102 - CANNES FILM FESTIVAL (1939). Letters Documenting the Founding of the Cannes Film Festival

CANNES FILM FESTIVAL (1939). Letters Documenting the Founding of the Cannes Film Festival A rare set of four signed, typewritten letters dating from the spring and summer of 1939, detailing the decisive negotiations that led to the establishment of the International Film Festival in Cannes. A set of four signed, typewritten letters addressed to Paris City Councilman Georges Prade by the key figures in the negotiations to establish the Film Festival in Cannes: François André (Municipal Casino), Henri Gendre (Grand Hôtel), Philippe Erlanger (French Association for Artistic Action), and Georges Prade himself. May–August 1939. These letters provide a step-by-step account of the exchanges between Paris and local stakeholders (the city, the Casino, and the Grand Hôtel) to organize the first edition of the festival in Cannes, scheduled for September 1, 1939, and ultimately canceled due to France’s entry into the war. They document the financial (covering the deficit), political, and image-related challenges surrounding the creation of a major international film event intended to rival the Venice Film Festival. The file highlights the project’s key players: on the one hand, Paris City Council member Georges Prade, a political intermediary and liaison with the capital; on the other hand, representatives of Cannes’ interests—namely François André, managing director of the Municipal Casino, and Henri Gendre, director of the Grand Hôtel de Cannes. On their illustrated letterheads, they detail the commitment of the hotels and the Casino to host the event, emphasizing the importance of “current negotiations” and what is at stake for the city. Finally, an important letter on the letterhead of the French Association for Artistic Action, signed by its general delegate Philippe Erlanger—the true father of the Festival— outlines the limitations of the concessions obtained from the Board of Directors and the “deadlock” surrounding the coverage of the deficit, revealing the tension in the negotiations just a few weeks before the scheduled opening date, September 1, 1939. Given their consistency, the quality of their letterheads (City of Cannes, Municipal Casino, Grand Hôtel, French Association for Artistic Action), and the joint presence of Philippe Erlanger and Georges Prade, these letters form a body of correspondence directly linked to the genesis of the Cannes Film Festival, now one of the major events in the world of cinema. A collection of this nature rarely appears in private hands and is of interest both to collectors of film archives and to institutions seeking to supplement their documentation on the origins of the Festival