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For September 1939 We Were Preparing — Alas ! — the Cannes Festival Destined to Compete with the Famous Venise Biennale

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For September 1939 We Were Preparing — Alas ! — the Cannes Festival Destined to Compete with the Famous Venise Biennale The 1st edition of the International Film Festival cancelled due to the war taking place in the city of its creator, Jean Zay. Orléans, France, 12th-17th November 2019 Why the Cannes festival 1939 in Orleans ? The 1st of September 1939, the first Cannes Film Festival was due to open. The Minister of National Education and Fine Arts, Jean Zay, worked for this event to impose itself as a large scale film event, which would become a spear head for the film diplomacy and bring together the films of ”the free nations” against the fascist Venice Film Festival and as a vector of a French cultural policy. The Cannes Film Festival is based on the encounter of the most merry of that any party might have and the most prestigious what the cinema might represent, led by a firm political hand that wishes to oppose the Nazi and fascist dictatorships with their fearsome cinematographic propaganda. After the organization work undertaken under a great time pressure, the countries invited to the Festival chose and sent their selected films. There were about thirty altogether for the United States, France, Great Britain, the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands and Poland. Symbolically, on August 6, 1939, the train arrives at Cannes train station bringing the inventor of the cinematographer himself, Louis Lumière, honorary president, who was welcomed by the mayor of the city. The cinema pioneer came to see the location three weeks before the scheduled start of the event. The Grand Hotel, the Palm Beach and the municipal casino were mobilized; soon, the poster wasready; then Gary Cooper, Tyrone Power, Norma Shearer, George Raft, Cary Grant, James Cagney, Spencer Tracy, Barbara Stanwick, are announced guests off the Croisette aboard a linerchartered by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: Hollywood has sent no less than seventeen films, among which are: Only angels have wings by Howard Hawks, Mister Smith in the Senate by Frank Capra, Wizard of Oz by Victor Flemming’s, Pacific Express by Cecil B. De Mille and Her and Him by Leo McCarey. Thanks to Jean Zay, president of the event and his initiative Cannes Film Festival, THE film festival of the “free world” had its first edition to be held in September 1939… until the entry of the German troops in Poland on September 1, 1939, which interrupted brutally the final preparations. The festival will ultimately not take place. This year, from 12th to 17th November 2019, 80 years after this cancellation, this great and beautiful idea, will become a reality again in Orleans, the city of Jean Zay. It’s time to give thanks to the paternity of what would become a major element of world cinema. An ambitious and federative project The Jean Zay Cercle d’Orléans is an association dedicated to raising awareness of the life, work and writings of Jean Zay. Its action is historical and memorial, but aims to show as well the interest of recognising the contemporaneity of his work as of the elected representative, the political leader, the writer and the minister. After having contributed, alongside local institutions and communities, to the organization of the Orleans farewell to Jean Zay when he entered the Pantheon in May 2015, the Cercle Jean Zay wishes to highlight one of his life achievements and the role he played in the field of cinema as the first “Minister of Cultural”. As soon as this idea was launched, it was received in a very enthusiastic way, starting with of the Mayor of Orléans, city of Jean Zay, followed by the ministers directly concerned by this tribute to their illustrious predecessor, Ministers of Culture and Ministers of the National Education. Since then, we have made fruitful contacts with the department of Loiret, the Center-Val de Loire region, the National Center for Cinema and Animated Image, the Regional Directorate for Cultural Affairs Center-Val de Loire, the Rectorate of the Orléans-Tours Academy, the Academic Delegation for Arts and Cultural Education, the History and Film Inspectorates, the Carmes Cinema, the University of Orleans, the Education League… and many, many more. The scope of the task led to the creation of specialized structures, the Jean Zay Cannes 1939 Committee chaired by Antoine de Baecque, a historian and film critic. The “Cannes Film Festival” 1939 in Orléans, will be a successful project thanks to the convergence of the associative initiatives, the support granted by the institutions and communities, the commitment of the professional partners, partnerships with the companies and the dedication of volunteer teams. Long live cinema ! Long live the memory of Jean Zay ! Long live the Cannes 1939 festival in Orléans ! The “Cannes 1939 festival” in Orléans, a great cinematographic event The festival will take place from November 12th to 17th, 2019 and will include the following (dates subject to modifications): • Screenings of 55 films among which, 29 of the 1939 selection. • Prizes awarded by an international jury. • Opening Ceremony of the Festival at Théâtre d’Orléans, with evening projection of Alexander Nevsky by Sergei Eisenstein (1939). • Meetings and debates with film directors. • Priority will be given to the festive aspects of the festival in targeting the broad public. “For September 1939 we were preparing — Alas ! — the Cannes Festival destined to compete with the famous Venise Biennale. Our festival would have made France every year the global centre of the cinema…” Jean Zay, Mémoires et solitude, 1942 “Memories and Seclusion” Learn more: www.festivalcannes1939.com Contact: Svetlana Furman Cell. +33 6 95 08 84 89 [email protected] Event by: Association Cercle Jean Zay d’Orléans, France Partners institutions: The City of Orléans | The French Ministry of Culture | The Val-de-Loire Region.
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