The Cannes Dream Team
Below are penpix of the men who made the Cannes Film Festival the most prestigious in the world:
- Robert Favre Le Bret -
(1904-1987) - A former journalist. Favre Le Bret led the festival from its humble beginnings in 1946 as secretary general, before becoming deputy chief in a year later and president from 1972 to 1983.
A hardened diplomat, he saw the festival in his 38 years of involvement grow from a small festival of 600 people to a gigantic marketplace with an audience of more than 40,000.
His biggest victory was to secure the screening of Andrei Tarkovsky's 1966 "Andrei Rublev", which the Soviet Union authorities had refused to see released from behind the Iron Curtain to the West. In 1969 the film was presented out of competition.
- Gilles Jacob -
(1930 - ) - Eternally clad in a tuxedo, Jacob is a cinema lover who became a critic and was a driving force behind the festival for 30 years.
He joined the staff at Cannes in 1976 and went on to oversee a vast transformation in the festival, first as deputy director and two years later as director, in charge of selecting films to compete for the Golden Palm award. In July 2000, he replaced Pierre Viot as president, remaining in the job till 2014.
During his terms, Jacob, who also produced and directed films, placed an emphasis on support for up-and-coming directors, in particular by creating the Camera d'Or (Golden Camera) award for first works in 1978.
He also established a section within the competition called "Un certain regard" to showcase unusual works and set up the Cinefondation in 1998 to help young filmmakers learn the ropes.
Among the accomplishments Jacob, who had a reserved personality and a diplomat's finesse, cited himself were "standing up to (the world of) television and fighting censure by giving a voice to gagged creators."
Pierre Lescure took over from Jacob as new chairman of the festival from 2014 to 2022.
A former journalist, who read the news on radio and television, and actor in Graffiti 60 (2005), Graffiti 80 (2006) and Lescure Tot ou tard (2010), he launched French pay-TV operator Canal+ in 1984 and turned it into an international label known on both sides of the Atlantic.
In 2022 he was replaced by the festival’s first woman president Iris Knobloch, a German lawyer and film programmer.
- Thierry Fremaux –
(1960 - ) - Unknown to the public at large, but all-powerful in the small world of cinema, Thierry Fremaux has chosen the films running for the Golden Palm since 2001.
He entered the festival as artistic director, becoming deputy director in 2007. His style is the opposite of the socialite Jacob, whose shoes he filled as selector, being discreet and austere.
He watches from four to six films a day, or 800 a year in his Paris office, seeking out new talent from around the world from Korea to Brazil. On his arrival he sought to bring back the US majors and to open the festival to more unusual and animated films.
(1960 - ) - Unknown to the public at large, but all-powerful in the small world of cinema, Thierry Fremaux has chosen the films running for the Golden Palm since 2001. He entered the festival as artistic director, becoming deputy director in 2007.
His style is the opposite of the socialite Jacob, whose shoes he filled as selector, being discreet and austere. He watches from four to six films a day, or 800 a year in his Paris office, seeking out new talent from around the world from Korea to Brazil.
On his arrival he sought to bring back the US majors and to open the festival to more unusual and animated films.