1975 Deauville American Film Festival

The 1st Deauville American Film Festival took place at Deauville, France from September 3 to 7, 1975. It was created by French writer Lionel Chouchan and French journalist and television producer André Halimi, which they described as "(to) show films that only a few privileged - amazed or astonished – people had discovered, in New York or Los Angeles, to French audiences, without exclusion, barriers or bias". It occurs every year since its creation at the end of the summer. They received funding from French entrepreneur and businessman Lucien Barrière's group and mayor of Deauville at that time, Michel d'Ornano.

The festival was non-competitive in nature and remained so until 1995. It screened 12 feature films at three different sites, International Centre (1,500 seats), the Casino (700 vehicles) and the Cinéma Morny (two rooms of 271 and 99 seats). Initially the festival was attended by locals but with passing years its popularity increased and attracted international attention. The festival also highlighted the best of American cinematography.