A shock, and an absolute triumph! The date was also retained as the official birth of cinematography. A child of Aubagne and Marseille, Marcel Pagnol brought prestige to the cinema of the south of France. His love of Provence, its arid hills, hidden springs and the people who lived there, gave birth to a unique style which was both meridional and wonderfully humanistic. His magic was to conquer first France and then the whole world. Talking pictures were only just emerging, but the tone was set.
The following year, the filmmaker created his production company in the middle of Marseille, near the Prado, and the studios worked continuously through WW2. His writing, language and his style which was both naive and authentic conveyed the essence of Provence.
The essence and perhaps also the essential. In , Gaumont set up in Nice, and around , the Studios de la Victorine were created. At the time, there were five of them, spread out between Cannes and Menton. All the filmmakers of the time had the same requirement: the need for space and light. With its unique number of days of sunshine and its landscapes which were already famous the world over, the Department of Les Alpes-Maritimes rapidly inspired the greatest film directors.
The Great Depression in dealt a severe blow to what was a luxury industry, but the studios were modernised. The 60s saw a different form of cinema emerge; natural scenery was preferred to studios. And then came the consecration of a new genre: the commercial.
As a world date for the film industry, the Cannes festival should have been inaugurated on 1st September But the declaration of war prevented the event from taking place and it was put off until 20th September Fans and film lovers from all over the world have their eyes fixed on La Croisette and the famous steps have become a myth.
