Cannes: Now More Than Ever

I don't know where all the negative press about the Cannes Film Festival is coming from. But, it surely is as relevant to today's world as it ever was. Probably even more so in this globalized marketplace.

Here is one rebuttal to the numbers in question.

Here are a few of the Palme d'Or winners to refresh your memory (not to mention the glitz and glamour of the Croisette that the Sunset strip will never top):

2005: L'Enfant
2004: Fahrenheit 9/11
2002: The Pianist
2000: Dancers in the Dark
1996: Secrets & Lies
1994: Pulp Fiction
1993: The Piano & Farewell My Concubine
1991: Barton Fink
1990: Wild At Heart
1989: Sex, Lies, and Videotape
1988: Pelle the Conqueror
1986: The Mission
1984: Paris, Texas
1980: Kagemusha & All That Jazz
1979: The Tin Drum & Apocalypse Now
1976: Taxi Driver
1974: The Conversation
1970: M.A.S.H.
1967: BLOW UP
1966: A Man and a Woman
1962: The Payer of Promises
1960: La Dolce Vita
1955: Marty
1949: The Third Man

The list certainly stands on its own against the Academy Award winning films for Best Picture. N'est-ce pas? Add the competition and it looks even better. Even Crash (2005) haters can get behind this one. They feel the pain of worthy adversaries. Imagine Friendly Persuasion beating Kanal & The Seventh Seal (1957) or The Payer of Promises beating Eclipse & Trial of Joan of Arc (1962). If beating Andrei Roublev & Easy Rider (1969) or Under The Sun of Satan beating Wings of Desire (1987). Not to mention Wild Strawberries (1957) missed out on a Palme d'Or and so did Les 400 Coups (1959) and A Bout de Souffle (1960) and Stranger Than Paradise (1984). Talk about fierce competition.