Cannes Events Calendar: Film Festival, Lions & Yachting
Time your Cannes visit to a major event—or avoid the crowds entirely. From the May Film Festival's public beach screenings to June's Cannes Lions advertising festival, autumn's MIPCOM TV market, and the September boat show, understand the city's remarkable year-round event economy.
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Cannes Film Festival in May – What to Expect
The Cannes Film Festival transforms the city for 12 days each May. Red-carpet screenings, press conferences, and industry events are largely closed to the public; however, the Cinéma de la Plage shows free outdoor screenings on La Croisette beach each evening, and the Directors' Fortnight and Critics' Week sections screen films publicly at the Théâtre Claude Debussy.
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Cannes Lions – June Creativity Festival
The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, held each June, brings 15,000 advertising, marketing, and media professionals to the Palais des Festivals. It's the advertising industry's equivalent of the Film Festival—with its own award statuettes (golden lions) and an intense party and yacht-networking scene that dominates the harbour for a week.
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MIPCOM & Autumn Conference Season
Each October, MIPCOM—the world's leading television content market—fills every hotel in Cannes with 13,000 TV executives from 100 countries. The spring equivalent MIPTV runs in April. Between these events, the city hosts property fair MIPIM (March), the Cannes Yachting Festival (September), and a near-continuous stream of private corporate events at the Palais.
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Cannes International Series Festival & Cinema Beyond May
Launched in 2018, the Cannes International Series Festival (CANNESERIES) runs each April, bringing prestige television drama to the Croisette. The Cinéma Les Arcades in Le Suquet shows arthouse and international films year-round; during quieter months between conferences, Cannes is surprisingly affordable and the beaches are uncrowded from September through April.
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Yachting Culture & Boat Shows
Cannes is one of the Mediterranean's top yachting destinations. The Cannes Yachting Festival each September is the world's leading in-water boat show, with over 600 boats moored in the Vieux-Port and Port Pierre Canto. Year-round, luxury charter yachts can be hired for day trips to the Lérins islands, coastal caves, or the Corniche de l'Esterel—the most scenic way to see the Riviera.
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Film Location Walks & Celebrity Spotting
Cannes's streets have featured in countless films—the Hôtel Carlton's entrance in To Catch a Thief (Hitchcock, 1955), the Croisette in numerous French films. The tourist office offers a film locations walking map. During the Film Festival, celebrity spotting is best from the public areas outside the Palais steps and at the evening screenings crowds on La Croisette.