The war had barely ended, the wounds and scars were still open and painful. The arts could be a powerful balm for all the pain that remained from the past horrors.

In 1938 the first attempt to create a French festival in the mode of the newly created Venice Film Festival had unsavory roots and was abandoned as the war came close. Now, the tone of the 1st Cannes Film Festival was very different: films from all over the world expressed what millions suffered in the past years, and new filmmakers offered new points of view. 21 films were in competition, and many of them bore the marks of seven years of conflict. But there was also Billy Wilder‘s The Lost Weekend, Alfred Hitchcock‘s Notorious, Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast, George Cukor‘s Gaslight, and David Lean‘s Brief Encounter.  

This first gathering by the Mediterranean still didn’t have the Palais, but it had Edith Piaf, a festival guest. It was Fall – the festival ran from September 20 to October 5. And one night, Piaf walked out to the Carlton Hotel’s lower balcony, which opens to the Croisette, and sang for whoever wanted to hear her.  A multitude gathered. Everyone wanted to hear that voice and, possibly, the hope that came with it.