Festival de Cannes

From AwardAnnals

In 1939, French minister for Public Instruction and the Arts (Ministère de l’Instruction Publique et des Beaux-Arts), Jean Zay proposed the creation of an international film event in France. Cannes was chosen for its “sunshine and enchanting setting”. Today, the Festival de Cannes is held each Spring, and about 20 feature-length films are selected to compete for the Palme d’Or and other Jury Awards.

Films eligible for selection must:

not have been released anywhere other than their country of origin;
not have been presented at any other international motion picture event;
not have been exhibited on Internet
respect the aims of the Festival: “to reveal and focus attention on works of quality in order to contribute to the evolution of motion picture arts and to encourage development of the film industry throughout the world”
be presented in their original language, with French subtitles

The Board of Directors designates the eight foreign and French members of the Jury and its President. The winner is determined by a series of secret ballots. An absolute majority is required for the first two ballots, a relative majority thereafter.

Notes

There are many Festival prizes, but Award Annals lists only the three prizes bestowed upon feature-length films.
For score calculations, Award Annals ranks those three prizes in this manner: 1st: Palme d’Or, 2nd: Grand Prix, 3rd: Prix du Jury.
The Prix du Jury can be awarded in any category the jury wishes, not always to a feature length film. Thus, Award Annals lists no Prix du Jury for year 2001.