The “Palme d’Or” is the highest prize award at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. The “Palme d’Or” is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious awards in the film industry.
Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the highest prize at the festival was the “Grand Prix du Festival International du Film.” In 1964, The “Palme d’Or” was replaced again by the “Grand Prix”, before being reintroduced in 1975.
Therefore, Marty by Delbert Mann was the first film to receive the “Palme d’Or”.
The Silent World by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Louis Malle was the first documentary to recieve this award.
For the first time since its creation “Palme d’Or” was awarded…
The “Palme d’Or” is the highest prize award at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. The “Palme d’Or” is widely considered to be one of the most prestigious awards in the film industry.
Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the highest prize at the festival was the “Grand Prix du Festival International du Film.” In 1964, The “Palme d’Or” was replaced again by the “Grand Prix”, before being reintroduced in 1975.
Therefore, Marty by Delbert Mann was the first film to receive the “Palme d’Or”.
The Silent World by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Louis Malle was the first documentary to recieve this award.
For the first time since its creation “Palme d’Or” was awarded to a female director: Jane Campion for The Piano in 1993.
In 2018, the jury awarded a "Special Palme d'Or" for the film The Image Book as an homage to Jean-Luc Godard's career.
In 1997, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Festival, the Cannes jury awarded Ingmar Bergman with “Palme des Palmes”.
In the past festival was canceled several times for various reasons:
1940–1945 due to World War II
1948 due to budgetary problems
1950 due to budgetary problems
1968 — No award because the festival was cancelled midway through to show solidarity with the students and workers who were demonstrating in what became known as the May 68 movement
2020 — No festival due to the COVID-19 pandemic
At the Cannes Film Festival in 1946, held after the conclusion of World War II, 11 Grand Prix awards were awarded. This distribution among films from 11 different countries reflected the international character of the festival and its desire to promote diversity in cinematic art.
In 2002 the festival began to sporadically award a non-competitive “Honorary Palme d'Or” to directors or actors who had achieved a notable body of work but who had never won a competitive “Palme d’Or”.
2002 — Woody Allen
2003 — Jeanne Moreau
2005 — Catherine Deneuve
2007 — Jane Fonda
2008 — Manoel de Oliveira
2009 — Clint Eastwood
2011 — Jean-Paul Belmondo
2011 — Bernardo Bertolucci
2015 — Agnès Varda
2016 — Jean-Pierre Léaud
2017 — Jeffrey Katzenberg
2019 — Alain Delon
2021 — Jodie Foster
2021 — Marco Bellocchio
2022 — Forest Whitaker
2022 — Tom Cruise
2023 — Michael Douglas
2023 — Harrison Ford
2024 — Meryl Streep
2024 — Studio Ghibli
2024 — George Lucas
Directors who have won the award twice:
Alf Sjöberg — 1946 • 1951
Francis Ford Coppola — 1974 • 1979
Bille August — 1988 • 1992‡
Emir Kusturica — 1985 • 1995
Shôhei Imamura — 1983 • 1997
Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne — 1999 • 2005
Michael Haneke — 2009 • 2012‡
Ken Loach — 2006 • 2016
Ruben Östlund — 2017 • 2022‡
‡ — have won for consecutive films
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Other top lists by international associations:
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Top 250 International Films // Letterboxd
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Top 100 Serbian Films // Yugoslav Film Archive
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Top 200 Japanese Films // Kinema Junpō
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Top Polish Films // The Film Museum in Łódź
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Top 100 Italian Films // Venice Days
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Top 100 Turkish Films // Hürriyet Daily News
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Top 100 German Films // Association of German Cinémathèques
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Top 100 British Films // British Film Institute
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Kinema Junpō Award // Kinema Junpō
