2008 Cannes Film Festival 2008 Cannes Film Festival The 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2008. The President of the Official Jury was American actor and director Sean Penn. Twenty two films from fourteen countries were selected to compete for the "Palme d'Or". The awards were announced on 24 May. The film "The Class" ("Entre les murs"), directed by Laurent Cantet won the "Palme d'Or". The festival opened with "Blindness", directed by Fernando Meirelles and closed with "What Just Happened", directed by Barry Levinson. Édouard Baer was the master of ceremonies. "Hunger", directed by Steve McQueen, opened the
1946 Cannes Film Festival International Peace Award 1946 Cannes Film Festival The 1st annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 20 September to 5 October 1946. Twenty-one countries presented their films at the "First Cannes International Film Festival", which took place at the former Casino of Cannes. Only one year after the end of World War II, most of the films were about the war. There arose several technical issues, such as the tarpauline cover blowing away in a storm on the day before the winners were to be announced, the reels of Hitchcock’s "Notorious" shown in reverse order, and George Sydney’s "The Three