Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(
www.festival-cannes.com
;
May)
You won't get in, but it's fun because you see all the
celebs walking around. And unlike the Oscars, you can get close to the red carpet without
tickets.
Festival d'Art Pyrotechnique
FIREWORKS
(
www.festival-pyrotechnique-cannes.com
;
Jul & Aug)
Around 200,000
people cram onto the Croisette every summer to admire the outstanding fireworks display
over the Bay of Cannes. Magical. Held on six nights from July to August.
Les Plages Électroniques
(
www.plages-electroniques.com
;
€8; Jul & Aug)
DJs spin on the sand at the Plage du
Palais des Festivals during this relaxed festival. Held once a week for five or six weeks.
MUSIC FESTIVAL
Festival Pantiero
(
www.festivalpantiero.com
;
4-night pass €55; early Aug)
Electronic-music and indie-
rock festival on the terrace of the Palais des Festivals; very cool.
MUSIC FESTIVAL
STARRING AT CANNES
For 12 days in May, all eyes turn to Cannes, centre of the cinematic universe, where more than 33,000 producers,
distributors, directors, publicists, stars and hangers-on descend to buy, sell or promote more than 2000 films. As
the premier film event of the year, the festival (
Click here
)
attracts around 4000 journalists from around the
world.
At the centre of the whirlwind is the colossal, 60,000-sq-metre Palais des Festivals, where the official selections
are screened. The palace opened in 1982, replacing the original Palais des Festival - since demolished. The inaug-
ural festival was scheduled for 1 September 1939, as a response to Mussolini's Fascist propaganda film festival in
Venice, but Hitler's invasion of Poland brought the festival to an abrupt end. It restarted in 1946 - and the rest is
history.
Over the years the festival split into 'in competition' and 'out of competition' sections. The goal of 'in competi-
tion' films is the prestigious Palme d'Or, awarded by the jury and its president to the film that best 'serves the
evolution of cinematic art'. Notable winners include Francis Ford Coppola's
Apocalypse Now
(1979), Quentin
Tarantino's cult
Pulp Fiction
(1994) and American activist Michael Moore's anti-Bush-administration polemic
Fahrenheit 9/11
(2004). More recent winners include
La Classe
(2008), a film by Laurent Cantet about teaching
in tough Parisian suburbs, and
Amour
(2012), the story of an ailing elderly couple by Michael Haneke.
The vast majority of films are 'out of competition'. Behind the scenes the
Marché du Film
(
www.marchedufilm.com
)
sees nearly $1 billion worth of business negotiated in distribution deals. And it's this
