If you consider yourself “in” the industry, then attending the Cannes Film
Festival, or Festival de Cannes, is a must. After, of course, attending The Valley Film Festival. Fortunately, the two are months apart.
Yes, we understand that your credit cards are maxed out from
your last production, and that you’re between projects, and like most of the
industry, you haven’t worked in months. Trust us, VFF gets it. We’re all
volunteers with various stages of work and project commitments, or lack
thereof. That being said, if your presence at work/home can be spared for one week, attending Festival de Cannes is a must to revitalize your artistic
soul and renew your industry contacts.
Worried about the logistics? Don’t. VFF will tell you how to do
Cannes on a budget that even an unemployed screenwriter can afford. Really!
With almost a year to go until the next festival, you, too, can Cannes.
First, save the dates for the 65th Festival de
Cannes: May 9-20th, 2012.
Next, follow the Festival de Cannes on Facebook, Twitter, or
via the festival's RSS feed to know when the accreditation process opens. And, when it
does, apply as early as possible. Oh, yeah, and it’s free. Yes, a full festival,
professional badge to the most prestigious film festival in the world is FREE.
You have nothing to lose by applying.
Navigating the badge system seems straight forward – the
festival website offers accreditation in four different categories: Festival (film professionals), Press (media professionals), Marche du Film
(professionals who buy or sell films) and Cannes Cinephiles (lovers of film) –
but it’s really complex, with different levels of access and priorities.
Additionally, there are 1, 2, and 3-day passes, and Short Film Corner badges.
Most likely, you'll apply for the
Festival badge. This is the badge for film professionals and it grants you
access to the Palais des Festival, Marche du Film, Village International,
badge-only hotels such as the Majestic and Carlton, Short Film Corner, and
Official Selection screenings.
Just a few years ago, one had to snail mail a CV and
physical collateral supporting professional claims. Now that festival accreditation
is online, it’s pretty simple. You’ll be asked to supply a link to your credits
or attach a PDF. You should link to your IMDB page or an online CV that best
showcases your artistic talents. If you’re a freelancer, you should have your
own website (not a Facebook page) or, at the very least, a LinkedIn profile.
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| MMV Cannes-Mandelieu Resort |
You’ll also be asked to indicate where you’ll be staying while in
Cannes. This seems like a trick question, right? Who knows where they’re going
to stay four months down the road? Don’t leave this section blank. It’s our belief that if the Office of Accreditation sees that you have accommodation lined up, they’ll know that you’re already committed to the festival. VFF uses the physical address of the MMV Cannes-Mandelieu Resort, because it’s an affordable hotel we’ve stayed at before, and it's our
trusted back-up plan if nothing better comes along. And by better, we mean
something closer to the Croisette or near the beach. The MMV Cannes-Mandelieu Resort is an all-suites hotel, about 4 miles from the Croisette, and it offers
free shuttle service to and from the Palais des Festival. It’s an awesome hotel and can
comfortably sleep 4 in a standard suite.
Finally, you’ll be asked to leave a comment.
Again, don’t leave this section blank. If you don’t have a specific
question to ask, say something nice about the festival (it’s not hard) or
mention why you want to attend. By saying something, anything, you're letting the Office of Accreditation know that you respect their time and the festival.
It goes without saying, but if your primary email address is
something along the lines of “PartyGirl55” or “NFLKid007” @, you should
probably create a free Gmail account, use your work email (even if you’re
not attending on your company’s behalf), or ask a really good industry friend,
with their own domain, to create a temporary email account for you.
Now, if you’re a filmmaker with a spare $100 USD to submit
a recent short film to the Short Film Corner, do it! It’s so worth it.
Submitting to the Short Film Corner is NOT the same thing as submitting a film to the Festival de Cannes. While organized by the festival, the Short Film
Corner is a mini-market for short films, and has a slew of fantastic opportunities
for filmmakers. Provided your film meets certain conditions, filmmakers are all
but guaranteed inclusion in the Short Film Corner...which comes with two
all-access festival badges. The Short Film Corner badge will get you into
everything the professional “Festival” badge will get you into: Palais des
Festival, Marche du Film, Village International, etc. By the way, it’s free to submit a short film to Festival de Cannes, so you should do that too. Competition is fierce, but you have nothing
to lose.
Ok, let’s suppose you don’t have a short film to submit to
the Short Film Corner, and you just received a rejection letter for the professional “Festival” badge. Now what? Chances
are, the Office of Accreditation will soften the blow and offer you a Cannes
Cinephiles badge instead. If your main goal is to soak up the sun and perhaps
catch a film or two, go ahead and accept it. The Cannes Cinephiles badge was
originally designed as a “locals only” badge and will not allow you to access
the Palais des Festival, Marche du Film, Village International, etc. It will
only allow you access to select Cannes Cinephile screenings, in select screening
rooms, somewhere in Cannes. We’ve never been able to track down this screening
room, so it’s off the beaten path for sure.
If you want more out of the festival, thank the Office of
Accreditation for their consideration and clearly indicate that you do
not wish to accept the Cannes Cinephiles badge. Be gracious and
respectful.
Why refuse the Cannes Cinephiles badge, you ask? Great question.
If you’re in the Festival de Cannes computer system as a Cannes Cinephiles
badge holder, you will not be able to purchase a day pass. There is some weird technicality that
will not allow you to buy a temporary badge if you’ve already been assigned one.
You can purchase a 1, 2, or 3-day pass for about 20 euros a
day. The days are consecutive and you can only make the request once. A day
pass will give you access to all of the areas covered by the professional
Festival badge. If you’re in town for a week, you should wait at least a day to
acclimate yourself to the festival before buying your day pass. If you know
someone at the festival with a Festival, Short Film Corner, or Marche du
Film badge, ask them to accompany you to the day pass office. You don’t need to have a
“sponsor” to purchase a day pass, but having someone vouching for
your professional reasons to be inside the Marche is a plus. This is not the time to flaunt your
credits or pull rank. Instead, use this moment to say you’ve made an
appointment with XYZ company or have been invited to a Short Film Corner
screening.
Now
that you’ve been granted a badge, or have decided to go without one, we’ll cover
logistics, festival must-dos (with our without a badge), non-festival
activities, and more. We want you to enjoy Festival de Cannes as much as we do!
