Cannes festival archives now online

The Festival de Cannes has just unveiled a video archive of the first 60 years in time for this year's festivities, Tales of a Festival. The site features extensive archives going back to 1946 in French (mostly) and English. The material was made available from France's Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA) and CANAL+. Needless to say, some of this material is priceless, with interviews of Hitchcok, countless people mounting the red carpet and celebrities such as Maurice Chevalier, Picasso and George Simenon. In 1968, the festival was expecting 5 000 people and so hired a total of 8 hostesses to deal with the rush. That year, they showed 29 features and 11 short films! When you think that there are something like 100 000 people in Cannes during the festival these days, you get an idea of how the event has changed.

"Tales of a Festival" also allows you to upload videos. Let us know if you do so. This is definitely the site of the month. Check it out at Tales of a Festival.