The 66th Cannes Film Festival took place from 15 to 26 May 2013. American filmmaker Steven Spielberg was the Jury President for the main competition.
The French film Blue Is the Warmest Colour won the Palme d'Or. In an unprecedented move, along with the director, Abdellatif Kechiche, the Jury decided to take "the exceptional step" of awarding the film's two main actresses, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux, with the Palme.
The festival poster featured the real-life couple and Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward kissing during the shooting of A New Kind of Love. French actress Audrey Tautou hosted the opening and closing ceremonies.
On the occasion of 100 Years of Indian Cinema, India was an Official Guest Country at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Seven Indian feature films were premiered among various sections on the festival. Actress Vidya Balan was one of the Jury members for the Main Competition of the festival. The first Incredible India Exhibition, a joint participation of the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Republic of India was inaugurated by Indian delegate Chiranjeevi.
The festival opened with The Great Gatsby by Baz Luhrmann, and closed with Zulu by Jérôme Salle.
The following independent juries awarded films in the frame of the Critics' Week:
Nespresso Grand Prize
Discovery Award for Short Film
France 4 Visionary Award
The following films were selected for the Main Competition section:
The following films were selected in the Un Certain Regard section:
The following films were selected to play out of competition:
The following films were presented in the Special screenings section:
The Cinéfondation section focuses on films made by students at film schools. The following 18 entries (14 fiction films and 4 animation films) were selected, out of 1,550 submissions from 277 different schools. One-third of the films selected represented schools competing for the first time. It was also the first time for a Chilean film to be selected in Cinéfondation.
Out of 3,500 submissions, the following films were selected to compete for the Short Film Palme d'Or:
The Festival uses Cannes Classics to place the spotlight on rediscovered or restored masterworks from the past, or ones that have been re-released in theatres or on DVD.
The Cinéma de la Plage is a part of the Official Selection. The outdoors screenings at the beach cinema of Cannes are open to the public.
The line-up for the Critics' Week was announced on 22 April at the section's website. The following films were selected:
The line-up for the Directors' Fortnight was announced at a press conference on 23 April with the following films being selected.
The French film Blue Is the Warmest Colour, directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, won the Palme d'Or. In a first for the competition, the jury decided to award the Palme d'Or to Kechiche and the actresses who star in the film: Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux. Blue Is the Warmest Colour is a coming-of-age film that tells the story of a lesbian relationship between a 15-year-old girl and an older woman. It has shocked some critics with its graphic and controversial sex scenes. A reporter for the Radio France Internationale stated that Kechiche paid tribute to the "Tunisian revolution" and "the right to love freely" during his acceptance speech. The president of the jury, Steven Spielberg, said "The film is a great love story ... We were absolutely spellbound by the two brilliant young actresses, and the way the director observed his young players." The Grand Prix was won by the Coen brothers's Inside Llewyn Davis, while Bruce Dern and Bérénice Bejo were awarded Best Actor and Best Actress respectively.