Cannes: Fifty Years of Sun, Sex & Celluloid : Behind the Scenes at the World's Most Famous Film Festival

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The Cannes Film Festival like most venerable institutions, tends to encourage reminiscence. 'Yes, the movies may have been better in the '60s, the parties seemed hotter in the '70s - all that might be true.

But the mythology of the past should not obscure the important role that the festival could play in the future. Cannes has been a bridge between indigenous film cultures, one that is needed now more than ever. The present generation of Americans arguably is more oblivious to European and Asian cinema than at any time since World War II. And a whole generation of young people outside the U.S. is coming of age having been massively exposed to mainstream Hollywood films but not to the quirky independent movies that more vividly portray the way Americans live.

The international commerce of film is more dependent than ever on the global distribution platforms owned by multinational entertainment corporations. The Cannes Film Festival represents a vastly different platform - one that fosters the culture of cinema as well as the commerce. In the future Cannes can do much to internationalize this culture and to evolve a new language of filmmaking.

As multiplexes spread across Europe and Asia, new distribution opportunities open up for indigenous cinema. Local filmmakers once again are establishing a strong beachhead against the hegemony of Hollywood movies. In the U.S., the filmgoing audience is growing older, more sophisticated and much more open to new filmmaking experiences. As the Oscar nominations show, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences each year becomes more hospitable toward overseas filmmaking achievements.

As it continues to flourish, Cannes can further energize these developments. Sure, the parties may never be as lively as they were in the past, the publicity stunts never as vivid, and no one will ever be able to re-create the culture shock of the first bikini. But the importance of the Cannes Film Festival should continue to expand, its message growing ever more relevant.