( CNN ) -- The Cannes Film festival , which kicked off Wednesday on the French Riviera , is an Olympics of cinema , where endurance matters as much as victory to the 30,000 industry insiders who attend each year . The festival was conceived in the late 1930s as a reaction against Italian dictator Benito Mussolini promoting fascist-Italian and national-socialist German films at the Venice Film Festival . Its first edition , planned in September 1939 , was delayed by war till 1946 but its ideals remained the same : to show films from all over the world without prejudice of any sort . But today Cannes jostles in the crowded film industry schedules with other A-list events : Toronto ( and Venice ) act as Fall launchpads for the following year 's awards season , while Sundance is at the vanguard of independent cinema and new talent . Meanwhile the Oscars are considered by many as the supreme accolade of the movie business . Cannes still regards itself as the grande dame of film events the world over -- but does it still matter ? The festival , which this year celebrates its 67th edition , stands firmly apart -- and , some would argue , above -- the rest of the crowd . This comes in part from its original ambition , as put by the festival 's first president , poet Jean Cocteau : `` The Cannes Film Festival is an apolitical no man 's land , a microcosm of what the world would be like if people could make direct contact with one another and speak the same language . '' For Cannes is to cinema what the motto `` liberte , egalite , fraternite '' ( `` liberty , egality , fraternity '' ) is to France : an aspiration , an ideal , an inclusive forum for all talents , old and new , coming from all over the world , and motivated by one common love : films . Without prejudices . In its early years Cannes was nothing more than a social event where stars mingled on the red carpet . Everyone smiled for the camera and everyone went home happy as almost every film received some kind of an award . Then , Cannes raised its game . First came the Palme d'Or , its top award , given in 1955 and rivaling the Oscars as the most prestigious prize in the film industry . In 1972 , the festival declared its independence by setting up its own selection committee : until then , each country had chosen the films which would represent them at Cannes , as still happens with the Oscars ' best foreign film category . The selection of features became more discerning , the awards became fewer in number -- and success at the festival became ever more elusive . But if the Cannes glamor of the 1950s and 1960s lingers still , the festival 's reputation for passion and controversy has only increased . The entertainment industry is notorious for controlling its sometimes unruly talents , with PR agencies operating like war machines and publicity a matter of life and death at the box office . In contrast Cannes is a unique place for unleashing imagination and wildness . The mix of glamor and high art , frivolity and seriousness combine to make Cannes a temple to cinema like no other . For Cannes is where directors will throw tantrums and tell critics to go to hell in no uncertain terms ; where the winner of the Palme d'Or can be booed , as happened to film-maker Maurice Pialat in 1987 when he collected the coveted prize for `` Under the Sun ; '' and where a talent like Danish maverick Lars Von Trier can express sympathy at a press conference for Adolf Hitler , then apologize , then be kicked out of the festival by the organizers ( he later withdrew his apology ) . It is also an event which has always embraced the times . In 1968 , while students in Paris were rioting and building barricades , the enfants terribles of the French New Wave -- including François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard -- canceled the awards ceremony and turned the festival into a giant marketplace . In 2004 , Michael Moore 's `` Fahrenheit 9/11 '' -- which criticized U.S. foreign policy -- became the first documentary to win the Palme d'Or from a festival jury which numbered more Americans than French . For directors and actors , success at Cannes is the Nobel Prize that they secretly covet . And for the 2,500 or so film critics -- who for 12 days start watching their first film at 8am and their last one just after midnight -- it is the most frantic and rewarding time , when masterpieces are seen for the first time and talents speak freely . Q . Can art really get any more expensive ? A . 'We will see a billion dollar work ' Can any train ride match the Orient Express for glamor and sheer romance ? Scrap metal find turns out to be $ 33 million Faberge golden egg .
Film critic Agnes Poirier : The Cannes Film Festival is the Olympics of cinema . It was created as a reaction against Americans dictator Mussolini promoting fascist- Italian films . Poirier : At Cannes directors are free to throw tantrums and tell critics what they really think . 2004 success at CNN is ` Fahrenheit 9/11 '' directors and actors secretly covet , says Agnes Poirier .