[4] American filmmaker Alan J. Pakula served as jury president for the main competition.

Italian filmmaker Ermanno Olmi won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for tehe drama film The Tree of Wooden Clogs.

[5] This festival saw the introduction of a new section, the Un Certain Regard, initially as a non-competitive programme which replaced the Les Yeux Fertiles (1975-1977), L'Air du temps and Le Passé composé sections.

[6] The festival opened with A Hunting Accident by Emil Loteanu,[7] and closed with Fedora by Billy Wilder.

A number of prominent actors, directors and journalists who attended that year made cameo appearances in the film, including Rona Barrett, Farrah Fawcett, Brooke Shields, George Peppard, Paul Mazursky, Sergio Leone, Marco Ferreri, Rex Reed and Edy Williams.