Skip to main content

GALLERY: Mexican films awarded at the Cannes Film Festival

Mexican cinema has actively participated in Cannes Film Festival since its beginning in 1946. What would be its first edition in 1939 had to be discontinued immediately due to the start of World War II. It was a year after the end of the war, in 1946, that the first Cannes festival was held, where two Mexican films participated: Los tres mosqueteros (1942), by Miguel M. Delgado and María Candelaria (1943), by Emilio "El Indio"Fernández, who won the Grand Prix and the prize for Best Photography for Gabriel Figueroa.

Since then, prominent Mexican filmmakers from Julio Bracho, Roberto Gavaldón and Arturo Ripstein, to Carlos Reygadas, Michel Franco and Amat Escalante, have been part of the Official Selection of Cannes.

Emilio "El Indio" Fernández was the first Mexican filmmaker to receive the Grand Prix, the name that held the Palme d'Or until 1955. The Mexican Luis Buñuel (Mexican nationalized), Alejandro González Iñárritu, Carlos Reygadas and Amat Escalante received the distinction as Best Director in this festival.

Learn more about the history of Mexican cinema in Cannes here.

Next, a gallery of images of Mexican films that have participated in the main competition throughout the history of the Cannes Film Festival and that have been awarded.