1959 Cannes Film Festival

The 12th Cannes Film Festival was held from 30 April to 15 May 1959. The Palme d'Or went to the Orfeu Negro by Marcel Camus. The festival opened with Les Quatre Cents Coups, directed by François Truffaut and closed with The Diary of Anne Frank, directed by George Stevens.

In 1959, the Marché du Film (lit. Film Market) was established as the business counterpart of the Cannes Film Festival, with the aim of helping meet the needs of film industry professionals. Before this year the market was held unofficially in the cinemas of the rue d'Antibes in Cannes. Another important development of that year for the Festival, was that the French cinema moved away from the Ministry of Industry and became part of Ministry of Cultural Affairs.

Jury
The following people were appointed as the Jury of the 1959 competition:

Feature films Short films
 * Marcel Achard (France) - Jury President
 * Antoni Bohdziewicz (Poland)
 * Michael Cacoyannis (Greece)
 * Carlos Cuenca (Spain)
 * Pierre Daninos (France)
 * Julien Duvivier (France)
 * Max Favalelli (France)
 * Gene Kelly (USA)
 * Carlo Ponti (Italy)
 * Micheline Presle (France)
 * Sergei Vasilyev (Soviet Union)
 * Philippe Agostini (France)
 * Antonin Brousil (Czechoslovakia)
 * Paula Talaskivi (Finland)
 * Jean Vivie (CST official) (France)
 * Véra Volmane (journalist) (France)

Feature film competition
The following feature films competed for the Palme d'Or:


 * The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups) by François Truffaut
 * Araya by Margot Benacerraf
 * Arms and the Man (Helden) by Franz Peter Wirth
 * Black Orpheus (Orfeu Negro) by Marcel Camus
 * Bloody Twilight (Matomeno iliovasilemma) by Andreas Labrinos
 * Compulsion by Richard Fleischer
 * Court Martial (Kriegsgericht) by Kurt Meisel
 * Desire (Touha) by Vojtěch Jasný
 * The Diary of Anne Frank by George Stevens
 * Édes Anna by Zoltán Fábri
 * Eva (Die Halbzarte) by Rolf Thiele
 * Fanfare by Bert Haanstra
 * Hiroshima Mon Amour by Alain Resnais
 * A Home for Tanya (Otchiy dom) by Lev Kulidzhanov
 * Honeymoon (Luna de Miel) by Michael Powell
 * Lajwanti by Narendra Suri
 * Middle of the Night by Delbert Mann
 * A Midsummer Night's Dream (Sen noci svatojanske) by Jiří Trnka
 * Miss April (Fröken April) by Göran Gentele
 * Nazarín by Luis Buñuel
 * Policarpo (Policarpo, ufficiale di scrittura) by Mario Soldati
 * Portuguese Rhapsody (Rapsódia Portuguesa) by João Mendes
 * Room at the Top by Jack Clayton
 * The Snowy Heron (Shirasagi) by Teinosuke Kinugasa
 * The Soldiers of Pancho Villa (La Cucaracha) by Ismael Rodríguez
 * Stars (Sterne) by Konrad Wolf
 * Sugar Harvest (Zafra) by Lucas Demare
 * Tang fu yu sheng nu by Tien Shen
 * Train Without a Timetable (Vlak bez voznog reda) by Veljko Bulajić

Short film competition
The following short films competed for the Short Film Palme d'Or:


 * A Telhetetlen mehecske by Gyula Macskássy
 * Cinématographier or Préhistoire du cinema by Emile Degelin
 * Corrida interdite by Denys Colomb Daunant
 * Deca sa granice by Purisa Djordjevic
 * Eine Stadt feiert Geburtstag by Ferdinand Khittl
 * Espana 1.800 by Jesús Fernández Santos
 * Fartsfeber by Finn Carlsby
 * Histoire d'un poisson rouge by Edmond Sechan
 * Hsi yu chi by Tei Yang
 * La mer et les jours by Alain Kaminker, Raymond Vogel
 * La primera fundacion de Buenos Aires by Fernando Birri
 * Le petit pecheur de la Mer de Chine by Serge Hanin
 * Le Seigneur Julius by Khaled Abdul Wahab
 * Ligeud ad luftvejen by Henning Carlsen
 * Butterflies Don't Live Here (Motyli zde neziji) by Miro Bernat
 * Neobjknovennie vstretchi by Archa Ovanessova
 * New York, New York by Francis Thompson
 * Paese d'America by Gian Luigi Polidoro
 * Pecheurs de Sozopol by Nikolay Borovishki
 * See Pakistan by W.J. Moylan
 * Sinn im Sinnlosen by Bernhard Von Peithner-Lichtenfels
 * Taj Mahal (short film) by Shri Mushir Ahmed
 * Ten Men in a Boat by Sydney Latter
 * The Fox Has Four Eyes by Jamie Uys
 * The Living Stone by John Feeney
 * Tussenspel bij kaarslicht by Charles Huguenot Van Der Linden
 * Zmiana warty (The Changing of the Guard) by Włodzimierz Haupe

Official awards
The following films and people received the 1959 awards: Short films
 * Palme d'Or: Orfeu Negro by Marcel Camus
 * Prix spécial du jury: Stars by Konrad Wolf
 * Best Director: François Truffaut for The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups)
 * Best Actress: Simone Signoret for Room at the Top
 * Best Actor: Dean Stockwell, Bradford Dillman and Orson Welles for Compulsion
 * Best Comedy Award: Policarpo, ufficiale di scrittura by Mario Soldati
 * International Award: Nazarín by Luis Buñuel
 * Special Mention: The Snowy Heron (Shirasagi) by Teinosuke Kinugasa
 * Award of the best selection to Czechoslovakia:
 * Desire (Touha) by Vojtěch Jasný
 * A Midsummer Night's Dream (Sen noci svatojanske) by Jiří Trnka
 * Short Film Palme d'Or: Butterflies Don't Live Here (Motyli zde neziji) by Miro Bernat
 * Short film Jury Prize:
 * New York, New York by Francis Thompson
 * Zmiana warty (The Changing of the Guard) by Włodzimierz Haupe
 * Prix spécial du Jury: Histoire d'un poisson rouge by Edmond Sechan
 * Short film - Special mention: Le petit pecheur de la Mer de Chine by Serge Hanin
 * Short film - Hommage: La mer et les jours by Alain Kaminker, Raymond Vogel

Independent awards
FIPRESCI Commission Supérieure Technique OCIC Award
 * FIPRESCI Prize:
 * Hiroshima Mon Amour by Alain Resnais
 * Araya by Margot Benacerraf
 * Technical Grand Prize: Honeymoon (Luna de Miel) by Michael Powell
 * The 400 Blows (Les Quatre Cents Coups) by François Truffaut

Media

 * Institut National de l'Audiovisuel: Opening of the 1959 festival
 * INA: Arrival of the celebrities in Cannes (commentary in French)
 * INA: List of winners of the 1959 Festival (commentary in French)