[3][4][5][6] The Cannes Film Festival has its origins in 1938 when Jean Zay, the French Minister of National Education, on the proposal of high-ranking official and historian Philippe Erlanger and film journalist Robert Favre Le Bret decided to set up an international cinematographic festival.

[7] The political interference seemed evident in the 1937 edition when Benito Mussolini meddled to ensure that French pacifist film La Grande Illusion would not win.

Outraged by the decision and as a measure of protest, the French, British, and American jury members decided to withdraw from the festival with the intention of not returning.

[10] The reason for deciding Cannes was because of its touristic appeal as a French Riviera resort town and also because the city hall offered to increase the municipality's financial participation, including the commitment of building a dedicated venue for the event.

Hollywood stars of the moment like Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Tyrone Power, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, Norma Shearer, Paul Muni, James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, and George Raft arrived thanks to an Ocean liner chartered by MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer).

On 31 August, the opening night gala took place with the private screening of the American film The Hunchback of Notre Dame starring Charles Laughton and Maureen O'Hara and directed by William Dieterle.

In 1949, the Palais des Festivals was expressly constructed for the occasion on the seafront promenade of La Croisette, although its inaugural roof, while still unfinished, blew off during a storm.

[11] During the early 1950s, the festival attracted much tourism and press attention, with showbiz scandals and high-profile personalities' love affairs.

Jean Cocteau, three times president of the jury in those years, is quoted to have said: "The Cannes Festival should be a no man's land in which politics has no place.

On 18 May filmmaker Louis Malle along with a group of directors took over the large room of the Palais and interrupted the projections in solidarity with students and labour on strike throughout France,[17] and in protest to the eviction of the then President of the Cinémathèque Française.

[21] In 1978, Gilles Jacob assumed the position of General Delegate, introducing the Caméra d'Or award, for the best first film of any of the main events, and the Un Certain Regard section, for the non-competitive categories.

[24] In his term, the Festival started including films from more countries, like Philippines, China, Cuba, Australia, India, New Zealand and Argentina.

In 1989, during the first Cinéma & liberté forum, hundred directors from many countries signed a declaration "against all forms of censorship still existing in the world".

[25]In 1998, Gilles Jacob created the last section of the Official Selection: la Cinéfondation, aiming to support the creation of works of cinema in the world and to contribute to the entry of the new scenario writers in the circle of the celebrities.

[27][28] During the 2000s, the Festival started focusing more on the technological advances taking place in the film world, especially the digital techniques.

In 2022, the festival denied press accreditation to Russian journalists associated with outlets who are not opposed to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war.

[31] On the opening night of the festival, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, made a video appearance where he talked about the war and the role of cinema in it.

[32] Iris Knobloch was elected the first woman president of the festival in the same year,[33] succeeding the co-founder and former head of French pay-TV operator Canal+, Pierre Lescure, who had served since 2014.

These include "Heelgate" in which numerous female attendees of a red carpet premiere were stopped from entering in 2015 for wearing flat soled shoes instead of high heels.

The president has a renewable 3-year mandate and appoints the members of his team, including the general delegate, with the approval of the board of directors.