Citizen Cannes

This autobiography presents the profile of a man who has spent more than half a century living and breathing world cinema – a passion which the press has acknowledged by giving him various nicknames such as ‘Monsieur Cinema’, ‘Mister Cinema’, or better still, ‘Citizen Cannes’.

For over thirty years, Gilles Jacob has been the soul of the biggest film festival in the world – the Cannes Festival – of which he was elected President in 2000. As witness and champion of the film industry, Jacob describes in Citizen Cannes his journey from that of a Jewish boy saved by a catholic seminary during World War II, later becoming an entrepreneur and a film critic, and finally an accomplished man who in 1978 was appointed general delegate of the biggest vanity fair in the world.

Citizen Cannes is a unique and vivid record of Jacob’s encounters with the world of cinema. He writes of his passion for filmmakers and the stars who sparkle on the red carpet, including insider stories of big names such as Sharon Stone, Clint Eastwood, Woody Allen, Jean-Luc Godard, Stanley Kubrick, Federico Fellini, Gérard Depardieu and the list goes on. Some anecdotes reveal their personalities and eccentricities, while others give readers a rare insight about the festival itself, the way films are selected, judged and rewarded. As a telling behind-the-scenes account of the Cannes Film Festival, this is a must-read for film buffs, and for anyone fascinated by larger-than-life personalities.