Since the eighties, the popularity of motion pictures has known no upper boundaries. And with this popularity, premieres, celebrity watching and film festivals have become the rage. With new and genre specific film festivals popping up every week, the focus on two of the most well-known festivals Sundance and Cannes has increased as well.

Sundance began during the early ë80ís as actor/writer/director/good looking guy Robert Redfordís attempt to give independent films another look; getting the studios to look at your work was considerably harder back then.

And while the Sundance Film Festival is probably the most talked of festival in America, the generically named The International Film Festival (Cannes Film Festival) held annually in May in Cannes, in the French Riviera is the most grandiose and important festival of the year.

The popularity of Cannes stems from a myriad of things: the location on the sea, the presence of so many powerful Hollywood executives and stars, the legendary tales of sex, topless beaches and debauchery associated with Cannes, the reputation of the festival as a historically significant event in Hollywoodís history, to the quality and quantity of the films shown.

The first Cannes Film Festival was held in 1939, as an alternative to the increasingly political delegation at the Venice Film Festival. Since 1932, the Venice Film Festival had been championed both by Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, two men who realized the value propaganda in movies. The matter came to a head in 1937, when jury members of the Venice Film Festival were told that French director Jean Renoirís film Grand Illusion could not win any awards. At this point in time, America, Britain and France, among other countries began to make plans to create a festival of their own.

The first festival, held at Cannes, a site chosen because of the cityís willingness to build a permanent screening area for the film festival, was scheduled for September of 1939. The Hunchback of Notre Dame was shown on the opening night and the festival was promptly shut down because of the ramifications of Hitlerís September 1st invasion of Poland.

The next festival was held after the war in 1946, then again in 1947, 1949. It wasnít until 1951 that the Cannes Film Festival became the annual institution it had originally been envisioned to be.

And while on the surface, it might seem like the A-List stars and glamorous location (Cannes is the sister city to Beverly Hills), are the reasons one goes to Cannes, it is truly the films one goes to see, James Woodsí passion for young reporters and nude beaches aside.

Presented over the course of two weeks, some 1,500 films from around the world are screened. Naturally, not all of the 1,500 are competing for the festivals top prizes, the most coveted of which is the Palme DíOr, awarded annually to the best film at Cannes.

To have a film screened at Cannes is an honor itself, an honor that often brings relative newcomers to the forefront of the paparazzi and their names to the attention of the American studios.

Director Steven Soderberghís sex, lies and videotape is probably the most prominent example of a film and filmmaker that were discovered on the French Riviera.

Of the films submitted to Cannes, it is up to a selection committee to decide which films should compete and the jury to decide of the films in competition which actors and directors should win what, and what film prints should be chucked into the Mediterranean.

The jury of the Cannes Film Festival is one of the most prestigious film juries in the world.

After the president of the jury has been decided, generally by late January, invitations are sent out to the rest of the filmmakers and industry celebrities the director and the backers of the festival think would make a good addition to the 9-12 person panel. And while standard logic would suggest that the jurors be recognizable within the industry, this is not always the case; in 1989 French Canadian student Renee Blanchard was invited to join the jury by then president, German director Wim Wenders.

It is then up to the jury to screen all of the films in competition for the Palme DíOr and to then choose a victor in that category, and the categories of best director, actor, actress, screenplay. The jury members can also confer a Grand Jury Prize upon those other films that, while not winning the Palme DíOr, are personal favorites for one reason or another.

From its humble beginnings as an alternative to Mussoliniís heavily influenced Venice Film Festival, Cannes has grown and flourished to the point that the festival now has well over 300 employees during the weeks of the festival and a budget of a reported thirty million francs.