About the Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Film Festival (Festival de Cannes) is the world’s most prestigious international film festival, held each May in Cannes, France on the Côte d’Azur. Founded in 1946, it is one of the “Big Three” European festivals alongside Venice and Berlin.
The Palme d’Or is the festival’s top prize, awarded by an international jury. It was known as the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film from 1946 until 1954; the Palme d’Or name was introduced in 1955. The award was briefly replaced again from 1964–1974 before the Palme d’Or name was permanently restored.
Supporting prizes include the Grand Prix, the Jury Prize, the Prix de la mise en scène (Best Director), and the Prix d’interprétation for Best Actor and Best Actress. The festival was not held in 1948 and 1950. A special non-competitive edition was held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2020s
2010s
2000s
1990s
| Year | Palme d’Or | Director |
|---|
| 1999 | Rosetta | Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne |
| 1998 | Eternity and a Day | Theo Angelopoulos |
| 1997 | The Eel & Taste of Cherry (shared) | Shohei Imamura & Abbas Kiarostami |
| 1996 | Secrets & Lies | Mike Leigh |
| 1995 | Underground | Emir Kusturica |
| 1994 | Pulp Fiction | Quentin Tarantino |
| 1993 | Farewell My Concubine & The Piano (shared) | Chen Kaige & Jane Campion |
| 1992 | The Best Intentions | Bille August |
| 1991 | Barton Fink | Joel & Ethan Coen |
| 1990 | Wild at Heart | David Lynch |
1980s
| Year | Palme d’Or | Director |
|---|
| 1989 | Sex, Lies, and Videotape | Steven Soderbergh |
| 1988 | Pelle the Conqueror | Bille August |
| 1987 | Under Satan’s Sun | Maurice Pialat |
| 1986 | The Mission | Roland Joffé |
| 1985 | When Father Was Away on Business | Emir Kusturica |
| 1984 | Paris, Texas | Wim Wenders |
| 1983 | The Ballad of Narayama | Shohei Imamura |
| 1982 | Missing & Yol (shared) | Costa-Gavras & Yilmaz Güney |
| 1981 | Man of Iron | Andrzej Wajda |
| 1980 | All That Jazz & Kagemusha (shared) | Bob Fosse & Akira Kurosawa |
1970s
| Year | Palme d’Or | Director |
|---|
| 1979 | Apocalypse Now & The Tin Drum (shared) | Coppola & Schlöndorff |
| 1978 | The Tree of Wooden Clogs | Ermanno Olmi |
| 1977 | Padre Padrone | Paolo & Vittorio Taviani |
| 1976 | Taxi Driver | Martin Scorsese |
| 1975 | Chronicle of the Burning Years | Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina |
| 1974 | The Conversation | Francis Ford Coppola |
| 1973 | Scarecrow & The Hireling (shared) | Schatzberg & Bridges |
| 1972 | The Working Class Goes to Heaven & The Mattei Affair (shared) | Petri & Rosi |
| 1971 | The Go-Between | Joseph Losey |
| 1970 | M*A*S*H | Robert Altman |
1960s
| Year | Palme d’Or | Director |
|---|
| 1969 | If… | Lindsay Anderson |
| 1968 | No award (festival cancelled) | — |
| 1967 | Blow-Up | Michelangelo Antonioni |
| 1966 | A Man and a Woman & The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (shared) | Lelouch & Germi |
| 1965 | The Knack …and How to Get It | Richard Lester |
| 1964 | The Umbrellas of Cherbourg | Jacques Demy |
| 1963 | The Leopard | Luchino Visconti |
| 1962 | The Given Word | Anselmo Duarte |
| 1961 | Viás Paralelas & Une aussi longue absence (shared) | Colomo & Colpi |
| 1960 | La Dolce Vita | Federico Fellini |
1950s
| Year | Palme d’Or / Grand Prix | Director |
|---|
| 1959 | Black Orpheus | Marcel Camus |
| 1958 | The Cranes Are Flying | Mikhail Kalatozov |
| 1957 | Friendly Persuasion | William Wyler |
| 1956 | The Silent World | Cousteau & Malle |
| 1955 | Marty | Delbert Mann |
| 1954 | Gate of Hell | Teinosuke Kinugasa |
| 1953 | The Wages of Fear | Henri-Georges Clouzot |
| 1952 | Two Cents Worth of Hope & Othello (shared) | Castellani & Welles |
| 1951 | Miss Julie & Miracle in Milan (shared) | Sjöberg & De Sica |
| 1949 | The Third Man | Carol Reed |
1946–1947
| Year | Grand Prix du Festival | Country |
|---|
| 1947 | Antoine et Antoinette | France |
| 1946 | 11 films shared the Grand Prix | Multiple countries |