Everything You Need to Know About Cannes (And Why It Still Matters)
Every May, a small city on the French Riviera becomes the center of the world. For about two weeks, the Croisette fills with film crews, press badges, couture gowns, and the kind of electric energy that's hard to describe unless you've been there. Cannes isn't just a film festival — it's a cultural event that has shaped cinema, fashion, and pop culture for nearly 80 years.
Here's the story behind it, and why it still holds its place.
It Was Born Out of a Political Protest
The Cannes Film Festival wasn't created because someone wanted a glamorous party on the French Riviera (though that part came naturally). It was created as a direct response to the Venice Film Festival, which by the late 1930s had become a platform for fascist propaganda. In 1938, Mussolini's Italy and Nazi Germany were essentially running the show in Venice, dictating winners and using the event for political gain.
France, the US, and the UK decided to do something about it. They announced plans for a rival festival in Cannes, to be held in September 1939. Then World War II began, and the whole thing was cancelled after a single screening.
The first real edition of the Cannes Film Festival opened on September 20, 1946, gathering filmmakers from 21 nations in what had once been a casino. The spirit was clear from the start: this was a festival meant to celebrate cinema free from political interference.
The Palme d'Or Has Its Own Story
For the first decade, the top prize was called the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film. It was only in 1955 that the Palme d'Or was introduced — a trophy designed by French jeweller Lucienne Lazon, inspired by the coat of arms of the City of Cannes, where the palm has appeared since the Middle Ages.
The design has evolved over the years. Since 1997, the Palme has been crafted by Chopard: 18-karat Fairmined-certified yellow gold, 19 leaves on a heart-shaped stem, resting on a hand-cut crystal cushion. It takes five artisans and 40 hours to make each one.
The films that have won it read like a history of world cinema: Taxi Driver (1976), Apocalypse Now (1979), David Lynch - Wild at Heart (1990), Pulp Fiction (1994), Parasite (2019). When Bong Joon-ho took home the Palme d'Or for Parasite, it went on to win Best Picture at the Oscars — a reminder that what happens in Cannes doesn't stay in Cannes.
The Red Carpet Has Always Been the Show Within the Show
In the 1950s, Cannes was already becoming something beyond a film festival. Brigitte Bardot's arrival in 1953 set the tone for decades of calculated entrances. Sophia Loren turned up in 1961 and never really left the conversation. By the time the red carpet at the Palais des Festivals became an official fixture in the 1980s, the fashion spectacle was inseparable from the event itself.
Some moments stay with you. Sharon Stone in 1995. Princess Diana floating down the Croisette in pale chiffon in 1987. Bella Hadid in that Alexandre Vauthier dress held together by faith and double-sided tape. Björk showing up in something that had no business being on a red carpet and somehow making it work every single time.
The dress code has always had teeth. For years, flat shoes were technically forbidden — until Kristen Stewart went barefoot and Julia Roberts tucked flip-flops under her gown and nobody quite knew what to do about it. The rules have since relaxed, though "naked dressing" was officially banned last year, and voluminous trains that slow down traffic have been put on notice.
The Films That Changed Everything
Cannes has a habit of premiering films that go on to define eras. La Dolce Vita (1960) opened here. So did Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989), which launched the American independent cinema movement. When Tarantino arrived with Pulp Fiction in 1994 and the jury — led by Clint Eastwood — handed him the Palme d'Or, it was one of those moments that actually changed how people thought about what movies could be.
Michael Moore brought Fahrenheit 9/11 in 2004 and received a 20-minute standing ovation. Parasite left in 2019 as the first Korean film to ever win the Palme d'Or, then went home to pick up four Oscars including Best Picture.
The festival has always been willing to take sides — to champion difficult films, unexpected voices, and work that the mainstream would have taken years to recognize.
The Places That Make Cannes, Cannes
If you ever find yourself there, here's where things actually happen:
The Palais des Festivals is the beating heart of the event — opened in 1982, not particularly beautiful from the outside, but the steps out front are where the photographs are taken and the staircases where careers are made or broken. The handprints of actors and directors are pressed into the walkway outside, a tradition started in 1981.
Hôtel Martinez on the Croisette is where a lot of the industry stays and deals get done. The terrace bar is worth the price of a coffee you don't need.
La Croisette is the seafront boulevard that connects it all. Walking it during the festival, at any hour, you'll run into someone wearing something extraordinary.
La Plage — the beach clubs along the Croisette — is where daytime Cannes happens. Screenings, parties, impromptu meetings. The real conversations often happen here, not in the screening rooms.
Why It Still Matters
In an era of streaming, algorithm-driven recommendations, and studios increasingly risk-averse, Cannes remains one of the last places where a film with no star power, no marketing budget, and no obvious commercial appeal can walk away with the most coveted prize in cinema and change its trajectory entirely.
It's noisy and chaotic and sometimes a little absurd. But every year, films that wouldn't otherwise find an audience get shown on a screen that the whole world is watching. That still means something.
Cannes 2026 runs from May 12 to May 24. The 79th edition.
