In 1968 the festival was again cancelled eight days in due to the unstable climate in riot-torn France. With no films to show, Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard invaded the stage at the Cannes Palais and turned it into a political forum instead. These days the festival is a shade more serene. And yet in amid the meals, deals and celebrity schmoozing, much of the old anarchy still remains. Police are still regularly called in to break up unruly punters at screenings, while audiences still react with a European passion that would be unheard of in Hollywood.
Nobody ever boos at the Oscars.
At Cannes they've never been shy about making their feelings known. In the past such controversial Palme d'Or winners as Under Satan's Sun, David Lynch's Wild at Heart and last year's Dancer in the Dark found themselves hissed and whistled to the rafters. Who Wasn't There, Alexander Sokurov's Taurus, Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Millennium Mambo and Todd Solondz's Storytelling. Even old maverick Godard is back with his eagerly anticipated L'Eloge de L'Amour. Nobody knows just what will win, but you can be sure that they'll all have something to say about the one that does.