Cannes

Cannes became the setting for an international film festival conceived as an alternative to the politically constrained Venice competition of the late 1930s. The French government and the town agreed on Cannes as the host in May 1939, but the event planned for September was overtaken by the outbreak of war. The first completed festival finally began on 20 September 1946, with screenings at the Municipal Casino and participants from nineteen countries. Its early festivities extended into the streets and gardens of the resort. This beginning links Cannes' later cinematic identity with both the ambitions of international cultural exchange and the disruption of European cultural life by war.