Palais des festivals et des congres de Cannes description and photos - France: Cannes (Topic)

Palais des festivals et des congres de Cannes description and photos - France: Cannes. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is Palais des festivals et des congres de Cannes.

Photo and description

The Palace of Festivals and Congresses in Cannes is the one that millions of people around the world see in their reports on the famous Cannes Film Festival. That is why it is worth seeing the palace, although it may not make a strong impression on weekdays.

Its history is inextricably linked with the history of the festival itself. In the late thirties of the 20th century, French cultural figures were outraged by the frank interference of Mussolini and Goebbels in the organization of the Venice Film Festival. Film critic Emile Villermo and writer and actor Rene Jeanne proposed to the Minister of Education in the Government of the Popular Front, Jean Zai, to organize a world film screening in France. The idea was supported by the Americans and the British, who boycotted the film screening in Venice.

The great Louis Lumiere agreed to become the president of the first festival. The Americans, who had just released the Quasimodo tape, promised to erect a replica of Notre Dame de Paris on the Cannes beach. But on September 1, 1939, the opening day, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, the war broke out, the festival was canceled.

The first Cannes Film Festival took place shortly after the end of the war, in 1946. In 1949, the city municipality built a special palace for the film festival on the Croisette, but it gradually became small (on the site of the Croisette palace there is now the Marriott-Cannes hotel). And in 1982, the festival got a new home - where the municipal casino used to be, at the beginning of the Croisette, near the old port. It is this palace that is now known to all TV viewers as the venue for the world's largest film festival.

Here films by Fellini, Bergman, Antonioni, Waida, Bunuel, Kurosawa have gained worldwide recognition. But not only the most prestigious Palme d'Or glorified the festival: in 1955, Prince Rainier of Monaco met the American actress Grace Kelly. A year later, they got married, and the current ruler of the principality, Albert II, is their son.

The building is huge: 35 thousand square meters. However, its aesthetic merits are very controversial, it looks like a palace of congresses of the times of socialism: a lot of concrete and glass (the townspeople from time to time even suggest rebuilding the "bunker"). A wide “ladder of success” leads to the main entrance. On the days of the festival, a red carpet is lined in front of her, where the stars are photographed. On ordinary days, tourists take pictures of each other on the stairs. The Avenue of Stars runs along the facade; tiles with handprints of famous actors and directors are mounted on its sidewalk.

The inside of the building is impressive: it is full of modern equipment, there are excellent light and acoustics. The upper floors and terraces offer amazing views of the old town, the port, the Croisette and the Lerins Islands. The palace hosts exhibitions, conferences and congresses, international festivals: advertising ("Cannes Lions"), jazz, flamenco, games, fireworks. In 2011, it was here that the G20 summit was held under the chairmanship of France.

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Topic: Palais des festivals et des congres de Cannes description and photos - France: Cannes.