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1959 Cannes Film Festival

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FieldValue
name1959 Cannes Film Festival
imageCFF59poster.jpg
captionOfficial poster of the 12th Cannes Film Festival, an original illustration by *Jouineau Bourduge*.
number29 (In Competition)
opening*The 400 Blows*
closing*The Diary of Anne Frank*
locationCannes, France
awards*Palme d'Or*:
*Black Orpheus*
date
founded1946
website
mainCannes Film Festival
previous[1958](1958-cannes-film-festival)
next[1960](1960-cannes-film-festival)

Black Orpheus

The 12th Cannes Film Festival took place from 30 April to 15 May 1959. French writer Marcel Achard served as Jury President for the main competition. The Palme d'Or went to the Black Orpheus by Marcel Camus.

In 1959, the Marché du Film (lit. Film Market) was established as the business counterpart of the Cannes Film Festival, with the aim of helping meet the needs of film industry professionals. Before this year the market was held unofficially in the cinemas of the rue d'Antibes in Cannes. Another important development of that year for the Festival was that the French cinema moved away from the Ministry of Industry and became part of Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

The festival opened with The 400 Blows by François Truffaut, and closed with The Diary of Anne Frank by George Stevens.

Juries

Main Competition

  • Marcel Achard, French writer - Jury President
  • Antoni Bohdziewicz, Polish filmmaker
  • Michael Cacoyannis, Greek filmmaker
  • Carlos Cuenca, Spanish
  • Pierre Daninos, French writer
  • Julien Duvivier, French filmmaker
  • Max Favalelli, French
  • Gene Kelly, American actor and filmmaker
  • Carlo Ponti, Italian producer
  • Micheline Presle, French actress
  • Sergei Vasilyev, Soviet filmmaker

Short Films Competition

  • Philippe Agostini, French cinematographer and filmmaker
  • Antonin Brousil, Czechoslovakian
  • Paula Talaskivi, Finnish
  • Jean Vivie, French CST official
  • Véra Volmane, French journalist

Official Selection

In Competition

The following feature films competed for the Palme d'Or:

English titleOriginal titleDirector(s)Production country
*The 400 Blows* (opening film)*Les Quatre Cents Coups*François TruffautFrance
*Araya*Margot BenacerrafVenezuela
*Arms and the Man**Helden*Franz Peter WirthWest Germany
***Black Orpheus******Orfeu Negro*****Marcel Camus****France, Brazil, Italy**
*Bloody Twilight**Matomeno iliovasilemma*Andreas LabrinosGreece
*Compulsion*Richard FleischerUnited States
*Court Martial**Kriegsgericht*Kurt MeiselWest Germany
*Desire**Touha*Vojtěch JasnýCzechoslovakia
*The Diary of Anne Frank* (closing film)George StevensUnited States
*Édes Anna*Zoltán FábriHungary
*Eva**Die Halbzarte*Rolf ThieleAustria
*Fanfare*Bert HaanstraNetherlands
*Hiroshima mon amour*Alain ResnaisFrance, Japan
*A Home for Tanya*Отчий домLev KulidzhanovSoviet Union
*Honeymoon**Luna de Miel*Michael PowellUnited Kingdom, Spain
*Lajwanti*Narendra SuriIndia
*Middle of the Night*Delbert MannUnited States
*A Midsummer Night's Dream**Sen noci svatojánské*Jiří TrnkaCzechoslovakia
*Miss April**Fröken April*Göran GenteleSweden
*Nazarín*Luis BuñuelMexico
*Policarpo**Policarpo, ufficiale di scrittura*Mario SoldatiItaly
*Portuguese Rhapsody**Rapsódia Portuguesa*João MendesPortugal
*Room at the Top*Jack ClaytonUnited Kingdom
*The Sinner*蕩婦與聖女Shen TienTaiwan
*The Snowy Heron*白鷺Teinosuke KinugasaJapan
*The Soldiers of Pancho Villa**La Cucaracha*Ismael RodríguezMexico
*Stars**Sterne*Konrad WolfEast Germany, Bulgaria
*Sugar Harvest**Zafra*Lucas DemareArgentina
*Train Without a Timetable**Vlak bez voznog reda*Veljko BulajićYugoslavia

Short Films Competition

The following short films competed for the Short Film Palme d'Or:

  • A Telhetetlen mehecske by Gyula Macskássy
  • Cinématographier or Préhistoire du cinema by Emile Degelin
  • Corrida interdite by Denys Colomb Daunant
  • Deca sa granice by Purisa Djordjevic
  • Eine Stadt feiert Geburtstag by Ferdinand Khittl
  • Espana 1.800 by Jesús Fernández Santos
  • Fartsfeber by Finn Carlsby
  • Histoire d'un poisson rouge by Edmond Sechan
  • Hsi yu chi by Tei Yang
  • La mer et les jours by Alain Kaminker, Raymond Vogel
  • La primera fundacion de Buenos Aires by Fernando Birri
  • Le petit pecheur de la Mer de Chine by Serge Hanin
  • Le Seigneur Julius by Khaled Abdul Wahab
  • Ligeud ad luftvejen by Henning Carlsen
  • Butterflies Don't Live Here (Motyli zde neziji) by Miro Bernat
  • Neobjknovennie vstretchi by Archa Ovanessova
  • New York, New York by Francis Thompson
  • Paese d'America by Gian Luigi Polidoro
  • Pecheurs de Sozopol by Nikolay Borovishki
  • See Pakistan by W.J. Moylan
  • Sinn im Sinnlosen by Bernhard Von Peithner-Lichtenfels
  • Taj Mahal (short film) by Shri Mushir Ahmed
  • Ten Men in a Boat by Sydney Latter
  • The Fox Has Four Eyes by Jamie Uys
  • The Living Stone by John Feeney
  • Tussenspel bij kaarslicht by Charles Huguenot Van Der Linden
  • Zmiana warty (The Changing of the Guard) by Włodzimierz Haupe

Official Awards

Main Competition

  • Palme d'Or: Black Orpheus by Marcel Camus
  • Prix spécial du jury: Stars by Konrad Wolf
  • Best Director: François Truffaut for The 400 Blows
  • Best Actress: Simone Signoret for Room at the Top
  • Best Actor: Dean Stockwell, Bradford Dillman and Orson Welles for Compulsion
  • Best Comedy Award: Policarpo by Mario Soldati
  • International Award: Nazarín by Luis Buñuel
  • Special Mention: The Snowy Heron by Teinosuke Kinugasa
  • Award of the best selection to Czechoslovakia:
    • Desire by Vojtěch Jasný
    • A Midsummer Night's Dream by Jiří Trnka

Short Films Competition

  • Short Film Palme d'Or: Butterflies Don't Live Here by Miro Bernat
  • Short film Jury Prize:
    • New York, New York by Francis Thompson
    • The Changing of the Guard by Włodzimierz Haupe
  • Prix spécial du Jury: Histoire d'un poisson rouge by Edmond Sechan
  • Special mention: Le petit pecheur de la Mer de Chine by Serge Hanin
  • Hommage: La mer et les jours by Alain Kaminker, Raymond Vogel

Independent Awards

[[FIPRESCI|FIPRESCI Prize]]

  • Hiroshima mon amour by Alain Resnais
  • Araya by Margot Benacerraf

Commission Supérieure Technique

  • Technical Grand Prize: Honeymoon by Michael Powell

[[SIGNIS|OCIC Award]]

  • The 400 Blows by François Truffaut

References

Media

References

  1. "Posters 1959". festival-cannes.fr.
  2. "1959 - Festival, mon amour (Festival, my love)". cannes-fest.com.
  3. "Cannes Film Festival history". sfgate.com.
  4. "12ème Festival International du Film - Cannes". cinema-francais.fr.
  5. "1952-1959: Celebrities, politics and the film world / "The 400 Blows"". fresques.ina.fr.
  6. "Opening of the 1959 festival". fresques.ina.fr.
  7. "Shock: Cannes 1959". ina.fr.
  8. "Juries 1959". festival-cannes.fr.
  9. "Official Selection 1959: All the Selection". festival-cannes.fr.
  10. "Awards 1959: All Awards". festival-cannes.fr.
  11. "1959 - Le Jury, Les Prix". cannes-fest.com.
  12. "FIPRESCI Awards 1959". fipresci.org.
  13. "Cannes Film Festival Awards for 1959". imdb.com.
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