A city of southeast France on the Mediterranean Sea near Nice. It is a fashionable resort and the site of an annual international film festival. Population: 72,259. a fashionable expensive town next to the Mediterranean Sea in southern France, which is famous as a holiday centre and because of the Cannes Film Festival, a yearly event when new international films are shown for the first time and are judged. City (pop., 1999: 67,304), southeastern France. Located on the Mediterranean Sea southwest of Nice, it is an international resort. Probably settled by Ligurians, it was occupied successively by Phocaeans, Celts, and Romans. In the 10th century the monks of Lérins built fortifications to guard against Muslim sea raiders. Napoleon, on his return from Elba in 1815, camped nearby. A resort since the 19th century, the city is home to the Cannes Film Festival