The Cannes Film Festival facts

*The Cannes Film Festival (French: le Festival international du film de Cannes or simply le Festival de Cannes) is the world's most prestigious film festival, first held from September 20 to October 5, 1946 in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France. Since then, it has been held annually in May with a few exceptions.

*The most prestigious award given out at Cannes is the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) for the best film; this is sometimes shared by multiple films in one year. The jury of the festival, made of a small international selection of movie professionals.

*The Palme d'Or ("Golden Palm") is the name of the highest prize given to a film at the Cannes Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1955 by the organizing committee (it was previously known as the Grand Prix du Festival international du film) and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most distinguished prizes.

*2005 jury of Cannes are Nandita Das and Salma Hayek Etc.

*In 2003, Rai became the first Indian actor to be a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

*Pather Panchali, Ray's directorial debut that tells the story of Appu and Durga was released in 1955 for which he received the Cannes award. "Pather Panchali" will be the only Indian movie at Cannes 2005(50th year) for which Indian censor board chief Sharmila Tagore is expected to represent India.

*Nandita Das is the second Indian actress after Aishwarya Rai to be on the jury. Rai was on it in 2003. In 2000, writer Arundhati Roy was part of the jury, breaking a decade-long hiatus. Mira Nair was part of the Cannes jury in 1990, and eight years earlier Mrinal Sen had been similarly honoured. One wonders why Satyajit Ray, who introduced Indian cinema to a global audience and world appreciation, was never invited to be on the jury.

*However, apart from Pather Panchali which won a prize at Cannes in 1956, a year after it was made, several of Ray's movies were shown in the Festival's main competition or Outside Competition sections: Parash Pather in 1958, Devi in 1962, Ghare Baire in 1984 and Ganashatru in 1989.

*Interestingly, Cannes was not always averse to presenting Indian cinema. M. S. Sathyu's Garam Hawa (1974), Shyam Benegal's Nishant, Mrinal Sen's Ek Din Pratidin (1980), Kharij (1983, and won the Special Jury Prize) and Genesis (1986) were also part of the Cannes' most prestigious Competition.