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
1954 Cannes Film Festival 1954 Cannes Film Festival The 7th Cannes Film Festival was held from 25 March to 9 April 1954. With Jean Cocteau as President of the Jury, the Grand Prix went to the "Gate of Hell" by Teinosuke Kinugasa. The festival opened with "Le Grand Jeu" by Robert Siodmak. This was the last festival with a predominantly French Jury. As the festival was becoming more and more a pole of showbiz attraction, scandals and romances of stars were appearing in the press. In 1954, the Simone Silva affair during the Cannes Festival ended up in the distuction of her career as