The red carpet, the magazine dinners, the parties nobody announces: what I can genuinely obtain during the Festival, and how to go about it.
The Festival (11 to 22 May 2027 for its 80th edition) is twelve days during which Cannes doubles in population and everyone is after exactly the same thing: getting in. Into a screening, into a dinner, into a villa up in the hills. The rest (the hotel, the table, the car) is logistics, and frankly that’s the easy part. So let me talk about the difficult part.
The red carpet
It’s the image of the Festival, and it’s what I’m asked for most. Let’s be precise: the red carpet is by invitation only. There’s no box office, no ticket window, no published price.
That said, invitations circulate. Some holders pass theirs on, and that’s exactly where we come in: we know who to talk to, and we find them without particular difficulty. The price varies with the film, a highly anticipated premiere and a mid-festival screening are not at the same level. I give you the figure case by case, once the selection is announced and the dates are set.
One thing nobody thinks to mention: dress code is a condition of entry, not a suggestion. Black tie and a long dress in the evening. I’ve seen someone turned away three metres from the carpet for trying to test the limits, this is neither the place nor the moment.
The parties, where the Festival is really played out
The Festival is as famous for its red carpet as for its ultra-private parties, and by some distance that’s what I’m asked for most. There are several circles, and they don’t open the same way.
- Media dinners and gatherings, the Forbes, Vanity Fair and equivalent evenings. Much sought after, heavily photographed, and an excellent way in if you’re also here to meet people. These are the accesses I obtain most regularly.
- House and brand parties, on a private beach, a rooftop or a yacht. The standard varies enormously from year to year; I’ll tell you honestly which ones are worth your evening and which aren’t.
- Private parties in the villas up in the hills, the most closed circle, the ones major Hollywood figures host at home every year. Nothing is announced, nothing is public, everything runs on relationships. This is precisely the kind of access people call me for.
I will never promise you a specific party months ahead, and be wary of anyone who does: those lists close and reopen within forty-eight hours. What I can tell you from our first exchange is where I have ways in, what’s realistic for your group, and when you’ll need to decide quickly.
Staying, moving, dining
The logistical part, which means the part that can be solved, provided you start early.
- The hotel, the Croisette palaces fill months ahead and impose minimum stays. Booked early it’s expensive but coherent; booked late it stops being reasonable.
- The villa, the best formula as soon as you’re a group, and the only one if you intend to host. Up in the hills above Cannes, at Super Cannes or towards Mougins, you gain in calm what you lose in driving minutes.
- The chauffeur, essential. The Croisette is saturated, the approaches to the Palais are filtered and parking is a contact sport. You’re dropped off, you’re collected, you think about nothing.
- The tables, the good addresses in Cannes are besieged for twelve days. I book my clients’ dinners at the same time as their accommodation, never after.
My advice if it’s your first Festival
Don’t try to do everything. The people who leave disappointed are invariably those who tried to string together a red carpet, three parties and two lunches a day: they spent their Festival in a car.
Pick two high points (a carpet and a party, say) and let the rest breathe. Lunch on the Lérins islands, a morning at sea, a quiet dinner well away from the Croisette. The Festival is infinitely more enjoyable when you aren’t enduring it, and my most loyal clients have all ended up adopting that rhythm.
