The famous Red Carpet at the Festival de Cannes

Traci Parent |

Traci Parent

May 21, 2025

The red carpet was littered with stars on May 13th as the 78th Festival de Cannes kicked off with a lifetime achievement award presented to Robert De Niro. Jury President Juliette Binoche presided over the festivities, dripping with glitz, glam and of course a sprinkle of drama thrown in. (Gerard Dépardieu’s sentencing coming on opening day, for example!)

While the news and social media have tons of snippets, the best place to follow all of the action is on the official site: Festival de Cannes.

Ordinary People (1980 Film Directed by Robert Redford)

Many people flock to Cannes just for some star-gazing, aware that the screenings and red carpet premieres are not for ordinary people, however, there are other ways you can participate! My husband and I happened to be in Nice in 2023 and discovered a few ways to be in on the action!

Cinéma de la Plage

Every night at 9:30 pm, the Croisette’s Plage Macé, opposite the Majestic hotel, transforms into an open-air cinema. The public is invited to view a host of cinema classics from around the world. Bonus feature: it is completely free! (Bring your own popcorn.)

Director’s Fortnight

The Fortnight (La Quinzaine des Cinéastes)is a sidebar to the official competition allowing mere enthusiasts to come and experience a wide variety of cinematic debuts, all for a reasonable price of 8 euros!

“As opposed to the official selection, the Fortnight is non-competitive; it brings together short, medium- and feature-length films, fiction and non-fiction, live action and animation. Only one principle guides our selection: a filmmaker’s attendance to mise en scene, and their unique mode of artistic expression.

While the Fortnight is first and foremost a place for discovering new talent, we remain sensitive to bold works by established filmmakers. This way of bringing together different generations of filmmakers and different scales of production within a single selection is one of the trademarks of the Fortnight.

The Fortnight can also be characterised by its openness to audiences made up of non-professionals, its post-screening discussions with filmmakers, and its friendly atmosphere.”

In 2023, we just happened to be in Nice during the festival, so we took the train to Cannes (highly recommended as parking is often difficult during the festival!) We bought some tickets and headed to our screening. There was a lot of anticipation in the air as the cast and director came and took their places in the crowd. What a thrill for them to see their film on the big screen, surrounded by a live audience who laughed and reacted in real time.

Was it the best film I have ever seen? No, but it was edgy, bold and different as only raw new talent can produce. It was a truly a memorable experience and one I highly recommend if you get the chance.

Pro Tips:

During the festival, the Quinzaine des Cinéastes sets up its ticket office in front of the Théâtre Croisette, on Rue Amouretti, at the foot of the JW Marriott Hotel. It is open from 8 am to 7 pm.

Sales open 4 days before the screening of your choice, at 8:00 a.m.

Sales are subject to availability. If a screening is fully booked, we encourage you to check again later, especially during the hour leading up to the screening, as additional tickets are often released.

For screenings at Les Arcades and L’Olympia, please make sure to come at the latest the day before for morning screenings, or in the morning for afternoon screenings.

La Croisette

This famous boardwalk is also open to the public. It is a great place for people watching, as you will see both elegant and outlandish outfits, and you can play the game of “who is that – they must be famous”.

There are also several “official” boutiques set up along La Croisette where you can get some swanky souvenirs that are only found at the festival. (If you have known me a while, you know that I never like to pass up a boutique!)

A New Life (2023 Film Directed by Choice Skinner)

Each year, the Cannes Film Festival utilizes approximately 2 kilometers of red carpet, which used to be replaced multiple times daily to maintain its pristine appearance. (Now it is only about once a day as the Festival has begun an initiative to reduce the carbon footprint and waste). Rather than discarding this material, our red carpet is going green! It is repurposed in one of two ways:

Veolia, a waste management company, collects, sorts and processes the carpets into polypropylene granules, which serve as secondary raw materials for various industries, including automotive manufacturing.

Local artisans and designers in Marseille have transformed pieces of the carpet into unique items such as bags, accessories, and decorative objects. These upcycled products are available for purchase in select boutiques and markets throughout the city, allowing film enthusiasts and eco-conscious consumers to own a tangible piece of Cannes history.

Step Up (2006 Film Directed by Anne Fletcher)

The iconic staircase leading to the Grand Théâtre Lumière is monumental, and yet composed of only 24 steps – symbolically representing the 24 frames per second used in traditional film projection. What a flood of emotion there must be in climbing these steps! A sense of immense pride that you made it, and a crippling fear as all eyes are on you – especially for women in flowing gowns and high heels! (Oui, for many years high heels were required for women, but that policy has been relaxed a bit after some recent public backlash).

A strict black-tie dress code still exists, however: tuxedos for men and formal evening wear for women. This year a new “recommendation” was also introduced, noting that “nude-colored” clothing was not appropriate. Last year there were are few “transparent” dresses that were a bit too revealing. The Festival is making a move back to more glamour and less scandal.

Rules of Engagement (2000 Film Directed by William Friedkin)

And finally, there’s an unspoken (and sometimes enforced) etiquette when it comes to these iconic steps:

No selfies or autographs on the stairs—festival staff will often intervene if guests linger too long or disrupt the flow.
Attendees must also go up in a steady, elegant pace—this isn’t the place for dawdling or rushing. After all, the world’s media is watching.

And that’s a wrap! We hope you have enjoyed this unusual viewing of the Cannes Film Festival.