CANNES - A FESTIVAL VIRGIN'S GUIDE
Festival Basics
A look back at over more than 60 years of film in Cannes. more »
Making sense of all of the various sections and sidebars. more »
How to attend the Cannes Film Festival. more »
Frequently asked questions from Cannes virgins. more »
For 12 days in May the city of Cannes is transformed from a quiet seaside resort into the entire focus of the international film industry. Over 200,000 people - filmmakers, film fans, and star-gazers alike - descend on the Croisette to take part in the Cannes Film Festival (or more correctly, the Festival de Cannes). During these two weeks thousands of films are screened, careers are made (and ruined), and stars from all over the world gather to bask in the limelight.
Ever since the early 1950s, when a bikini-clad Brigitte Bardot frolicked on the beach for the cameras, Cannes has grown to embody two of the world's favourite pastimes: sex and cinema. Now easily the most famous film festival of them all, the mere mention of Cannes conjures up images of red carpets, palm trees, scantily-clad starlets, the blinding flashes of a million paparazzi cameras, and of course, celebrity parties.