The 16th Cannes Film Festival was held from 9 to 23 May 1963. The Palme d'Or went to the Il Gattopardo by Luchino Visconti. The festival opened with The Birds, directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Jury
The following people were appointed as the Jury of the 1963 film competition:
Feature films
Armand Salacrou (France) Jury President
Rouben Mamoulian (USA) Vice President
Jacqueline Audry (France) Wilfrid Baumgartner (France) (BDF official) François Chavane (France) Jean de Baroncelli (France) (critic) Robert Hossein (France) Rostislav Yurenev (Soviet Union) Kashiko Kawakita (Japan) Steven Pallos (UK) Gian Luigi Rondi (Italy) Short films Henri Alekan (France) President Robert Alla (France) Karl Schedereit (West Germany) Ahmed Sefrioui (Morocco) Semih Tugrul (Turkey) (journalist)
Official selection
In competition - Feature film
The following feature films competed for the Palme d'Or:
Les Abysses by Nikos Papatakis
Alvorada by Hugo Niebeling
The Cage (La Cage) by Robert Darène
Carom Shots (Carambolages) by Marcel Bluwal
The Cassandra Cat (Až přijde kocour) by Vojtěch Jasný
Codine by Henri Colpi
The Conjugal Bed (L'ape regina) by Marco Ferreri
A Cozy Cottage (Kertes házak utcája) by Tamás Fejér
Empress Wu Tse-Tien (Wu Ze Tian) by Li Han Hsiang
The Fiances (I Fidanzati) by Ermanno Olmi
For Those Who Will Follow (Pour la suite du monde) by Pierre Perrault and Michel Brault Glory Sky (Ouranos) by Takis Kanellopoulos The Good Love (El Buen amor) by Francisco Regueiro Harakiri (Seppuku) by Masaki Kobayashi How to Be Loved (Jak być kochaną) by Wojciech Has The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) by Luchino Visconti Like Two Drops of Water (Als twee druppels water) by Fons Rademakers Lord of the Flies by Peter Brook Optimistic Tragedy (Optimisticheskaya tragediya) by Samson Samsonov El Otro Cristóbal by Armand Gatti Rat Trap (Le Rat d'Amérique) by Jean-Gabriel Albicocco This Sporting Life by Lindsay Anderson To Kill a Mockingbird by Robert Mulligan Tobacco (Тютюн) by Nikola Korabov The Venerable Ones (Los Venerables todos) by Manuel Antín What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? by Robert Aldrich
Films out of competition
The following films were selected to be screened out of competition: 8½ by Federico Fellini The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock
Short film competition
The following short films competed for the Short Film Palme d'Or:
A fleur d'eau by Alex Seiler
Bouket zvezdi by Radka Batchvarova
Citizens Of Tomorrow by Jamie Uys
The Critic by Ernest Pintoff
Das Grabmal des Kaisers by Istvan V. Szots
Di Domenica by Luigi Bazzoni
La ferriera abbandonata by Aglauco Casadio
Geel by Costia de Renesse
Geschwindigkeit by Edgar Reitz
Le Haricot by Edmond Sechan
Images du ciel - Égypte o Égypte by Jacques Brissot
The King's Breakfast by Wendy Toye
My Flat (Moj stan) by Zvonimir Berkovic
Nakymaton Kasi by Veronica Leo
Oslo by Jørgen Roos
Playa Insolita by Javier Aguirre
Un Prince Belge de l'Europe, Charles Joseph de Ligne by Jacques Kupissonoff
Sous le signe de Neptune by A.F. Sulk
The Ride by Gerald Potterton
You by Istvan Szabo
Zeilen by Hattum Hoving
Zeleznicari by Evald Schorm
Parallel section
International Critics' Week
The following feature films were selected to be screened for the 2nd International Critics' Week (2e Semaine de la Critique):
Alone or with Others (Seul ou avec d’autres) by Denys Arcand, Denis Héroux, Stéphane Venne (Canada) Barnvagnen by Bo Widerberg (Sweden) Déjà s'envole la fleur maigre by Paul Meyer (Belgium) Hallelujah the Hills by Adolfas Mekas (United States) Le Joli Mai by Chris Marker, Pierre Lhomme (France) Pelle viva by Giuseppe Fina (Italy) Pitfall (Otoshiana) by Hiroshi Teshigahara (Japan) Porto das Caixas by Paulo César Saraceni (Brazil) Showman by Albert Maysles, David Maysles (United States) The Sun in a Net (Slnko v sieti) by Štefan Uher (Czechoslovakia)