Cannes

It is tempting to imagine the first Cannes film festival as a Jacques Tati film, or an early misadventure of the hapless Inspector Clouseau: a catalogue of cock-ups culminating in unlikely success. In 1946, still reeling from the Occupation, racked by shortages and political strife, France called on the "seventh art" to semaphore its national grandeur to the world, staging a glittering jamboree in celebration of the peace.
The first Festival International du Film was scheduled to take place at Cannes in 1939, but had to be aborted when war broke out
In so doing, it set the template for future festivals, where opulence would strain (not always successfully) to contain the combined forces of artistic dissent, diplomatic tussles and political wiles. "The festival must be a victory for France," declared an official government communiqué of the time. But victory had to be snatched from the jaws of defeat.
Technical mishaps provoked great power spats. Eleventh-hour crisis management narrowly averted meltdown. Even for a gathering of film people, there was more than the usual complement of hustlers and chancers in attendance. Worse, the public were invited. The great unwashed of Cannes not only had the nerve to "refuse to refrain from smoking" during screenings, they freely nabbed the best seats. Worse still, it was discovered that organised scams were being operated to smuggle three or four people into the cinema on a single invitation