# 1978 Cannes Film Festival

The 31st Cannes Film Festival took place from 16 to 30 May 1978. American filmmaker Alan J. Pakula served as jury president for the main competition.
Italian filmmaker Ermanno Olmi won the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize, for the drama film The Tree of Wooden Clogs.
This festival saw the introduction of a new section, the Un Certain Regard, initially as a non-competitive programme which replaced the Les Yeux Fertiles (1975-1977), L'Air du temps and Le Passé composé sections.
The festival opened with A Hunting Accident by Emil Loteanu, and closed with Fedora by Billy Wilder.

## Juries
### Main Competition

* Alan J. Pakula, American filmmaker - Jury President
* Franco Brusati, Italian filmmaker
* François Chalais, French reporter, journalist, writer and film historian
* Michel Ciment, French film critic
* Claude Goretta, Swiss filmmaker
* Andrei Konchalovsky, Soviet filmmaker
* Harry Saltzman, Canadian producer
* Liv Ullmann, Norwegian actress
* Georges Wakhévitch, French art director

## Official selection
### In Competition

The following feature films competed for the Palme d'Or:
| English Title | Original Title | Director(s) | Production Country |
| Blindfolded Eyes | Los ojos vendados | Carlos Saura | Spain |
| Bravo maestro | Bravo maestro | Rajko Grlić | Yugoslavia |
| Bye Bye Monkey | Ciao maschio | Marco Ferreri | Italy, France |
| The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith | The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith | Fred Schepisi | Australia |
| Coming Home | Coming Home | Hal Ashby | United States |
| Despair | Despair | Rainer Werner Fassbinder | West Germany |
| A Dream of Passion | Κραυγή Γυναικών | Jules Dassin | Greece, Switzerland |
| Ecce bombo | Ecce bombo | Nanni Moretti | Italy |
| Empire of Passion | 愛の亡霊 | Nagisa Ōshima | France, Japan |
| A Hunting Accident (opening film) | Мой ласковый и нежный зверь | Emil Loteanu | Soviet Union |
| The Left-Handed Woman | Die linkshändige Frau | Peter Handke | West Germany |
| Midnight Express | Midnight Express | Alan Parker | United Kingdom, United States |
| Molière | Molière | Ariane Mnouchkine | France |
| Pretty Baby | Pretty Baby | Louis Malle | United States |
| The Recourse to the Method | El recurso del método | Miguel Littin | Mexico, Cuba |
| The Remains from the Shipwreck | Los restos del naufragio | Ricardo Franco | Spain |
| The Shout | The Shout | Jerzy Skolimowski | United Kingdom |
| Spiral | Spirala | Krzysztof Zanussi | Poland |
| The Tree of Wooden Clogs | L'albero degli zoccoli | Ermanno Olmi | Italy |
| An Unmarried Woman | An Unmarried Woman | Paul Mazursky | United States |
| A Very Moral Night | Egy erkölcsös éjszaka | Károly Makk | Hungary |
| Violette Nozière | Violette Nozière | Claude Chabrol | France, Canada |
| Who'll Stop the Rain | Who'll Stop the Rain | Karel Reisz | United States |

### Un Certain Regard

The following films were selected for the Un Certain Regard section:
| English Title | Original Title | Director(s) | Production Country |
| Alyam, alyam | آليام آليام | Ahmed El Maanouni | Morocco |
| Balcony in the Forest | Un balcon en forêt | Michel Mitrani | France |
| Dossier 51 | Le dossier 51 | Michel Deville | France |
| Colonel Delmiro Gouveia | Coronel Delmiro Gouveia | Geraldo Sarno | Brazil |
| Grand Hôtel des Palmes | Grand Hôtel des Palmes | Memè Perlini | Italy |
| Hitler: A Film from Germany | Hitler, ein Film aus Deutschland | Hans-Jürgen Syberberg | West Germany, France, United Kingdom |
| Koko: A Talking Gorilla | Koko, le gorille qui parle | Barbet Schroeder | France |
| Man of Marble | Człowiek z marmuru | Andrzej Wajda | Poland |
| Nahapet | Նահապետ | Henrik Malyan | Soviet Union |
| The New Klan: Heritage of Hate | The New Klan: Heritage of Hate | Leslie Shatz and Eleanor Bingham | United States |
| Ocaña, an Intermittent Portrait | Ocaña, retrato intermitente | Ventura Pons | Spain |
| People Not as Bad as They Seem | Aika hyvä ihmiseksi | Rauni Mollberg | Finland |
| Die Rückkehr des alten Herrn | Die Rückkehr des alten Herrn | Vojtěch Jasný | Austria |

### Out of Competition

The following films were selected to be screened out of competition:
| English Title | Original Title | Director(s) | Production Country |
| Fedora (closing film) | Fedora (closing film) | Billy Wilder | West Germany, France |
| The Last Waltz | The Last Waltz | Martin Scorsese | United States |

### Short Films Competition

The following short films competed for the Short Film Palme d'Or:
* Christmas Morning by Tiernan MacBride
* A Doonesbury Special by John Hubley
* Letter to a Friend by Sonia Hofmann
* Maladie by Paul Vecchiali
* Oh My Darling by Børge Ring
* The Oriental Nightfish by Ian Emes
* Le Serpentine d'oro by Anna Maria Tatò
* La Traversée de l'Atlantique à la rame by Jean-François Laguionie
* Uj lakok by Liviusz Gyulai

## Parallel sections
### International Critics' Week

The following feature films were screened for the 17th International Critics' Week (17e Semaine de la Critique):
* Alambrista! by Robert Young (United States)
* A Breach in the Wall (Une Brèche dans le mur) by Jillali Ferhati (Morocco)
* Fragrance of Wild Flowers (Miris poljskog cveca) by Srđan Karanović (Yugoslavia)
* Jubilee by Derek Jarman (United Kingdom)
* One and One (En och en) by Erland Josephson, Sven Nykvist & Ingrid Thulin (Sweden)
* Roberte by Robert Zucca (France)
* This Is the Night (Per questa notte) by Carlo di Carlo (Italy)
* The Woman Across the Way [de] (Die Frau gegenüber) by Hans Noever (West Germany)

### Directors' Fortnight

The following films were screened for the 1978 Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalizateurs):
* Alicia en la España de las maravillas by Jordi Feliu
* Bilbao by Bigas Luna
* Fine Manners (Les belles manières) by Jean-Claude Guiguet
* Los Gaminos by Ciro Duran
* The Getting of Wisdom by Bruce Beresford
* Girlfriends by Claudia Weill
* The Main Actor [de] by Reinhard Hauff
* Los Hijos de Fierro by Fernando Solanas
* The Holy Alliance (A Santa Aliança) by Eduardo Geada
* Insiang by Lino Brocka
* The Mafu Cage by Karen Arthur
* Mother and Daughter (Maternale) by Giovanna Gagliardo
* Oka Oori Katha by Mrinal Sen
* One and One (En och en) by Erland Josephson, Sven Nykvist, Ingrid Thulin
* The Reign of Naples [it] (El regno di Napoli) by Werner Schroeter
* Renaldo and Clara by Bob Dylan
* Rocking Horse (Susetz) by Yaky Yosha
* The Scenic Route by Mark Rappaport
* A Summer Rain (Chuvas de Verão) by Carlos Diegues
* I Vecchi e I Giovani by Marco Leto
* Zoo Zéro by Alain Fleischer

## Official Awards
### In Competition

The following films and people received the 1978 Official selection awards:
* Palme d'Or: The Tree of Wooden Clogs by Ermanno Olmi
* Grand Prix:
** Bye Bye Monkey by Marco Ferreri
** The Shout by Jerzy Skolimowski
* Best Director: Nagisa Ōshima for Empire of Passion
* Best Actress:
** Jill Clayburgh for An Unmarried Woman
** Isabelle Huppert for Violette Nozière
* Best Actor: Jon Voight for Coming Home

### Caméra d'Or

* Alambrista! by Robert M. Young

### Short Film Palme d'Or

* Rowing Across the Atlantic by Jean-François Laguionie
* Jury Prize:
** A Doonesbury Special by John Hubley, Faith Hubley and Garry Trudeau
** Oh My Darling by Børge Ring

## Independent awards
### FIPRESCI Prize

* Man of Marble by Andrzej Wajda (Un Certain Regard - Unanimously)
* Fragrance of Wild Flowers by Srdjan Karanovic (International Critics' Week)

### Commission Supérieure Technique

* Technical Grand Prize: Pretty Baby by Louis Malle

### Prize of the Ecumenical Jury

* The Tree of Wooden Clogs by Ermanno Olmi

## Trivia

Michael Ritchie's 1979 film An Almost Perfect Affair, a romantic comedy starring Keith Carradine and Monica Vitti, features several scenes shot on location in Cannes while the 1978 Festival was taking place. A number of prominent actors, directors and journalists who attended that year made cameo appearances in the film, including Rona Barrett, Farrah Fawcett, Brooke Shields, George Peppard, Paul Mazursky, Sergio Leone, Marco Ferreri, Rex Reed and Edy Williams.