30 Killer Cannes Debuts

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Critical Response: Nothing short of a France-frothing phenomenon almost from the second it landed. Even the Weinstein's were palpably pumped about their new baby, throwing the entire cast at the Croisette for the midnight screening of Tarantino's magnum opus.

Post-Cannes Reception: Do we need to elaborate here? Phrases like 'epoch-defining', 'watershed' and 'cult phenomenon' continue to waft and curl around the name Pulp Fiction like the smoke from Mia Wallace's cigs. And so they bloody well should.

Antichrist (2009)

Critical Response: Well, let's say 'mixed'. By which we mean numerous audience members fainted, and a frothing Daily Mail (surprise!) journo demanded that Lars Von Trier justify himself in a post-screening conference.

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith (2005)

Critical Response: Ok, so critics weren't stunned into rapturous silence - we're putting it in this list because it underlines Cannes' position as a true titan of the movie world. A Star Wars film premiering at a FOREIGN film festival? The force is strong in this one.

Che (2008)

Critical Response: Proof that Cannes is not only suitable for huge profile films, but also just huge films. Numb-arsed critics sat through four-and-a-half hours of Steven Soderbergh's guerrilla biopic before declaring it, on average, 'fairly decent'. We assume nobody had the energy left for cheering.

Broken Flowers (2005)

Critical Response: Nominated for the Palme d'Or, and winner of the Grand Prix. Cannes and director Jim Jarmusch have made kissy noises at each other on numerous occasions - the fact Broken Flowers was ace helped. Plus it's got Bill Murray in it, thus it wins.

Dancer In The Dark (2000)

Critical Response: Another Palme d'Or winner, and bagged Björk a Best Actress win to boot. Must've been popular pretty much across the critical board then, right...?

The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus (2009)

Critical Response: Another that didn't quite knock the judges for six - but it took a colossal effort to make it to Cannes at all, given the death of star Heath Ledger mid-way through filming.

Viridiana (1962)

Critical Response: Luis Buñuel's lyrical riff on faith, morality and human desires was eaten up with a big critical spoon by the Cannes lot, who awarded it a shared Palme d'Or. But once again, we can think of at least one bloke who didn't like it...

Paris, Texas (1984)

Critical Response: Pretty feverish. Landed not only the overall prize, but also an extra FIPRESCI gong from the international critics' community - like winning Players' Player Of The Year and Goal Of The Season in the same night.

The Host (2006)

Critical Response: Bong Joon-ho's budget-conscious monster mash was hyped to hell and back before anyone actually saw it in Cannes - which is why it's on this list - but it certainly put smiles on faces when they eventually did.

Fish Tank (2009)

Critical Response: A home-grown (for us UK sorts) triumph, Andrea Arnold's gritty council estate drama bagged a Jury Prize - effectively bronze, which ain't too shabby at all.

A History Of Violence (2005)

Critical Response: Eyebrows were raised approvingly all along the Croisette for David Cronenberg's crunchy thriller about an ostensibly pin-straight father being dragged back into a shady past.

The Pianist (2002)

Critical Response: Given the subject matter - Polish Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman's fight for survival and sanity in the Warsaw ghetto of WWII - it'd be hard to throw critical muck at Roman Polanski's adaptation.

Wild At Heart (1990)

Critical Response: A genuinely controversial winner of the Palme d'Or - both die-hard David Lynch aficionados and mere passing aquaintences found themselves fiercely and vocally divided about the victory.

The Piano Teacher (2001)

Critical Response: More keyboard-based festival triumph...although this time about a sexually repressed, masochistically inclined music teacher's obsession with a teenage pupil.

Bowling For Columbine (2002)

Critical Response: Off the hook - a 13-minute ovation and a special 55th anniversary prize. So began Cannes' five-year love affair with Michael Moore...

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

Critical Response: Moore returns! 13 minute ovations a bit flimsy for ya? Try 20 minutes this time around - the longest in Cannes history, no less - and a Palme d'Or to top it off. Yup, this one went down smooth.

Sicko (2007)

Critical Response: Where else would Moore's stone-turning exposé of US healthcare premiere? Just a 15-minute ovation this time, mind - although you'd be hard-pushed to call that a failure.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Critical Response: Just in case you'd started to worry that Michael Moore secretly owned Cannes, lets remind ourselves of the heavyweight blockbuster pulling power of the Croisette.

Hidden (2005)

Critical Response: Another splash for Croisette golden boy Michael Haneke. Best Director, a coveted FIPRESCI prize, and the Ecumenical Jury prize - we're assuming he had to pay excess baggage charges on his way home with all that silverware.

The Tragedy Of Othello: The Moor Of Venice (1952)

Critical Response: Othello makes the list because its premiere at the 5th Cannes underlined the fest's dedication to quality. Writer/director Orson Welles had burned numerous Hollywood bridges by 1952, and this mini-masterpiece was pretty much overlooked there.

Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Critical Response: Tarantino's Nazi-scalping WWII romp was barely visible for buzz before its premiere, proving again that Hollywood big-hitters see Cannes as a top platform for major releases.

Crash (1996)

Critical Response: A History Of Violence wasn't Cronenberg's first flirtation with Cannes triumph - a decade earlier, the unthinkable had almost happened: his eye-popping screw-and-smash novel adaptation nearly scooped the top award. Insania!

Elephant (2003)

Critical Response: More school shooting-related controversy. This time, it was Gus Van Sant's turn to make heads, er, turn...and, despite the inevitable fretting of a post-Columbine world, he and his peeps crew left with the Palme d'Or.

Barton Fink (1991)

Critical Response: Pretty darn rapturous - the Coen brothers' off-kilter mash of fact and twisted fiction swept Best Director, Best Actor (John Turturro) and the Palme d'Or. A good night's work.

Stranger Than Paradise (1984)

Critical Response: Jarmusch - recurring Cannes name #1594 - scored with this minimal, intensely wry comic tale of two New York hipsters and a visiting cousin. As it was his first festival, he earned a Caméra d'Or prize for still-damp directors.

Hunger (2008)

Critical Response: Steve McQueen's subjective take on the 1981 Irish hunger strikes came after Michael Moore had shown, much to Cannes' credit, that politics do register amidst the beach tans and glitzy restaurants.

Atanarjuat (2001)

Critical Response: Another Golden Camera recipient, and another debut in more ways than one.

The Wind That Shakes The Barley (2006)

Critical Response: Homegrown glory struck again in 2006, Ken Loach nicking top prize with an emotive period study of the Irish Troubles.

Breaking The Waves (1996)

Critical Response: Lars Von Trier (again) faced misogyny claims (again). To be fair, a film about a child-like wife sleeping around at her disabled husband's request is an easy target...but it still took the Grand Prix, Cannes' panels showing admirable tolerance for tricky material.