FESTIVAL DE CANNES: A USER’S GUIDE
The 2017 Cannes film festival runs from May 17 to 28.
Where to stay
Luxury palaces Le Majestic (hotelsbarriere.com), Le Grand Hôtel (grand-hotel-cannes.com), InterContinental Carlton (carltoncannes.com) and Grand Hyatt Cannes Hôtel Martinez (cannes martinez.grand.hyatt.com) are strung out along La Croisette. The streets behind, around boutiquelined rue d’Antibes, offer more affordable accommodation (though this is a relative concept at festival time). Hotel prices at well-connected nearby resorts, such as Cannes La Bocca or Golfe-Juan, can be significantly lower. Use the train to reduce costs; Cannes’ main station is a five-minute walk from the Palais and coastal trains are frequent and cheap. If you’re A-list, you’ll insist on Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Antibes (hotel-du-cap-edenroc.com), where, even outside the festival, the cheapest suite is €560 (about $770) a night.
Where to eat and drink
VIPs head out of town to, say, celebrated seafood restaurant Tetou (tetou.fr; about €120/$165 a head without wine) in GolfeJuan, where everyone from Kirk Douglas to Angelina Jolie has come to sample the bouillabaisse
and nobody, however famous, is exempt from the “no credit cards” rule. Another gourmet refuge, upscale country restaurant Le Moulin de Mougins (moulinde mougins.com; about €90/$125 a head without wine), reopened in July 2016 after a makeover gave it an edgy, modern look.
In Cannes, contemporary eatery Mantel – Table 22 (restaurantmantel.com; average €65/$90 a head without wine), in the photogenic old town of Le Suquet, is the fiefdom of Alain Ducasse-trained chef Noël Mantel, who keeps things admirably simple in marketfresh dishes such as grilled rock octopus or a creamy veal-sauce risotto garnished with truffles. Finally, a closely guarded secret: friendly brasserie Aux Bons Enfants (aux-bons-enfantsc annes.com; prix-fixe menu €29/$40 a head), in a pedestrian lane close to Forville Market, does refined Provençal cooking at a knockdown price – for Cannes. There’s no phone so you need to swing by to book.
There are numerous bars in the Suquet and rue Hoche areas but everyone ends up at the Petit Majestic (6 rue Tony Allard), a scruffy place behind Le Grand Hôtel that becomes a loud street party every evening from around 11pm as a heaving mass of rosé-quaffing humanity spills out of its cramped interior.
The films
Cannes is invitation only; they come in the form of badges (for media and industry) or tickets. Unless you have friends in high places, the conventional way to get your hands on the latter is to don a nice frock or dinner jacket and join the hopefuls waiting outside the Palais with a sign bearing a cute begging message for your preferred film (it works, sometimes). It takes less effort to see the restored film classics (and occasional world premieres) shown nightly at Macé Beach as part of the Cinéma de la Plage section. These are free and open to all but get in line at least an hour before to secure a place. Or you could simply buy a ticket to see a screening in festival fringe section Directors’ Fortnight (quinzaine-real isateurs.com).
The parties
Held at the Hôtel du Cap-EdenRoc, the amfAR Cinema Against AIDS gala (amfar.org) is the hottest ticket in town – good luck with that. Most industry and studio parties take place in the beach clubs along La Croisette, where spare invitations can sometimes be blagged at the door from generous guests (don’t even try charming the bouncers – they’re immune).