1968 Cannes Film Festival

none 1968 Cannes Film Festival CFF68poster.jpg Official poster of the 21st Cannes Film Festival, an original illustration by Beaugendre.http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/1967/posters.html 1968 The Festival Poster festival-cannes.com dead https://web.archive.org/web/20131224095523/http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/1968/posters.html 24 December 2013 dmy Grace Kelly 28 (In Competition) Gone with the Wind Rocky Road to Dublin(Final film screened) Cannes, France No awards given 1968 05 10 y – 1968 05 24 y 1946 festival-cannes.com/en Cannes Film Festival 1967 1969 The 21st Cannes Film Festival took place from 10 to 19 May 1968, when it was officially cancelled due to the ongoing turmoil of May 1968 in France.http://www.cannes-fest.com/an1968.htm 1968 - Sous la plage, les pavés (Under the beach, the cobblestones) cannes-fest.com fr 3 June 2017 8 November 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20191108225157/http://www.cannes-fest.com/an1968.htm dead French writer André Chamson served as jury president for the main competition.https://variety.com/2008/film/news/flashback-cannes-1968-1117985372/ Flashback: Cannes 1968 variety.com 25 May 2017 The festival opened with Gone with the Wind (1939) by Victor Fleming. Background This edition was marked by the previous controversy around the Langlois affair. On February 9, 1968 a meeting of the board of directors of the Cinémathèque Française (a non-profit organization), in which the representatives of the Ministry of Culture and of the Centre national du cinéma et de l'image animée (which depended on the latter) decided to remove Henri Langlois, director and co-founder of the Cinémathèque, from his position. Even though they were not a majority, Langlois supporters such as François Truffaut refused to cast their vote.Lebovics Herman 1999 Mona Lisa's Escort: Andre Malraux and the Reinvention of French Culture https://archive.org/details/monalisasescorta00lebo registration New York City Cornell University Press 149 0-8014-3565-X André Malraux, the French Minister of Culture, had prompted this decision because he wanted to implement managerial changes to gain more influence in the institution. After another vote Pierre Barbin, director of the Tours and Annecy film festivals, became the new director.Baecque Antoine de Antoine de Baecque Toubiana Serge 2001 François Truffaut https://books.google.com/books?id=a2H0AiDn4XIC&q=pierre+barbin+andre+malraux&pg=PA236 Folio 235–236 978-2-07-041818-3 Langlois was a very popular and beloved figure and this decision sparked a number of protests and demonstrations by filmmakers of the French New Wave, as well as actors, critics and fans who demonstrated in front of the Cinémathèque at the Palais de Chaillot on February 12.Bergan Ronald 2008 Francois Truffaut: Interviews (Conversations With Filmmakers) https://books.google.com/books?id=InkO-cNtBGsC&q=Malraux+Truffaut+Palais+de+Chaillot&pg=PR13 Jackson, Mississippi University Press of Mississippi 13 978-1-934110-13-3 Many internationally acclaimed film directors like Charles Chaplin, Stanley Kubrick, Roberto Rossellini, Orson Welles and Luis Buñuel also sent letters in support of Langlois and even threatened to retrieve the copies of their films previously given to the Cinemathéque.January 14, 1977 HENRI LANGLOIS, 62, HISTORIAN OF FILM https://www.nytimes.com/1977/01/14/archives/henri-langlois-62-historian-of-film-director-of-la-cinematheque.html The New York Times Paris April 30, 2020 On February 14, another demonstration took place but this time artists were joined by Sorbonne University students in what was a prelude of what was going to happen in the following months. French filmmakers decided to form the Committee for the Defense of the Cinémathèque. At this point, the issue was no longer cultural and had become political. After long negotiations, on April 22, a special meeting of the general assembly of the Cinémathèque was called and voted to reinstate Langlois, with the approval of Malraux who also pulled the government's representatives from the assembly but in exchange cut public funding to a minimum.Menand Louis October 13, 2003 After the Revolution https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/10/20/after-the-revolution-4 The New Yorker April 30, 2020 The Festival The festival opened on May 10 with the 70 mm restored version of Gone with the Wind, directed by Victor Fleming.http://www.rte.ie/radio1/the-history-show/programmes/2013/0505/390062-the-history-show-sunday-5-may-2013/?clipid=1077094 The History of Cannes RTÉ News 5 May 2013 25 May 2017 American film actress and Princess of Monaco, Grace Kelly served as the host of the opening and closing ceremonies. Personalities of French cinema were sensitive to the demonstrations which were taking place in Paris. On the night of May 10 to May 11, violent clashes between students and the police took place in the Latin Quarter in what became the first night of the barricades. Following these incidents, the French Critics Association issued a statement asking the participants of the festival to join the demonstration of support for striking students scheduled on May 13 and called for the suspension of the festival and for those in Cannes to support the students in their "protest against the violent police repression which is an assault on the nation's cultural liberty, the secular traditions of its universities and its democratic principles".Roxborough Scott March 19, 2020 Cannes: In 1968, It Took a Revolution, Not Coronavirus, to Close Down the Festival https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cannes-1968-it-took-revolution-not-coronavirus-shutter-festival-1284200 The Hollywood Reporter April 25, 2020 However, the organization refused. On May 17, in Paris the États généraux du cinéma, a general assembly of cinema professionals, called for the Cannes Festival to be stopped. Peter Lennon's documentary Rocky Road to Dublin was screened at the festival. It was the last film to be shown.http://www.leonardo.info/reviews/feb2006/rocky_mosher.html Rocky Road to Dublin leonardo.info 25 May 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20131224110248/http://www.leonardo.info/reviews/feb2006/rocky_mosher.html 24 December 2013 dead https://www.frieze.com/issue/article/righteous_eire1/ Righteous Eire frieze.com dead https://web.archive.org/web/20131224092955/https://www.frieze.com/issue/article/righteous_eire1/ 24 December 2013 dmyhttps://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/features/rocky-road-to-dublin-peter-lennon-ireland-1968 What do you do with your revolution? Rocky Road to Dublin versus 1968 Ireland X Eisen Erica June 18, 2018 British Film Institute April 27, 2020 The next day on May 18, a panel discussion of the members of the Committee for the Defense of the Cinémathèque was organized to discuss the Langlois affair, with the presence of directors Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Gabriel Albicocco, Claude Berri and actor Jean-Pierre Léaud. The discussions were lively and François Truffaut, who had arrived from Paris the day before, explained that while the trains are blocked and the factories on strike, it would be ridiculous to continue the festival. Jean-Luc Godard believed that with this interruption, the cinema will show its solidarity with the student movements. Claude Lelouch, Jean-Claude Carrière, actress Macha Méril as well as jury members Louis Malle and Roman Polanski, joined them to announce in a press conference in the salle Jean Cocteau at the old Palais Croisette that, in solidarity with the workers and the students who were protesting across France, the festival had to be put to an end.http://sgtr.wordpress.com/2012/07/13/claude-lelouch-jean-luc-godard-and-franois-truffaut/ Claude Lelouch, Jean-Luc Godard, and François Truffaut sgtr.wordpress.com 25 May 2017https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-1968-cannes-film-festival-shutdown-20180420-story.html Chung Justin April 20, 2018 In May 1968, the Cannes Film Festival ground to a halt. Fifty years later, it's still sparking controversy Los Angeles Times en-US March 11, 2020 Subsequently, Louis Malle, Monica Vitti, Roman Polanski, and Terence Young resigned from the international jury while Alain Resnais, Claude Lelouch, Carlos Saura, and Miloš Forman asked for the withdrawal of their films of the competition. Louis Malle announced that "the jury is out of state to work".http://www.cannes-fest.com/an1968.htm 1968 - Sous la plage, les pavés Thomas V.C. Volute productions April 27, 2020 November 8, 2019 https://web.archive.org/web/20191108225157/http://www.cannes-fest.com/an1968.htm dead Polanski was skeptical of these measures because those methods reminded him of what Communists did in his native Poland but ended up supporting the annulment of that year's festival. Also, jury member Robert Rozhdestvensky, a poet from the Soviet Union, considered the idea of cancelling the festival so heinous that he even refused to attend the emergency jury meeting.https://variety.com/2008/film/markets-festivals/second-chance-40-years-later-1117985371/ Grey Tobias May 8, 2008 Second chance, 40 years later Variety May 2, 2020 Director Robert Favre Le Bret claimed: "We will close the festival tomorrow at midday".https://elpais.com/cultura/2018/05/11/actualidad/1526039729_424562.html Belinchón Gregorio May 12, 2018 Mayo del 68: el día en que se paró el festival de Cannes El País Cannes es March 11, 2020 That same evening, Peppermint Frappé by Carlos Saura, was the only film pending to be screened. Saura, accompanied by his then girlfriend and protagonist of the film, Geraldine Chaplin, did not want his own film to be watched.https://www.elcorreo.com/butaca/festival-cannes-1968-20180504105302-ntrc.html Boquerini May 3, 2018 Aquel Festival de Cannes de 1968 El Correo es March 11, 2020 However, despite his total opposition the projection began. Saura and Chaplin jumped onstage and yelled asking not to start the projector to the audience's shock. As Favre Le Bret gave the order to open the big curtain that covered the screen, Saura and Chaplin decided to hung on from the curtains to prevent them from pulling back. At this point, they were joined by Truffaut and Godard. The film was not shown and this started a heated discussion and then a physical altercation with the audience who wanted to watch the film.http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=48c07a71-f820-45b7-98e9-df066f2bf51b 1968 Cannes fest revisited canada.com /news dead https://web.archive.org/web/20150821030435/http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=48c07a71-f820-45b7-98e9-df066f2bf51b 21 August 2015 dmyhttp://www.focusfeatures.com/article/cannes_1968__fighting_on_the_beaches Cannes 1968: Fighting on the Beaches focusfeatures.com dead https://web.archive.org/web/20131224115150/http://www.focusfeatures.com/article/cannes_1968__fighting_on_the_beaches 24 December 2013 dmyhttp://sgtr.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/cannes-1968/ Cannes 1968 sgtr.wordpress.com 25 May 2017 As a punishment for all his actions, Truffaut was later declared persona non grata by the organization.https://deadline.com/2018/05/cannes-film-festival-1968-protests-anniversary-commentary-news-1202380606/ Wise Damon May 18, 2018 Cannes 1968: The Year Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut Led Protests That Shut Down The Festival Deadline en-UK March 11, 2020 Finally on May 19 at 12 p.m. and five days before the established end of the festival, the board of directors led by Robert Favre Le Bret voted unanimously to cancel this edition, not awarding any prize. From the 28 films that were selected to compete for the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film, only 11 were screened.https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/arts/cannes-film-festival-history.html Donadio Rachel May 17, 2017 At Cannes, a Rich History of Capturing Politics, Mores and Film Icons The New York Times Paris en-US March 11, 2020 Juries Main Competition André Chamson, French writer - Jury Presidenthttp://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/1968/juryLongFilm.html Juries 1968: Long film festival-cannes.fr dead https://web.archive.org/web/20160304100025/http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/1968/juryLongFilm.html 4 March 2016 dmy Claude Aveline, French writer Paul Cadeac d'Arbaud, French Veljko Bulajić, Yugoslavian filmmaker Jean Lescure, French writer Louis Malle, French filmmaker Jan Nordlander, Swedish Roman Polanski, Polish filmmaker Robert Rozhdestvensky, Soviet poet and songwriter Monica Vitti, Italian actress Boris von Borresholm, West-German Terence Young, British filmmaker Official selection In Competition The following films were due to compete for the Grand Prix du Festival International du Film:http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/1968/allSelections.html Official Selection 1968: All the Selection festival-cannes.fr dead https://web.archive.org/web/20131224084547/http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/archives/1968/allSelections.html 24 December 2013 dmy English titleOriginal titleDirector(s)Production country24 Hours in the Life of a WomanVingt-Quatre Heures de la vie d'une femmeDominique DeloucheFrance, West GermanyBlack JesusSeduto alla sua destraValerio ZurliniItalyAnna KareninaАнна КаренинаAleksandr ZarkhiSoviet UnionBandits in MilanBanditi a MilanoCarlo LizzaniItalyCharlie BubblesAlbert FinneyUnited KingdomCapricious SummerRozmarné létoJiří MenzelCzechoslovakiaThe CastleDas SchloßRudolf NoelteWest GermanyCome Play with MeGrazie, ziaSalvatore SamperiItalyThe ConfrontationFényes szelekMiklós JancsóHungaryDoctor GlasDoktor GlasMai ZetterlingDenmark, SwedenThe Firemen's BallHoří, Má PanenkoMiloš FormanCzechoslovakiaLes Gauloises bleuesMichel CournotFranceThe Girl on a MotorcycleLa MotocycletteJack CardiffUnited Kingdom, FranceHere We Go Round the Mulberry BushClive DonnerUnited KingdomJe t'aime, je t'aimeAlain ResnaisFranceJoannaMike SarneUnited KingdomKuroneko藪の中の黒猫Kaneto ShindoJapanThe Long Day's DyingPeter CollinsonUnited KingdomMatthew's DaysŻywot MateuszaWitold LeszczyńskiPolandPeppermint FrappéCarlos SauraSpainPetuliaRichard LesterUnited StatesPlaying SoldiersMali vojniciBahrudin ČengićYugoslaviaThe ProtagonistsI protagonistiMarcello FondatoItalyThe Red and the WhiteCsillagosok, katonákMiklós JancsóSoviet Union, HungaryA Report on the Party and the GuestsO slavnosti a hostechJan NěmecCzechoslovakiaTevye and His Seven Daughtersטוביה ושבע בנותיוMenahem GolanIsraelTrilogyFrank PerryUnited StatesThe Upthrown StoneFeldobott köSándor SáraHungary Out of Competition The following films were selected to be screened out of competition: English titleOriginal titleDirector(s)Production countryGone with the Wind (1939) (opening film)Victor FlemingUnited StatesSpirits of the Dead Histoires extraordinaires / Tre passi nel delirioRoger Vadim, Louis Malle and Federico FelliniFrance, Italy Parallel sections International Critics' Week The following feature films were selected to be screened for the 7th International Critics' Week (7e Semaine de la Critique):http://archives.semainedelacritique.com/films/1968/1968_selection.php 7e Selecion de la Semaine de la Critique - 1968 archives.semainedelacritique.com 2 July 2017 30em Angèle (Quatre d’entre elles) by Yves Yersin (Switzerland) Concerto pour un exil by Désiré Ecaré (France, Ivory Coast) The Edge by Robert Kramer (United States) Les enfants de Néant by Michel Brault (France) Falling Leaves (Giorgobistve) by Otar Iosseliani (Soviet Union) How Long Does a Man Live? (Meddig él az ember?) by Judit Elek (Hungary) Marie pour mémoire by Philippe Garrel (France) On Paper Wings (Na papirnatih avionih) by Matjaz Klopcic (Yugoslavia) The Queen by Frank Simon (United States) Rocky Road to Dublin by Peter Lennon (Ireland) Not presented because of the interruption of the festival: Chronik der Anna Magdalena Bach by Jean-Marie Straub (West Germany) Revolution by Jack O’Connell (United States) Aftermath The protests that led to the cancelling of this edition of the festival also brought some changes. On June 14, 1968, French filmmakers like François Truffaut and Louis Malle, among others, took the opportunity to found the Société des Réalisateurs de Films (SRF) with the mission of "defending artistic, moral and professional and economic freedoms of cinematographic creation and participating in the development of new structures of the cinema".https://www.la-srf.fr/la-srf Qui sommes-nous? SRF.fr April 28, 2020 In the next year's edition of the festival, it started to organize a parallel selection to the official one called Directors' Fortnight.Wong Cindy H. 2011 Film Festivals: Culture, People, and Power on the Global Screen https://books.google.com/books?id=-yLCRg9Zg2AC&q=Soci%C3%A9t%C3%A9+des+R%C3%A9alisateurs+de+Films+Truffaut+Louis+Malle&pg=PA46 New Brunswick, New Jersey Rutgers University Press 46 978-0-8135-5065-7 In the 2008 edition, forty years later, some of the works that could not be screened at the time were restored: Peppermint Frappé by Carlos Saura, 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman by Dominique Delouche, Anna Karenina by Alexandre Zarkhi and The Long Day's Dying by Peter Collinson. 13 jours en France by Claude Lelouch and François Reichenbach was also shown even though it was not part of the official selection.https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/72-editions/retrospective/2008/selection/cannes-classics/2008-tribute Cannes 2008 - Classics (40th Anniversary of the Movie) festival-cannes.com April 28, 2020 See also 20th Berlin International Film Festival References Media Institut national de l'audiovisuel: Cannes Festival, May 1968 (commentary in French) Jean-Luc Godard, Roman Polanski, François Truffaut and Louis Malle lead the debate to answer the question: should we stop the festival? Favre le Bret Robert, President of the Festival, announces the festival closed. (duration 10′25″) External links 1968 Cannes Film Festival (web.archive) Official website Retrospective 1968 https://web.archive.org/web/20190113182343/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/69-editions/retrospective/1968/selection/in-competition-feature-films 2019-01-13 21ème Festival International du Film - Cannes Cannes Film Festival, 1968 Cannes Film Festival, 1968 Category:Cannes Film Festival by year