The festival is established as a response to Mussolini's control of the Venice Film Festival. It becomes an inspiration to a generation still recovering from the impact of WWII by attracting the biggest stars of the time including Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor and director Orson Welles. Its reput...

The French New Wave directors, including François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, cause massive controversy and manage to get the event cancelled in 1968. Sophia Loren becomes the new queen of the festival and the Golden Boys of American cinema, including Martin Scorsese and Robert Altman, become r...

We hear from the likes of Francis Ford Coppola, Quentin Tarantino, Mike Leigh and many others about the festival as it is today. Cannes is the most prestigious film festival where all the world's greatest directors want to show their films.