On this day in 1946, the first Cannes Film Festival is held, having been delayed for seven years due to World War II.

The Cannes Film Festival has its origins in 1938 when Jean Zay, the French Minister of National Education, on the proposal of high-ranking official and historian Philippe Erlanger and film journalist Robert Favre Le Bret decided to set up an international cinematographic festival. They found the support of the Americans and the British.