Festivals

One of the hottest Hollywood couples - recently divorced Natalie Wood and rising star Warren Beatty - arrive in Cannes to promote Beatty's sultry drama All Fall Down. Directed by John Frankenheimer, Beatty starred as a handsome drifter who lives off the women he easily seduces.

Two years before making this appearance in Cannes for the first time, David Bowie had been his grand entrance in cinema, starring Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth (he was Thomas Jerome Newton, the man who fell to Earth). Now, two years later, Bowie - and a team very easy on the eyes - was in Cannes to promote the David Hemmings-directed Just a Gigolo, the tale of a World War I hero who becomes a gigolo in Berlin, under the watching eye of a madam played by Marlene Dietrich.

The beaches of Cannes are populated with more than just scantily clad bathers, especially during the film festival. Film and production companies bring their talent to try and sell upcoming films to various foreign markets.

30 years before the spectacular opening of this year's Cannes Film Festival, Tom Cruise - with then-wife Nicole Kidman - made a more discreet visit to the Croisette. Cruise and Kidman were the stars of the film that close the festival: Far and Away, directed by Ron Howard.

It's 1991 and les frères Coen leave their mark on the Croisette, taking the Palme d'Or for Barton Fink (which will go on to receive a Golden Globe nomination for John Goodman, supporting actor). Cannes in the 1990s is absolutely in love with les indies américains (and Asia), and more Palmes will rain on the Sundance generation throughout the decade.

Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning actor, producer, and director, Forest Whitaker was met with a standing ovation at the opening ceremony for the 75th Cannes Film Festival when he received an honorary Palme d’Or lifetime achievement.   He follows such luminaries as Jodie Foster, Jeanne Moreau, Bernardo Bertolucci, Jane Fonda, Manoel de Oliveira, and Agnes Varda.