CANNES.-The poster of the 61st Festival de Cannes is a work by Pierre Collier, a cinema poster artist, inspired by a photograph by David Lynch.
This tribute to the talent of David Lynch provides the tone for the 61st Festival de Cannes.

Pierre Collier has designed an aesthetic environment for festival goers that can be seen outside and inside the Palais, as though declaring it the land of film from May 14th to 25th.

The Festival de Cannes is the most important motion-picture event in the world, with more than 35,000 accreditees representing all the professions of the film industry - including more than 4,000 journalists.

For 60 years, the Festival has reinforced its role as tribune of world cinema with the constant concern to serve the development of cinematic art, from the discovery and promotion of films and artists, to reception and service to professionals, implementation of new dynamics to support creation, and organisation of cultural and artistic activities which enrich the event: forums, tributes, masterclasses, exhibits...

A privileged venue for meetings and cinematic discoveries alike, the Festival de Cannes reflects the dual nature of cinema, both an art and an industry. For, if the Festival evokes first and foremost the surprise of a Selection and suspense of the Awards Ceremony, it is equally the rendezvous of choice for all motion-picture industry professionals for whom the Marché du Film (Film Market) was created at the Festival in 1959.

Closely in tune with the talent of the artists who contribute in return to its influence, the Festival equally develops programmes in support of cinematic creation throughout the world. 20 years after the Caméra d'Or, prize awarded to best first film, the Festival created in 1998 the Cinéfondation to enable young film-makers, at various stages of their creative careers, to step up to direction and gain international professional recognition.

Over the years, the Festival has acquired a fame based on the balance between the artistic quality of films and their commercial impact, thus providing the films which it presents with a unique and international springboard, it prefigures as much as it reflects the evolution and trends of film industries and production all over the world by striving to privilege what was called, in a celebrated formula, "cinema d'auteur for the general public".