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The 1st annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 20 September to 5 October 1946. Twenty-one countries presented their films at the "First Cannes International Film Festival", which took place at the former Casino of Cannes. Only one year after the end of World War II, most of the films were about the war. There arose several technical issues, such as the tarpauline cover blowing away in a storm on the day before the winners were to be announced, the reels of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious shown in reverse order, and Miguel M. Delgado’s The Three Musketeers projected upside-down.

During the first festival, the jury was made up of one representative per country, with French historian Georges Huisman as the Jury President. With more emphasis on creativity than in competitiveness, eighteen nations presented their films. Eleven of them tied for the first Grand Prix of the International Festival.

Jury
The following people were appointed as the Jury for the feature and short films:
Georges Huisman (France) (historian) Jury President
Iris Barry (USA)
Beaulieu (Canada)
Antonin Brousil (Czechoslovakia)
J.H.J. De Jong (Netherlands)
Don Tudor (Romania)
Samuel Findlater (UK)
Sergei Gerasimov (Soviet Union)
Jan Korngold (Poland)
Domingos Mascarenhas (Portugal)
Hugo Mauerhofer (Switzerland)
Filippo Mennini (Italy)
Moltke-Hansen (Norway)
Fernand Rigot (Belgium)
Kjell Stromberg (Sweden)
Rodolfo Usigli (Mexico)
Youssef Wahby (Egypt)
Helge Wamberg (Denmark)

Competition
The following films competed for the Grand Prix:

The Adventurous Bachelor by Otakar Vávra
Anna and the King of Siam by John Cromwell
The Bandit by Alberto Lattuada
The Battle of the Rails by René Clément
Beauty and the Beast by Jean Cocteau
Blood and Fire by Anders Henrikson
Brief Encounter by David Lean
Caesar and Cleopatra by Gabriel Pascal
Camões by José Leitão de Barros
The Captive Heart by Basil Dearden
Dunia by Mohammed Karim
The Queen's Flower by Paul Călinescu
Gaslight by George Cukor
Gilda by Charles Vidor
Un giorno nella vita by Alessandro Blasetti
Girl No. 217 by Mikhail Romm
The Great Glinka by Lev Arnshtam
Hello Moscow! by Sergei Yutkevich
His Young Wife by Mario Soldati
The Last Chance by Leopold Lindtberg
Letter from the Dead by Johan Jacobsen
The Lost Weekend by Billy Wilder
A Lover's Return by Christian-Jaque
The Lovers by Giacomo Gentilomo
The Magic Bow by Bernard Knowles
Make Mine Music by Joshua Meador, Clyde Geronimi, Jack Kinney, Robert Cormack and Hamilton Luske
María Candelaria by Emilio Fernández
Men Without Wings by František Čáp
Mr. Orchid by René Clément
Neecha Nagar by Chetan Anand
Notorious by Alfred Hitchcock
Patrie by Louis Daquin
The Red Meadows by Bodil Ipsen and Lau Lauritzen Jr.
Rhapsody in Blue by Irving Rapper
Rome, Open City by Roberto Rossellini
The Seventh Veil by Compton Bennett
The Stone Flower by Aleksandr Ptushko
Pastoral Symphony by Jean Delannoy
Torment by Alf Sjöberg
Três Dias Sem Deus by Bárbara Virgínia
The Three Musketeers by Miguel M. Delgado
The Turning Point by Fridrikh Ermler
Wonder Man by H. Bruce Humberstone
Zoya by Lev Arnshtam

Short films
The following short films were selected for the Grand Prix du court métrage:

A City Sings by Gudrun Parker
Aubervilliers by Eli Lotar
Aubusson by Pierre Biro and Pierre Hirsch
Bambini in città by Luigi Comencini
Belyy klyk by Aleksandr Zguridi
Fall of Berlin – 1945 by Yuli Raizman and Yelizaveta Svilova
Cantico Dei Marm by Pietro Benedetti and Giovanni Rossi
Chants populaires by George Dunning
Chercheurs de la mer by Jean Palardy
Cyprus Is an Island by Ralph Keene
Des hommes comme les autres by R. Van De Weerdt
Die Welt by Sam Winston
En Route by Otto van Meyenhoff
Épaves by Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Flicker Flashbacks by Richard Fleischer
G.I'S In Switzerland by Hermann Haller
Handling Ships by Allan Crick and John Halas
Hitler Lives by Don Siegel
Instruments of the Orchestra by Muir Mathieson
Jeux d'enfants by Jean Painlevé
L'Homme by Gilles Margaritis
La cité des abeilles by Andrev Winnitski
La Flûte magique by Paul Grimault
La Locomotive by Stanisław Urbanowicz
Le Goéland by Willy Peters
Le Retour à la Vie by Dr K.M. Vallo
Les Digues en construction by Jo de Haas and Mannus Franken
Les Halles De Paris by Paul Schuitema
Les mines de sel de Wieliczka by Jarosław Brzozowski
Les Ponts De La Meuse by Paul Schuitema
Les Protubérance solaires by M. Leclerc and M. Lyot
Lucerne Ville Musicale by Hans Trommer
Man One Family by Ivor Montagu
Me he de comer esa tune by Miguel Zacharias
Metamorphoses by Herman van der Horst
Molodost nashey strany by Sergei Yutkevich
Open drop ether by Basil Wright
Out of the Ruins by Nick Read
Parques Infantis by Aquilino Mendes and João Mendes
Partie de campagne by Jean Renoir
Springman and the SS by Jiří Trnka
Prisonnier de guerre by Kurt Früh
Rapsodia rustica by Jean Mihail
Réseau x by Mahuzier
Steel by Frank Bundy
Suite Varsovienne by Tadeusz Makarczyński
The Life Cycle of the Onion by Mary Field
The Purloined Pup by Charles August Nichols
The Way We Live by Jill Craigie
Un Port En Plein Coeur De L'Europe by Jaroslav Novotny
Vánoční sen by Karel Zeman
Wet Paint by Walt Disney
World Of Plenty by Paul Rotha
Your Children's eyes by Alex Strasser
Zvírátka a petrovstí by Jiří Trnka

Awards
The following films and people received the 1946 awards:

Official awards
Feature Films
Grand Prix du Festival International du Film:
Brief Encounter by David Lean
Hets by Alf Sjöberg
The Last Chance by Leopold Lindtberg
The Lost Weekend by Billy Wilder
María Candelaria by Emilio Fernández
Men Without Wings by Frantisek Cáp
Neecha Nagar by Chetan Anand
Red Meadows by Bodil Ipsen and Lau Lauritzen Jr.
Rome, Open City by Roberto Rossellini
La symphonie pastorale by Jean Delannoy
Velikiy perelom by Fridrikh Ermler
International Jury Prize: La Bataille du rail by René Clément
Best Actor: Ray Milland for The Lost Weekend
Best Actress: Michèle Morgan for La symphonie pastorale
Best Director: René Clément for La Bataille du rail
Best Cinematography: Gabriel Figueroa for María Candelaria and Los tres mosqueteros
Best Animation Design: Make Mine Music
Best Colour: The Stone Flower
Short Films
Vánoční sen by Karel Zeman
Zvírátka a petrovstí by Jiří Trnka
Molodost nashey strany by Sergei Yutkevich
Les mines de sel de Wieliczka by Jarosław Brzozowski
La cité des abeilles by Andrev Winnitski
Épaves by Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Fall of Berlin – 1945 by Yuli Raizman

Independent awards
FIPRESCI Prize
Farrebique by Georges Rouquier
International Peace Award
The Last Chance

References

Media

British Pathé: Cannes Film Festival 1946 footage
Institut National de l'Audiovisuel: Opening of the 1st Festival in 1946 (commentary in French)
INA: About the 1946 Festival (mute)
INA: Unusual arrival of American stars at the 1st festival (mute)

External links
1946 Cannes Film Festival (web.archive)
Official website Retrospective 1946
Cannes Film Festival Awards for 1946 at Internet Movie Database

Cannes Film Festival, 1946
Cannes Film Festival, 1946
Cannes Film Festival
1946 film festivals