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
Cannes Film Festival known to have 'banned' selfies on the Red Carpet of the world's largest Film Festival back in 2015. In 2017, along with the 70th anniversary events of the Festival, the issue of changing the rules on theatrical screening caused controversy. The enforcement of theatrical screening in 2018 resulted in Netflix being banned. The Cannes Film Festival is organised in various sections: The President of the Festival, who represents the Festival in front of its financial partners, the public authorities and the media, is elected by the board of directors of the Festival, officially named the "French Association of the Film