Events

• 1946 – The first Cannes Film Festival is held, having been delayed seven years due to World War II.

People (Births)

• 1948 – George R. R. Martin, American novelist and short story writer, creator of Game of Thrones.

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes Festival (French: Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (Festival international du film) and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around the world. Founded in 1946, the invitation-only festival is held annually (usually in May) at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. The festival was formally accredited by the FIAPF in 1951.

On 01 July 2014, co-founder and former head of French pay-TV operator Canal+, Pierre Lescure, took over as President of the Festival, while Thierry Frémaux became the General Delegate. The board of directors also appointed Gilles Jacob as Honorary President of the Festival.

It is one of the “Big Three” major European film festivals, alongside the Venice Film Festival in Italy and the Berlin International Film Festival in Germany, as well as one of the “Big Five” major international film festivals, which consists of the three major European film festivals, the Toronto International Film Festival in Canada, and the Sundance Film Festival in the United States.

George R.R. Martin

George Raymond Richard Martin[(born George Raymond Martin; 20 September 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels A Song of Ice and Fire, which were adapted into the Emmy Award-winning HBO series Game of Thrones (2011-2019). He also helped create the Wild Cards anthology series, and contributed worldbuilding for the 2022 video game Elden Ring.

In 2005, Lev Grossman of Time called Martin “the American Tolkien”, and in 2011, he was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world.