The Cannes Film Festival (/kæn/; French: Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (Festival international du film), is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around the world. Founded in 1946, the invitation-only festival is held annually (usually in May) at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès.[1] The festival was formally accredited by the FIAPF in 1951.[2]
Cannes is one of the "Big Three" major European film festivals, alongside Venice and Berlin, as well as one of the "Big Five" major international film festivals, alongside Venice, Berlin, Toronto and Sundance.[3][4][5][6]
Despite the festival's popularity over critically-acclaimed films, its reputation of promoting transgressive films—most notably each films behind New French Extremity—generated harsh criticism and controversy, banned to streaming service-distributed films, lack of diversity, and various scandals continued over the years to be one of the most polarizing.[7][8][9][10]