[KhaoticKharma]

From the Jean-Luc Godard riot to "E.T.'s" launch, great moments in le cinema.

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By Deborah Netburn May 18, 2006 The first Cannes festival was conceived as a democratic response to the Venice Film Festival, which was seen as increasingly fascist in the '30s, as only German and Italian films were getting prizes. The festival was scheduled for September 1939, but was cancelled after opening night because of the start of World War II. The Palme d'Or and the best film Oscar have been given to the same film exactly once. Delbert Mann's 1955 film "Marty," about a lonely butcher searching for love, won both awards. On opening night of the Cannes festival in 1968, a year of civil unrest in Europe, Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard and others took over the largest screening room stage and held onto the curtains to prevent them from opening. This and other acts of solidarity with French student and worker protests led to the festival's subsequent shutdown. There hasn't been a hometown win for 18 years. The last time a French filmmaker won the Palme d'Or, formerly known as the International Grand Prize, was when Maurice Pialat's "Sous le soleil de Satan" won in 1987. (Last year's winners, the Dardenne brothers, are Belgian — close, but not close enough.) The average age of Cannes residents is 64. In 1991, Danish director Lars von Trier was so upset when his film "Europa" won a mere Jury Prize that upon receiving it he called jury chair Roman Polanski a "midget" and then threw the award to the ground. (He eventually won the Palme d'Or in 2000 for "Dancer in the Dark"). Only one woman has won the Palme d'Or in the history of the festival. That distinction goes to Jane Campion who took the award home in 1993 for her film "The Piano." Richard Kelly, director of "Donnie Darko" and this year's Palme d'Or contender "Southland Tales" almost didn't make it to the 2006 festival because the U.S. government was holding his passport under review. Apparently there was a mix-up when officials confused the director, whose full name is James Richard Kelly, with a James Kelly currently on the terrorist watch list. In 1982, "E.T." was test-screened at the Cannes Film Festival as a non-competition entry. It brought the house down, receiving a standing ovation that had eluded most of the official entries. Steven Spielberg described the evening as one of the best nights of his life.

The Envelope.com