3. Beach Front (1992)
What happened? In 1992 French skin mag Hot Vidéo launched the Cannes Film Festival’s porn parallel, Hot D’Or, an annual adult industry awards ceremony.
Why it’s great: Rather than bringing down the ‘proper’ film festival, the skin-flick celebration added to Cannes’ atmosphere of shameless commercialism and beauty-worship. It’s all the same thing, really, except maybe the porn folk are more honest about what they do.
2. Marie Antoinette Gets Le Boos (2006)
What happened? Sophia Coppola’s dainty fondant fancy of a biopic is booed at a press screening by haughty French critics.
Why it’s great: Because at Cannes just about everything is booed. David Cronenberg’s Crash was booed. Lars von Trier’s The Idiots was booed. Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales was booed. Once, Pamela Anderson was booed by the very photographers she was politely posing for. It’s churlish, childish, and brilliantly trashy and European – the festival wouldn’t be the same without it.
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