| VITAL INFORMATION | |
| Population | 69,000 |
| Languages spoken | French |
| Currency | 0.76 EUR = 1 USD |
| Average temperature | Summer: 80F; winter: 57F |
| High season | May to August |
As the glitterati prepare to flock to southern France for the Cannes Film Festival in May, you should pack your best duds and do the same. After all, it’s not every day you get to tread the red carpet and rub shoulders with the world’s most famous, designer-clad actors and actresses. The celebrities aren’t exclusive to the VIP parties either; you’ll spot them running riot everywhere in Cannes during the run of the festival, from the shops of Rue d’Antibe and the white sands along Boulevard de la Croisette during the day to local hip restaurants, bars and clubs in the evening. Be sure to pack your camera and rolls upon rolls of film to combine your love of the French Riviera with your love of celebrities -- in equal measures, of course.
Note: All prices are listed in U.S. funds.
Day 1: Lights…
The festival is always marked by the opening and closing ceremonies, which usually take place within two weeks of one another. Make sure you’re in Cannes three days before the closing ceremony to miss the mad rush of the opening ceremony and arrive just in time to see all the best bits (plus, you wouldn’t want to be tripping over celebrities’ Louis Vuitton luggage at the airport and be assigned to the back of the plane next to the toilets because of all the VIPs up front, would you?)After traveling the 30 minutes from the Nice Cote d’Azur airport, check in to the Majestic Barriere hotel facing the Palais des Festivals on la Croisette, as you won’t want to be far from the action of the festival or have to wait for taxis that never arrive to take you across town every day of your trip. The luxury five-star hotel, which has accommodated the likes of Sharon Stone, Kate Moss, Robert De Niro, and Michael Jackson, is even offering a special deal for film buffs. For $850 a night, guests get a three-night stay in the posh Superior double room with their third night free, breakfast, dinner for two including drinks at the Fouquet’s Cannes restaurant, a guided tour of the various film sets dotted around town, an excursion to Île Sainte-Marguerite to discover the legend of the Man in the Iron Mask, and -- get this -- an invitation to walk down the red carpet during the showing of the winning films. You couldn’t get closer to the stars if you were one of them.
Spend your first evening in Cannes dining at Fouquet’s Cannes brasserie restaurant, which is included in your hotel package. The stylish eatery is where many film stars satisfy their appetites, and where the worlds of cinema, style, art, and haute cuisine collide. Headed by Chef Bruno Oger -- who previously worked at the Bangkok Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong -- the restaurant’s décor is old-world glamour and the menu is the best of traditional French cuisine. Sit on the candlelit terrace and enjoy a fresh seafood dinner of whole grilled sea bass with braised fennel, dry vermouth sauce and provencal vegetables, all washed down with a bottle of the finest French wine.
There’s no place the rich and famous would rather be during festival time than the Opera nightclub; it’s here where they gyrate against one another on the dance floor, get drunk on expensive cocktails with names nobody can pronounce, and fall into a taxi afterward with no knickers on. Indulge in a spot of amateur stalking from a dark corner, and watch the celebrity carnage begin. Note the paparazzi flashbulbs pop as you leave in the early hours of the morning, no doubt mistaking you for a young Tom Cruise.
Day 2: Camera…
The day before the closing ceremony has arrived. While filmmakers practice their speeches and their “I’m so shocked I won” faces, spend the morning whetting your appetite for film by dropping by one of the nearby cinemas. With the exception of the 2,246-seat Grand Auditorium Louis Lumiere, Cannes hasn’t really caught on to multiplexes, but does offer old-school style such as the Arcades 3, Star and Olympia cinemas in the centre of town. If you’d rather watch something a little less mainstream than the trash you’d usually watch back home, head over to the Studio 13 cinema, which shows classics, film noir, and generally anything artsy and avant-garde.Head back to la Croisette after the film and pop into the flagship Chanel store for a little French trinket for your very own petit madame. No doubt you’ll spot some A-lister trying to squeeze themselves into a size 0 frock for the next evening, much to the encouragement of the sales staff.
Spying a skeletal celeb will have made you a little hungry, so enjoy a decadent dinner at Hôtel Martinez in the art-deco-inspired Le Palme d’Or dining room -- receiver of not one, but two shiny gold Michelin stars. You’ll certainly be amongst good company in this establishment, as you feast on escargot and other French delicacies.
After checking the festival schedule and ensuring somebody remotely A-list is going to turn up, spend a few spare hours beside the red carpet at the Palais de Festivals. This time tomorrow you’ll be on the other side of the velvet ropes thanks to your hotel package, but for now just watch, listen, learn, and snag a few autographs.
Spend the evening schmoozing with some silver-screen starlets at the in-house bar at the InterContinental Carlton hotel, where 1955’s To Catch a Thief, starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, was filmed (you’ll find a lot of the action during festival time takes place at hotels, so be prepared to move from one to another). Le Bar des Célébrités, which is open to the public, is the place to see and be seen during festival season in Cannes. You may feel a little like you’re being watched by the heavy-duty security guards who stare menacingly down at you behind tinted Prada sunglasses, but that's only because most of the movers and shakers of the film industry stay here.
Day 3: Action!
Spend the morning of your third day in Cannes splayed across the white sands of Hôtel Martinez’s private beach, topping up your tan and watching silicone-filled and steroid-pumped celebs frolic in the surf before you. Take a photo on your mobile, and sell it to a tabloid magazine later.
Spend the rest of the day making good use of the two excursions included in your hotel package. Begin by taking a tour of all the film sets around town, including the locations where To Catch a Thief and GoldenEye were filmed. Next, take a trip out to Île Sainte-Marguerite, part of the Îles de Lérins archipelago, to discover the legend of the Man in the Iron Mask, and, more interestingly, where Leonardo DiCaprio filmed the movie of the same name. Boats leave every 15 minutes, so you can make the excursion last as long or as little as you like (depending how much you miss the celebs you’ve left behind on the mainland).
The evening you’ve been waiting for the entire trip has finally arrived -- the event for which you’ve slipped on your flashiest suit to swagger down the red carpet. Strike a pose for the paparazzi before making your way inside to see the winning films in competition. Everyone worth their gold star on Hollywood Boulevard will have clamored to get their hands on a prestigious Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) award for the best picture, so expect some sulky faces as well as some ecstatic ones in the auditorium. Hush now please, the film’s about to start.
You’re disillusioned if you think you’re getting into any of the after-parties on the evening of the closing ceremony, so resign yourself to that fact and hit the next best thing -- Jimmy’z on la Croisette. Calling itself the “discotheque des stars,” it’s not a bad way to end your film fest tour of Cannes and you may even find a couple of celebs milling about the VIP area. Invite yourself over, and drink and dance until dawn with the best of ‘em before hailing a taxi to catch your flight home without any sleep in true movie-star fashion.
tips for the trip
- During festival time, over 200,000 visitors descend on Cannes -- including filmmakers, actors and the international media -- transforming it from a quiet seaside town to a mini-Hollywood circus.
- Those who prefer their films a little more adult-oriented can check out the Hot d’Or Porn Awards, an alternative festival that takes place just down the road from the Cannes Film Festival at exactly the same time.
- If you’ve more time, try your luck on the tables at the Casino Croisette, also located inside the Palais des Festivals
cannes it
Having mingled with the stars, you may feel a little above your station when you finally return to work. You may feel like your office colleagues should roll the red carpet out for your arrival, and wave autograph books wildly in your face. But they won’t. In fact, they probably won’t even believe you when you tell them you know exactly how short Tom Cruise is, and that you've smelled Jennifer Lopez's perfume. Next time you’ll need hard photographic evidence, which is the reason you’ve been looking for to return to Cannes during next year’s film fest.Resources:
http://www.festival-cannes.fr/index.php?langue=6002
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannes
http://www.beyond.fr/villages/cannes.html
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Europe/France/Provence_Alpes_Cote_dAzur/Cannes-131996/Things_To_Do-Cannes-BR-1.html
http://www.lucienbarriere.com/
http://www.cannesguide.com/restaurants/restaurant_details.asp?id=156
http://gofrance.about.com/cs/filmfestival/a/cannesfestival.htm
www3.oag.com
http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/ic/1/en/hotel/ceqha;jsessionid=RH0C2EZVO23G2CTGWAISHPQKM0YBEIY4?_requestid=756663
http://www.hotel-martinez.com/
http://www.wcities.com/en/record/,77711/150/record.html
http://www.hoteltravel.com/france/cannes/guides/top10things.htm
http://www.cannes-hotel-booking.com/cannes_film_festival.php3
Cannes Travel Guide
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