The Three Major Film Festivals (International Reception)

Of key importance to the worldwide recognition of the Chinese New Cinema and other 'new waves' of world cinema, especially in the 1990s. In the 1980s, other, small festivals had already started the process. As Dudley Andrew writes: "As European art cinema was moribund, desperate festivals began looking elsewhere for signs of life. And life was found in what I call the Second Set of New Waves. By the early ’80s, as if sucked into a vacuum, came films from places never before thought of as cinematically interesting or viable: Mainland China, Senegal, Mali, Ireland, Taiwan, and Iran. This second set of waves is distinct from those of the 1960s not only in their provenance but in the way they functioned in a greatly changed international system."

Cannes
Held yearly in May. Initially founded in 1939, it only really took off as an international film festival in the post-war era.


Venice
Held yearly in late August/early September. Oldest international film festival in the world. Founded in 1932, under the title Esposizione internazionale d'arte cinematografica, it was under the influence of Mussolini's regime between 1934 and 1942, prompting the Cannes film festival to open as an alternative to its fascist rival.
In 1961, Ebrahim Golestan's documentary about an oildfield fire in Southern Iran, A Fire, edited by Forough Farrokhzad, was the first Iranian film to win a major international festival prize when it won the Bronze Medal.


Berlin
Held yearly in February. Set up in 1951by German and American authorities to show off to the world the success of de-nazification and of Germany's revival under American guidance.



"In the 1980s, the Big Three festivals were especially skittish about showing films from Taiwan for geopolitical reasons. Probably out of fear of being passed over for films by the Fifth Generation in mainland China, they did not want to antagonize the PRC which was trying everything to prevent Taiwan from gaining international recognition as the Republic of China. Berlin had invited Hou to show two films outside of the competition in 1985, but then withdrew the invitation for unspecified reasons. after Hou won at Nantes two years in a row, the big festivals clearly decided they could no longer afford not to show films from Taiwan, but they were presented in the non-competitive sidebars. Venice finally took the plunge in 1989 by entering City of Sadness in the competition. This changed the course of Taiwanese cinema, making it a true festival powerhouse in the 1990s" [James Udden, HHH (Suchenski), p130]



References:
http://www.china.org.cn/english/features/film/84968.htm (China)
Dudley Andrew, Waves of New Waves and the International Film Festival.
Bill Nichols, New Cinemas and the film festival circuit.