Official poster of the 14th Cannes Film Festival, an original illustration by A.M. Rodicq. [1] | |
| Opening film | The Joy of Living |
|---|---|
| Location | Cannes, France |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Awards | Palme d'Or : The Long Absence Viridiana [2] |
| No. of films | 30 (In Competition) [3] |
| Festival date | 3 May 1961 – 18 May 1961 |
| Website | festival-cannes |
The 14th Cannes Film Festival took place from 3 to 18 May 1961. [4] French writer Jean Giono served as jury president for the main competition.
The Palme d'Or was jointly awarded to The Long Absence by Henri Colpi and Viridiana by Luis Buñuel. [5]
The festival also screened Shirley Clarke's debut film The Connection , due to the efforts of the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. The success of the film caused the festival to create International Critics' Week the following year. [6]
The festival opened with The Joy of Living by René Clément.
The following feature films competed for the Palme d'Or : [3]
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Brute | Dúvad | Zoltán Fábri | Hungary |
| Chronicle of Flaming Years | Повесть пламенных лет | Yuliya Solntseva | Soviet Union |
| The Cossacks | Казаки | Vasili Pronin | |
| Darclee | Mihai Iacob | Romania | |
| The First Mass | A Primeira Missa | Lima Barreto | Brazil |
| The Fourteenth Day | Дан четрнаести | Zdravko Velimirović | Yugoslavia |
| Girl with a Suitcase | La Ragazza con la valigia | Valerio Zurlini | Italy, France |
| Goodbye Again | Aimez-vous Brahms? | Anatole Litvak | United States, France |
| The Hand in the Trap | La Mano en la trampa | Leopoldo Torre Nilsson | Argentina |
| Her Brother | おとうと | Kon Ichikawa | Japan |
| The Hoodlum Priest | Irvin Kershner | United States | |
| I Like Mike | איי לייק מייק | Peter Frye | Israel |
| The Joy of Living (opening film) | Che gioia vivere | René Clément | Italy, France |
| The Judge | Domaren | Alf Sjöberg | Sweden |
| The Knife | Het Mes | Fons Rademakers | Netherlands |
| The Last Witness | Der Letzte Zeuge | Wolfgang Staudte | West Germany |
| The Long Absence | Une aussi longue absence | Henri Colpi | France |
| The Lovemakers | La Viaccia | Mauro Bolognini | Italy |
| Madalena | Μανταλένα | Dinos Dimopoulos | Greece |
| The Mark | Guy Green | United Kingdom | |
| Mother Joan of the Angels | Matka Joanna od aniolów | Jerzy Kawalerowicz | Poland |
| The Passionate Demons | Line | Nils Reinhardt Christensen | Norway |
| Plein sud | Gaston De Gerlache | Belgium | |
| A Raisin in the Sun | Daniel Petrie | United States | |
| Sky Above and Mud Beneath | Le Ciel et la boue | Pierre-Dominique Gaisseau | France |
| A Song About the Gray Pigeon | Pieseň o sivom holubovi | Stanislav Barabáš | Czechoslovakia |
| That Forward Center Died at Dawn | El Centroforward murió al amanecer | René Mugica | Argentina |
| Two Women | La Ciociara | Vittorio De Sica | Italy, France |
| Viridiana | Luis Buñuel | Spain, Mexico | |
| The Wastrel | Il Relitto | Michael Cacoyannis | Italy, Cyprus |
The following film was selected to be screened out of competition: [3]
The following short films competed for the Short Film Palme d'Or: [3]