The Cannes Film Festival, le Festival international du film de Cannes, is a private film festival held in the town of Cannes, South France. It was first held in September 1939 and has since been held annually in May with a few exceptions.

Given massive media exposure, the Festival is attended by many movie stars and is a popular venue for movie producers to launch their new films and attempt to sell their works to the distributors who come from all over the world.

The most prestigious award given out at Cannes is the Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) for the best film; this is sometimes shared by multiple films in one year. The jury of the festival, made of a small international selection of movie professionals, however grants other awards, include the Grand Prix (Grand Prize, the second most prestigious award).

This year, the festival is running from 17th May 2006 to 28th May 2006. The festival opens with the premiere of The Da Vinci Code, based upon the fictional works of Dan Brown.