1959 Cannes Film Festival 1959 Cannes Film Festival The 12th Cannes Film Festival was held from 30 April to 15 May 1959. The Palme d'Or went to the "Orfeu Negro" by Marcel Camus. The festival opened with "Les Quatre Cents Coups", directed by François Truffaut and closed with "The Diary of Anne Frank", directed by George Stevens. In 1959, the Marché du Film (lit. Film Market) was established as the business counterpart of the Cannes Film Festival, with the aim of helping meet the needs of film industry professionals. Before this year the market was held unofficially in the cinemas of the rue d'Antibes
Cannes Film Festival origins may be attributed in part to the French desire to compete with the Venice Film Festival, which at the time was shocking the democratic world by its fascist bias. The first festival was planned for 1939, Cannes was selected as the location for it, but the funding and organization were too slow and finally the beginning of World War II put an end to this plan. On 20 September 1946, twenty-one countries presented their films at the First Cannes International Film Festival, which took place at the former Casino of Cannes. In 1947, amid serious problems of efficiency, the