The increased connection between the Cannes and Academy Awards film festival is a hot topic when the 78th festival arrives. You will find a lot about it anywhere else in Thewraps latest newspaperAnd with good reasons: Last year’s festival had the premiere of seven films that received a total of 30 nominations and won nine Oscars, including five for Palme d’Or and best picture winner “Anora.”
But let’s back up too little history. The festival’s top award was named Palme d’Or in 1955, and its first winner under the new name was Delbert Mann’s romantic drama “Marty”, who continued to win Oscar for best picture. The one-two-stand would not happen again for another 64 years, until 2019’s “Parasite” Did it, followed five years later by “Anora.”
Still, there has always been some overlap between the two organs, although there are very different groups of voters. Cannes Awards are chosen by a jury with (usually) nine professionals – largely French, largely male (at least before) and largely more concerned about artistry than profitability. Oscars is voted by almost 10,000 members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is more than 70% American despite a campaign that introduced more international members over the past decade.
Until recently, it was tempting to think of Cannes as the place that rewards Art-House ticket prices over commercial films: Mikhail Kalatozov’s “The Cranes Are Flying” won Palme the year as “Gigi” Won Best Picture, Marcel Camus “Black Orpheus” The year for “Ben-How”, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani’s “Master Father” The year for “Annie Hall” and a tie between Shōhei Imamuras “The Eel” and Abbas Kiarostami’s “Taste of Cherry” The year the academy tilted for “Titanic.”
It is not to suggest that “Titanic” or “Ben-How” or “Annie Hall” Shown in Cannes those years, but this indicates that the two groups’ priorities are clearly different. And yet there is also synchronity. It was the delicious symmetry in 1964, when both groups of voters went for musicals: The Cannes jury under the leadership of Fritz Lang picked Jacques Demy’s Sound-Genoma “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” a wonderful French choice, while Oscar Anders chose Grand Wotapation by Lady “The” My Fair “My Fair” My Fair “My Fair” My Fair “My Fair” My Fair Lady, “My Fair Lady,” My Fair Lady. Andope stale loese loee loewe.
A decade later, 1974, Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Conversation” won the Palme d’Or and his “The Godfather Part II” won the best picture; Two decades after that, “pulp fiction” and “Forrest Gump” Was incredibly linked to 1994’s largest price films, with the former won in Cannes and the latter won in Hollywood.
This story first ran in the Cannes issue of Thewrap’s Awards Magazine. Read more from that number here.
