--- title: Cannes Film Festival: See Vintage Photos of the First-Ever Fest description: A party worthy of the end of World War II canonical: https://time.com/3843724/first-cannes-history/ author: Liz Ronk article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-13T11:00:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:50:40.614Z article:section: History og:title: See Photos of the First Ever Cannes Film Festival og:description: A party worthy of the end of World War II og:url: https://time.com/3843724/first-cannes-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27c4873aa2fb8ec5/6987ee6dcd6848ce2509de1e/150505-cannes-film-festival-1946-07.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Cannes Film Festival 1946 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See Photos of the First Ever Cannes Film Festival twitter:description: A party worthy of the end of World War II twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27c4873aa2fb8ec5/6987ee6dcd6848ce2509de1e/150505-cannes-film-festival-1946-07.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How World War II Created the Cannes Film Festival by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) and [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) May 13, 2015 11:00 AM UTC  French actress Michele Morgan with artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau on the beach during the Cannes Film Festival, 1946. French actress Michele Morgan with artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau on the beach during the Cannes Film Festival, 1946.Tallandier/RDA—Getty Images by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) and [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/) May 13, 2015 11:00 AM UTC The official [timeline](http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/about/aboutFestivalHistory.html) of the Cannes Film Festival makes it clear that the glitzy celebration of cinema began in 1946\. So why was TIME [reporting](http://time.com/vault/issue/1939-07-03/page/37/) in July of 1939 that the festival would take place that autumn? The plans were even concrete enough to promise readers an exact set of dates: --- > “” ---  Poster for the planned first Festival International du film de Cannes, September 1939\. The event was postponed until after World War II and the first festival was held in 1946. RDA—Getty Images The September 1939 film festival, of course, never happened — and, based on the reasons for the film festival’s establishment, it’s not hard to guess why. The coming of World War II derailed all plans to launch a rival to the Venice film festival, and it wasn’t until after the peace came that the festival in Cannes finally took place. As these photos show, the bash was, appropriately, a happy occasion.  French Actress Michele Morgan poses in a bathing suit at the 1st Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France in 1946. Serge DE SAZO/Gamma-Rapho—Getty Images  Poster presenting the french films in the competition of the 1st Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France in 1946. Serge DE SAZO/Gamma-Rapho—Getty Images  Actress Josette Day presents the Film "Beauty and the Beast" directed by Jean Cocteau at the first Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France in 1946. Serge DE SAZO/Gamma-Rapho—Getty Images  Jean-Pierre Aumont and Maria Montez at Cannes Film Festival, 1946. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone—Getty Images  Tyrone Power in Cannes, France, 1946. Serge DE SAZO/Gamma-Rapho—Getty Images  Pierre Dudan in Cannes, France in 1946. Serge DE SAZO/Gamma-Rapho—Getty Images  French actress Michele Morgan with artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau on the beach during the Cannes Film Festival, 1946. Tallandier/RDA—Getty Images  Miss Cannes in Cannes, France, 1946. Serge DE SAZO/Gamma-Rapho—Getty Images  Edith Piaf on the Carlon Hotel's Terrace at the first Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France In 1946. Serge DE SAZO/Gamma-Rapho—Getty Images  The Actress Celia Johnson and the director David Lean being awarded the Paris Grand Prix of Cannes Film Festival for the movie Brief Encounter. The prize is given by Georges Huisman, (left) first President of Cannes Film Festival. Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone—Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3843724/first-cannes-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3843724/first-cannes-history/"},"headline":"How World War II Created the Cannes Film Festival","datePublished":"2015-05-13T11:00:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:50:40.614Z","description":"See photos of the first-ever fest, a party worthy of the end of World War II","url":"https://time.com/3843724/first-cannes-history/","keywords":["movies","photography","Cannes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27c4873aa2fb8ec5/6987ee6dcd6848ce2509de1e/150505-cannes-film-festival-1946-07.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Liz Ronk","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27c4873aa2fb8ec5/6987ee6dcd6848ce2509de1e/150505-cannes-film-festival-1946-07.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Cannes Film Festival 1946","caption":"French actress Michele Morgan with artist and filmmaker Jean Cocteau on the beach during the Cannes Film Festival, 1946.","creditText":"Tallandier/RDA—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3843724/first-cannes-history/","name":"How World War II Created the Cannes Film Festival"}}]}] ```