1998 Cannes Film Festival 1998 Cannes Film Festival The 51st Cannes Film Festival was held from 13 to 24 May 1998. American director, producer, screenwriter, and film historian Martin Scorsese was the Jury President. The Palme d'Or went to the Greek film "Mia aioniotita kai mia mera" by Theo Angelopoulos. The festival opened with "Primary Colors", directed by Mike Nichols, and closed with "Godzilla", directed by Roland Emmerich. Isabelle Huppert was the mistress of ceremonies. In 1998, two new sections were added to the Official Selection, the Un Certain Regard and the Cinéfondation. The aim of the Cinéfondation section is to support the creation
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