A ticket for 2,000 euros ($2,900 CA) to walk the red carpet and attend the screening of the latest film on Indiana Jones or 20,000 euros ($29,000 CA) for an evening in the presence of Leonardo DiCaprio: in Cannes, the market black of prestige invitations is in full swing.
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If professionals and accredited journalists have access – free of charge – to screenings by booking their tickets online, there are dozens of anonymous people, sometimes in suits and evening dresses, in front of the Palais des Festivals, hoping to recover a precious sesame which will allow them to climb the stairs like the stars and discover the selected feature films.
“I have already seen three films without paying anything. Each time, nice people gave me a ticket”: Sienna, an Italian woman in her thirties who lives in Berlin, is holding a small cardboard sign on which she has written: “Looking for tickets”. These, in the form of QR codes, can thus be transferred to a third party.
“I will not pay to go see a film which will be released in two or three months”, she assures, after having seen that day Anatomy of a fall by Justine Triet.
Different speech for this 25-year-old Finn, wishing to remain anonymous, and who, despite “few means”, would agree to make “an effort” to see “an Almodovar or the last Scorsese”. That evening, he desperately searches for a place to Firebrand, by Karim Aïnouz, when a young man from Cannes, who says he is a “municipal employee”, offers him a ticket.
WhatsApp group
Others are trying to monetize their place: an AFP journalist was thus offered a ticket on Thursday for Black Flies for 50 euros ($73 CA).
Not far away, Jenny, a young American from Miami, ends up confiding after a few minutes that she is a member of a WhatsApp group which brings together “about 600 people, sellers and buyers of tickets and invitations”.
She ends up sending several screenshots of conversations, offering paid invitations, such as a seat for the screening of the fifth Indiana Jones at 2000 euros (2900$ CA).
“I’m have ticket for Campari party. Can give to somebody (I have a ticket for the Campari evening. I can give it away)”, also writes a member of the group in broken English.
A certain Alex replies:Could I have the Campari ticket? (Can I have the Campari ticket?)”. And the seller to tell him:Hi, yes 300 euros. Do you have crypto wallet? (OK, 300 euros, do you have a cryptocurrency account?)”.
Another seller offers, still in English, an invitation for an evening with Leonardo DiCaprio at “20,000 euros [29 000$ canadiens] per person” or other invitations for parties or “after-parties” at prices ranging from 9,500 to 16,500 euros ($14,000 to $24,000 CA).
Purchased “by influencers”
For her part, Natalia is “looking for 2 tickets for the red carpet on May 25” and Joe would like to access the “Chopard rooftop” at the Martinez hotel.
Who can afford to pay such sums? “Influencers who have millions of followers and just want to be seen,” says Jenny. “For them or the brands they promote, 2000 euros is nothing”.
These invitations to the evenings “are offered by the brands to professionals, they are free of charge”, explains a regular at the Festival on condition of anonymity. “If these invitations, usually in the form of QR codes, end up on the black market, it is because they are resold by unscrupulous professionals who thus make money”.
“As soon as the Cannes Film Festival is informed of proven facts of resale of tickets, we take action, in consultation with the police and judicial authorities. Sentences have already been pronounced in the past,” reacted the organizers to AFP.
According to the police, no proceedings have been initiated this year so far.