th Cannes Film Festival took place from 17 to 28 May 2017, in Cannes, France. Spanish film director and screenwriter Pedro Almodóvar was the President of the Jury for the festival and Italian actress Monica Bellucci hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. "Ismael's Ghosts", directed by French director Arnaud Desplechin, was the opening film for the festival. The festival celebrated its 70th anniversary. In late March 2017, the official poster of the festival was revealed featuring Italian actress Claudia Cardinale. The actress responded, "'I am honoured and proud to be flying the flag for the