Cannes ’68: Cinema in Revolt

Cannes ’68: Cinema in Revolt

7 Episodes

When the 1968 edition of the Cannes Film Festival opened amid widespread civil unrest, filmmakers began pulling their movies from the schedule in solidarity with the workers and students protesting across France. This series gathers select titles from the year’s official lineup, alongside a scene-setting introduction by film historian Dudley Andrew. Decide for yourself which film should have won the never-presented Palme d’Or: Carlos Saura’s PEPPERMINT FRAPPÉ, Jan Němec’s A REPORT ON THE PARTY AND GUESTS, Jiří Menzel’s CAPRICIOUS SUMMER, Kaneto Shindo’s KURONEKO, or Miloš Forman’s THE FIREMEN’S BALL. Also included in our series is Federico Fellini’s TOBY DAMMIT, which was set to screen that year out of competition.

Subscribe Share
Cannes ’68: Cinema in Revolt

7 Episodes

  • Introducing Cannes ’68
    10:10
    Introducing Cannes ’68
    Episode 1

    Introducing Cannes ’68

    Episode 1

    In this 2018 piece, film historian Dudley Andrew explains the situation which lead to the cancellation of the Cannes Film Festival in 1968.

  • A Report on the Party and Guests
    1:11:16
    A Report on the Party and Guests
    Episode 2

    A Report on the Party and Guests

    Episode 2

    Directed by Jan Němec • 1966 • Czechoslovakia

    In Jan Němec's surreal fable, a picnic is rudely transformed into a lesson in political hierarchy when a handful of mysterious authority figures show up. This allegory about oppression and conformity was banned in its home country but became an inter...

  • Peppermint Frappé
    1:34:13
    Peppermint Frappé
    Episode 3

    Peppermint Frappé

    Episode 3

    Directed by Carlos Saura • 1967 • Spain
    Starring Geraldine Chaplin, José Luis López Vázquez, Alfredo Mayo

    The first of Carlos Saura’s many collaborations with Geraldine Chaplin is a darkly comic psychological thriller that casts the actor in a VERTIGO-esque double role as both the glamorous, una...

  • The Firemen’s Ball
    1:13:36
    The Firemen’s Ball
    Episode 4

    The Firemen’s Ball

    Episode 4

    Directed by Miloš Forman • 1967 • Czechoslovakia
    Starring Jan Vostrcil, Josef Šebánek, František Reinstein

    A milestone of the Czech New Wave, Miloš Forman’s first color film THE FIREMEN’S BALL is both a dazzling comedy and a provocative political satire. A hilarious saga of good intentions confo...

  • Capricious Summer
    1:16:46
    Capricious Summer
    Episode 5

    Capricious Summer

    Episode 5

    Directed by Jiří Menzel • 1968 • Czechoslovakia

    Two years after his worldwide hit CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS, Jiří Menzel directed this amusing idyll about three middle-aged men whose mellow summer is interrupted by the arrival of a circus performer and his beautiful assistant. A meditation on agi...

  • Toby Dammit
    43:36
    Toby Dammit
    Episode 6

    Toby Dammit

    Episode 6

    Directed by Federico Fellini • 1968 • Italy
    Starring Terence Stamp

    Loosely adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s story “Never Bet the Devil Your Head,” Federico Fellini’s contribution to the omnibus film SPIRITS OF THE DEAD is one of the filmmaker’s most extravagantly stylized cinematic dreamscapes—a p...

  • Kuroneko
    1:39:45
    Kuroneko
    Episode 7

    Kuroneko

    Episode 7

    Directed by Kaneto Shindo • 1968 • Japan

    In this poetic and atmospheric horror fable, set in a village in war-torn medieval Japan, a malevolent spirit has been ripping out the throats of itinerant samurai. When a military hero is sent to dispatch the unseen force, he finds that he must struggle ...

×