Global Information2008 Cannes Film Festival information
 Official poster of the 61st Cannes Film Festival featuring a photo of model Anouk Marguerite and photographed by Pierre Collier.[1] | |
| Opening film | Blindness |
|---|---|
| Closing film | What Just Happened |
| Location | Cannes, France |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Awards | Palme d'Or: The Class |
| Hosted by | Édouard Baer |
| No. of films | 22 (En Competition)[2] 20 (Un Certain Regard) 8 (Out of Competition) 17 (Cinéfondation) 7 (Special screening) 9 (Short Film) |
| Festival date | 14 May 2008 – 25 May 2008 |
| Website | festival-cannes |
The 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2008. The President of the Official Jury was American actor and director Sean Penn. Twenty two films from fourteen countries were selected to compete for the Palme d'Or. The awards were announced on 24 May, French film The Class, directed by Laurent Cantet, was awarded with the Palme.[3][4]
The festival opened with Blindness, directed by Fernando Meirelles[5] and closed with What Just Happened, directed by Barry Levinson.[6] Édouard Baer was the master of ceremonies.[7] Hunger, directed by Steve McQueen, opened the Un Certain Regard section.[8]
The British press reported the list of films in competition this year was notable for its absence of British films for the second successive year.[9][10] In addition to films selected for competition this year, major Hollywood productions such as Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Kung Fu Panda had their world premieres at the festival.
- ^ "Posters 2008". festival-cannes.fr. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
selectionwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "61ème Festival International du Film - Cannes". cinema-francais.fr (in French). Retrieved 28 June 2017.
- ^ "Cannes 2008 / Palmarés". cannes-fest.com (in French). Retrieved 28 June 2017.
- ^ "Cannes Film Festival 2008 opener: the end of civilisation". The Telegraph. 9 May 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
- ^ "2008 Cannes Film Festival Lineup". voices.yahoo.com. 14 May 2008. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014.
- ^ "Edouard Baer, emcee of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013.
- ^ "Visceral Brit offering opens Un Certain Regard section". The Guardian. 15 May 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
- ^ "Cannes Film Festival snubs British movies for the second year running". The Independent. 23 April 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
- ^ "Indiana Jones steals the show as Cannes ignores British films". The Times Literary Supplement. Archived from the original on 17 May 2011.