The original building was located on the boulevard of Promenade de la Croisette, on the present site of the JW Marriott Cannes.

In response to the growing success of the Film Festival and the advent of the first business conventions (such as the MIPTV Media Market in 1965), the City of Cannes decided to build a new Palais in 1979.

The new building, a six-story structure designed in the modernist style by the architects Sir Hubert Bennett and François Druet,[1] was constructed on the site of the municipal casino.

In January 1992, the Society of Mixed Economy for the Events of the City of Cannes (SEMEC) was created to oversee the Palais.

[2] The venue has an overall area of 35,000 square metres, primarily for exhibitions, as well as numerous rooms plus 18 auditoriums (the largest of which has a capacity of 2,300).