Over-the-top glamour of Cannes Film Festival parties

When you set a film festival at the French Riviera, the jet set’s picturesque playground, glamour is a given. As such, the Cannes Film Festival’s alluring azure has been the backdrop to some of the most fabled intersections between film stars, affluence, and indulgence over its 69 years, including Grace Kelly’s meet-cute with Prince Rainier of Monaco; Brigitte Bardot’s introduction to the world, so cataclysmic that it afforded the man who discovered her, Raoul Lévy, a 70-foot yacht (which the sex kitten christened at Cannes three years later by smashing a bottle of champagne aboard); Elizabeth Taylor wearing a diamond tiara to a premiere that was not even hers; and a soiree for Federico Fellini’s Palm d’Or winner La Dolce Vita that featured dancers re-creating the famous Trevi Fountain scene.

 

Decades later, the Cannes Film Festival remains the most prestigious in the world, with a renowned party scene that matches its premier red carpets in exclusivity and glamour. And even though modern-era commerce has seeped onto the Croisette— with the festival increasingly relying on high-end sponsors to offset the costs of the event and its parties— the “over-the-top elegance” remains, notes super publicist and Cannes vet Peggy Siegal. “The festival is in on the humor of its luxury, and that’s what makes it so fun.”

 

Indeed, a round-the-clock procession of parties on land (from the Croisette to the famous Hôtel du Cap), at sea (aboard super-yachts anchored in the Mediterranean), and in the sky (rooftop lounges, like Chopard’s premier suite, keep champagne flowing at all hours) ensures that the festival feels like the most lavish of fever dreams.

 

“There’s probably no other festival that can combine art, commerce, and scandal in one place and make it so classy and elegant,” says Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn of the French fest’s disorienting-ly sumptuous swirl. “It’s like going to the Danceteria when I was young and the night lasts for a week.”

 

Everyone, from the photographers and gate crashers to the A-list stars and Russian billionaires, dress in their finest black-tie. And although there have been a few modern precautions installed— increased security guards and dogs patrol party perimeters, and expert spotters are brought in to identify those attempting to enter events with a fake name— the Croisette is charmingly old school, even if it incurs the frustration of event planners.

 

Danielle Pelland, the founder and principal of Brilliant Consulting Group, who marks her 12th Cannes Film Festival this year, explains why it is necessary to begin planning the costly Cannes activation months in advance, when filmmakers first start submitting entries.

 

“To be delicate, the locals can be challenging and the French work culture is not 24/7,” Pelland says. “You can’t drop in for one festival and expect to pull off eleventh-hour requests over a weekend unless you are pretty well connected on the ground.” Headaches include navigating the local liquor laws and air-traffic-controlling early-morning deliveries on the Croisette, which slows to a crawl during peak festival traffic.

 

While Pelland has received frantic last-minute requests to, say, book musical performers for an event the next day, she says that even run-of-the-mill requests can prove difficult given the small seaside town’s limitations: “I’ve brought in Wild Turkey from St. Tropez, routinely sourced flowers from Holland, and I’m currently sourcing neon signs from Spain,” she says as an example.

 

Most film-related premieres stick to venues along the Croisette (which is walking distance from the Palais, where premieres are held), elegantly transforming the same Riviera spaces to fit the theme of the movie they are celebrating. But certain premiere events are anticipated enough to lure festival-goers away from the main drag— like Vanity Fair’s dinners at the storied Hôtel du Cap, the Antibes resort that has famously hosted F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, the Kennedy family, Marlene Dietrich, Orson Welles, and Winston Churchill. Originally built as a mansion by Le Figaro’s founder for writers seeking inspiration, the beautiful beach side haven is so high end that it only began accepting credit cards less than a decade ago.

 

 

 

Written by Julie Miller the article was published in the Vanity Fair.