Back in the 1930s, when Venice was the international film festival, an odd thing started happening when it came to the awards. German and Italian films were nabbing them and, when Mussolini's son took Venice's Grand Prize in 1938, beating out Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion, non-fascist countries realized they'd better come up with an alternative festival. They chose a lovely spot on the French Riviera and the first festival was held in Cannes in 1939.

Then the war blew all that out of the water. The next festival wouldn't be held in the sleepy coastal town until 1946. Throughout the 50s and 60s, as Hollywood sent its best and brightest and Europeans sent their maestros and avant filmmakers, Cannes quickly became what it is today: one of the oddest confluences of art and commerce, glamour and politics anywhere.

2005:
L'Enfant, directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

2004:
Fahrenheit 9/11, directed by Michael Moore.

2003:
Elephant, directed by Gus Van Sant.

2002:
The Pianist, directed by Roman Polanski.

2001:
La Stanza del figlio (The Son's Room), directed by Nanni Moretti.

2000:
Dancer in the Dark, directed by Lars von Trier.

1999:
Rosetta, directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne.

1998:
Eternity and a Day (Mia aiwniothta kai mia mera), directed by Theo Angelopoulos.

1997:
Ta'm e guilass (Taste of Cherry), directed by Abbas Kiarostami and
Unagi (The Eel), directed by Shohei Imamura.

1996:
Secrets & Lies, directed by Mike Leigh.

1995:
Underground, directed by Emir Kusturica.

1994:
Pulp Fiction, directed by Quentin Tarantino.

1993:
Ba wang bie ji (Farewell My Concubine), directed by Chen Kaige and
The Piano, directed by Jane Campion.

1992:
Den Goda viljan (Best Intentions), directed by Bille August.

1991:
Barton Fink, directed by Joel Coen.

1990:
Wild at Heart, directed by David Lynch.

1989:
Sex, Lies, and Videotape, directed by Steven Soderbergh.

1988:
Pelle erobreren (Pelle the Conquerer), directed by Bille August.

1987:
Sous le soleil de Satan (Under the Sun of Satan), directed by Maurice Pialat.

1986:
The Mission, directed by Roland Joffe.

1985:
Otac na sluzbenom putu (When Father Was Away on Business), directed by Emir Kusturica.

1984:
Paris, Texas, directed by Wim Wenders.

1983:
Narayama bushiko (Ballad of Narayama), directed by Shohei Imamura.

1982:
Missing, directed by Costa-Gavras.
Yol

1981:
Czlowiek z zelaza (Man of Iron), directed by Andrzej Wajda.

1980:
All That Jazz, directed by Bob Fosse and
Kagemusha, directed by Akira Kurosawa.

1979:
Apocalypse Now, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and
Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum), directed by Volker Schländorff.

1978:
L' Albero degli zoccoli (Tree with the Wooden Clogs), directed by Ermanno Olmi.

1977:
Padre padrone, directed by Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.

1976:
Taxi Driver, directed by Martin Scorsese.

1975:
Chronique des annes de braise (Chronicle of the Years of Fire), directed by Mohammed Lakhdar-Hamina

1974:
The Conversation, directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

1973:
The Hireling, directed by Alan Bridges and
Scarecrow, directed by Jerry Schatzberg.

1972:
Il Caso Mattei (The Mattei Affair), directed by Francesco Rosi and
La Classe operaia va in paradiso (Working Class Goes to Heaven), directed by Elio Petri.

1971:
The Go-Between, directed by Joseph Losey.

1970:
M*A*S*H, directed by Robert Altman.

1969:
If..., directed by Lindsay Anderson.

1967:
Blow-Up, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni.

1966:
Signore & signori (The Birds, the Bees and the Italians), directed by Pietro Germi and
Un homme et une femme (A Man and a Woman), directed by Claude Lelouch.

1965:
The Knack... And How to Get It, directed by Richard Lester.

1964:
Les Parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg), directed by Jacques Demy.

1963:
Il Gattopardo (The Leopard), directed by Lucino Visconti

1962:
O Pagador de Promessas (Keeper of Promises), directed by Anselmo Duarte.

1961:
Une aussi longue absence (The Long Absence), directed by Henri Colpi and
Viridiana, directed by Luis Buñuel.

1960:
La Dolce Vita, directed by Federico Fellini.

1959:
Orfeu Negro, directed by Marcel Camus.

1958:
Letjat zhuravli (The Cranes are Flying), directed by Mikhail Kalatozov.

1957:
Friendly Persuasion, directed by William Wyler.

1956:
Le Monde du silence, directed by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Louis Malle.

1955:
Marty, directed by Delbert Mann.

Before 1955, the top award at Cannes was known as Grand Prix du Festival International du Film.

1954:
Jigokumon, directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa

1953:
Le Salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear), directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot.

1952:
Due soldi di speranza, directed by
The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice, directed by Orson Welles.

1951:
Fröken Julie (Miss Julie), directed by Alf Sjöberg and
Miracolo a Milano (Miracle in Milan), directed by Vittorio De Sica.

1949:
The Third Man, directed by Carol Reed.

1946:
Brief Encounter, directed by David Lean.
Hets (Frenzy or Torment), directed by Alf Sjöberg.
Die Letzte Chance, directed by Leopold Lindtberg.
The Lost Weekend, directed by Billy Wilder.
Maria Candelaria, directed by Emilio Fernandez
Neecha Nagar, directed by Chetan Anand.
Roma, Open City, directed by Roberto Rossellini.
. De Rode enge (The Red Earth), directed by Bodil Ipsen and Lau Lauritzen
La Symphonie pastorale, directed by Jean Delannoy.