Cannes film fest gets red carpet nursery
CANNES: In a sunny corner overlooking the yacht-filled harbour, a handful of Cannes’ youngest visitors bounce around a vibrant-coloured carpet in the first-ever creche at the world’s biggest film festival.
The brainchild of three film industry mothers juggling being a parent with the gruelling annual run of festivals, Le Ballon Rouge (The Red Balloon) is a light, airy room “where children are the new VIPs”.
Kids were previously a rare sight at Cannes, which thrives on glitz and glamour but has done little to meet practical needs of movers and shakers with babies or toddlers in tow.
But for the first time this year, the festival has opened the special daycare centre to lend a hand to parents in the film industry.
It follows a similar nursery, “playhouse and nap room” set up at the Sundance film festival last year by the US-based Moms-in-Film group.
It’s the morning of the opening of the Cannes creche and a handful of youngsters are playing with soft toys, while others try to nap in a space which also has fenced-off outdoor areas shaded by parasols.
Three nannies and a nurse from the Paris-based service Nanny Please are on hand to sing, colour, draw and make lunch, helped by two local volunteers, with the kids housed in a pavilion by the harbour.
Coming from Los Angeles for her first visit to Cannes, Gail Greaves had planned to hire someone to watch her two-year-old daughter. But with the festival running for 12 days, going private can cost a lot. “I was going to bring a nanny or
€20 €30 get one locally, but that’s to (RM93 to RM140) an hour,” she said.
Searching online, she found Le Ballon Rouge and quickly booked a place. Accredited festival-goers can obtain special passes for their children to use the daycare service. which is open from 10am to 6pm
€50 and costs (RM233) per day.
“This is amazing,” Greaves said. “It takes women coming together to make something happen.”
Three film industry professionals with young kids came up with the idea while sharing tips on handling the work-life balance. Together, they founded Parenting at Film Festivals.
“In January, we started talking with other friends in the industry. Then we met some festival representatives at the Berlin film festival,” said Michelle Carey, a film programmer and one of the group’s founders.
The three then approached the festival organisers and Cannes’ sprawling film market and by April, the initiative was in place.
They have also set up a baby room in the Palais des Festivals, where the red carpet premieres take place.
The infrastructure was funded by the film market, while the childcare costs were raised through a crowdfunding initiative.
Supported by the 5050/2020 collective, which pushes for an equal place for women in film, the move comes a year after Cannes signed up to a gender equality pledge.
But Carey said the effort to offer parent-friendly services was entirely led by her and her fellow mums.
“We went to them and offered a solution,” she said. “If we hadn’t gone to them, they wouldn’t have been able to do it themselves.” — AFP