•••▷ Cannes | French Riviera

History of Cannes starts in the Middle Ages; it was a feudal dependency of the Lérins monastery. Until the early 19th century, it remained a small agricultural and fishing village with the highest density of population on Le Suquet hill.

Beginning in the 1830s, foreign and French aristocrats built holiday homes in the area, gradually turning the city into a resort town. The man responsible for the growth of the city is Lord Henry Peter Brougham (1778-1868).A respected and talented British politician in his time, he discovered it in 1834 on his way to Italy.

Having bought land to the west of the Suquet hill, now the entrance to the city, Brougham used his many contacts in French politics to help develop the rest.The development of the coastal town encouraged enterprise and a tramway, which opened in 1899, the Station opened in 1863.

Geography

The city lies on the Côte d'Azur within easy reach of the Maritime Alps. It is noted for its gorgeous sandy beaches which are mainly public, particularly as one moves west to La Bocca.

Economy

The area around the town has developed into a high-tech cluster. The technopolis of Sophia Antipolis lies up in the hills beyond the town. The Cannes Film Festival, held annually in May, is a major event for the world film industry.

There is an annual television festival, airing in the last week in September, also the Mipim is a major commercial real estate exhibition, taking place in March and other major festivals are Mapic, Lions, Mipcom and TFWA.

Demographics

Population of the city (commune) at the 1999 census was 67,304 inhabitants (69,700 inhabitants as of February 2004 estimates). Cannes is part of the Nice metropolitan area (aire urbaine) whose total population was 933,080 inhabitants at the 1999 census.

Culture

It is made of Festivals and major events. The city lives to the beat of the arts year around, thanks to the many organisations contributing to its reputation and teaching.

Cannes Municipal Music and Drama Conservatoire promote the awakening andThe city lies on the main railway line from Italy to Marseille and is well served by the TGV, national and regional trains. The railway station is close to the centre; buses leave from both there and the Hôtel de Ville.

Bus services are provided by Bus Azur (French version only) and operate an electric bus system called É-lo around the town centre as well as a double-decker bus service between the Hôtel de Ville and the Palm Beach Casino.

The city is located about 25km west of Nice and easily reachable by bus from Nice's international airport. Shuttles run every half hour from 8am through 8pm (hourly early in the morning and after 6pm). The ride takes approximately 30 minutes. Taxi rides from the airport cost around 60 euros one way.

Lérins Islands

The Lérins Islands (Îles des Lérins) are a group of four Mediterranean islands off the French Riviera, near the city. The two largest islands in this group are the Île Sainte-Marguerite and the Île Saint-Honorat. The smaller Îlot Saint-Ferréol and Îlot de la Tradelière are uninhabited.

The Île de Saint-Honorat played a major role in the history of the city with its monastery. Administratively, the islands belong to the "commune".

The islands are first known to have been inhabited during Roman times.

The Île de Saint-Honorat bears the name of the founder of the monastery of Lérins, Saint Honoratus. It was founded around the year 410. It is in this monastery that Saint Porcarius lived and probably was killed during an invasion by Saracens. According to tradition, Saint Patrick, patron of Ireland, studied there in the fifth century.

A fortified monastery was built between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. The monastic community today lives in a monastery built during the nineteenth century.

The Île Sainte-Marguerite held a fortress where The Man in the Iron Mask was held captive for a time.

Under the French Revolution, the Île Sainte-Marguerite and the Île Saint-Honorat were renamed the Île Marat and the Île Lepeletier, after secular martyrs.

Marina panorama - CANNES - FRENCH RIVIERA.

Film Festival

The Cannes Film Festival (French: le Festival international du film de Cannes or simply le Festival de Cannes), founded in 1939, is considered one of the world's most prestigious film festivals.

In May 2006, Hollywood Reporter acknowledged that the city is the "granddaddy of all film festivals".The private festival is held annually; usually in the month of May.

History of the festival

At the end of the year 1938, shocked by the interference of the fascist governments of Germany and Italy in the selection of films for the Mostra de Venise, Jean Zay, the French Minister of National Education, decided, on the proposal of Philippe Erlanger, to create an international cinematographic festival in Cannes. In June 1939, Louis Lumière agreed to be the president of the first festival, set to begin on September 1, 1939.

The declaration of war against Germany by France and the United Kingdom on September 3, 1939, however, postponed the festival's premiere. The festival was relaunched in 1946 and held from September 20, 1946 to October 5, 1946 in the old casino.

The festival was not held in 1948 or 1950 on account of budgetary problems. In 1949 the Palais des Festivals was inaugurated. The original Palais was replaced by a new one in 1983.

The 1968 festival was halted on May 19, 1968. The day before, Louis Malle (president of the jury), François Truffaut, Claude Berri, Jean-Gabriel Albicocco, Claude Lelouch, Roman Polański and Jean-Luc Godard took over the large room of the Palais and interrupted the projection of film in solidarity with students and labour on strike throughout France.

At the 25th Cannes International Film Festival, in 1971, Charlie Chaplin was awarded the Legion of Honour by French Minister of Culture M. Jacques Duhamel, and a dozen directors were honoured by the festival, including Orson Welles (who was not present), Luis Bunuel, Federico Fellini, William Wyler, Rene Clement, Michaelangelo Antonioni, Lindsay Anderson, Vojtech Jasny, Masaki Kobayashi and Robert Bresson.

The 59th Film Festival was held from May 17, 2006 to May 28, 2006. The Hong Kong director Wong Kar-Wai was the president of the jury for feature films. He was also the first Chinese president in the Festival's history. Wong Kar-Wai won the Best Director award in 1997 for the film Happy Together.

The festival has become an important showcase for European films. Jill Forbes and Sarah Street argue in European Cinema: An Introduction, that the city "became...extremely important for critical and commercial interests and for European attempts to sell films on the basis of their artistic quality".

Forbes and Street also point out that, along with other festivals such as Venice and Berlin, Cannes offers an opportunity to determine a particular country's image of its cinema and generally foster the notion that European cinema is "art" cinema.

Additionally, given massive media exposure, the non-public festival is attended by many movie stars and is a popular venue for movie producers to launch their new films and attempt to sell their works to the distributors who come from all over the globe. This festival has a major role in the growth of the city.

Awards

The most prestigious award given out is the Palme d'Or ("Golden Palm") for the best film. This Golden Palm is definitely a part of the history of Cannes and is known all over the word.

The jury of the festival, made of a small international selection of movie professionals, grants other awards, including the Grand Prix "Grand Prize" — the second most prestigious award. No film can receive more than one award, though one award from the list may be awarded jointly to more than one movie (with the exception of the Palme d'Or).

Cannes | French Riviera

Cannes

Geography

Economy

Demographics

Culture

Lérins Islands

Film Festival

Miscellaneous

Virtual tours

External links

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Cannes | French Riviera

Cannes

Geography

Economy

Demographics

Culture

Lérins Islands

Film Festival

Miscellaneous

Virtual tours

External links