A €2,000 (approx. US$2,900) ticket to walk the red carpet and see the screening of the latest film about Indiana Jones, or €20,000 (approx. US$29,000) for an evening in the presence of Leonardo DiCaprio: In Cannes, the prestigious black market invitations is in full swing.
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When professionals and accredited journalists have free access to the screenings by booking online, dozens of anonymous people, sometimes in suits and evening dresses, line up in front of the Palais des Festivals, hoping to snag a precious sesame they manage to leave them like them Stars climb the stairs and discover the selected feature films.
“I’ve already seen three films without paying anything. Every time nice people gave me a ticket”: Sienna, an Italian woman in her 30s who lives in Berlin, is holding a small cardboard sign on which she has written: “Looking for tickets”. These can thus be passed on to third parties in the form of QR codes.
“I’m not going to pay to see a movie that’s in theaters in two or three months,” she asserts after watching Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall that day.
A different speech for this 25-year-old Finn, who wishes to remain anonymous and despite “poor means” would be willing to “make an effort” to see “an Almodovar or the latest Scorsese”. That evening he is desperately looking for a seat for 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 spot: an AFP journalist was offered a $50 ($73 CAD) ticket to Black Flies on Thursday.
Not far away, Jenny, a young American from Miami, reveals after a few minutes that she is a member of a WhatsApp group that brings together “about 600 people, sellers and buyers of tickets and invitations”.
She ends up sending several screenshots of conversations and offering paid invitations, such as a seat to the screening of the fifth Indiana Jones for 2000 euros ($2900 CA).
“I have a ticket to the Campari party. Can give it to someone (I have a ticket for Campari night. I can give it as a gift),” also wrote a member of the group in broken English.
A certain Alex replies, “Could I have the Campari ticket?” (Can I have the Campari ticket?)”. And the salesman said to him: “Hello, yes, 300 euros. Do you have a crypto wallet? (OK, 300 euros, do you have a cryptocurrency account?)”.
Another seller is offering, still in English, an invitation to an evening with Leonardo DiCaprio for “20,000 euros”. [29 000$ canadiens] per person” or other invitations for parties or “after parties” ranging in price from 9,500 to 16,500 euros (14,000 to 24,000 CA$).
Bought “By Influencers”.
For her part, Natalia is “looking for two tickets to the May 25 red carpet” and Joe wants access to the “Chopard Roof” at the Martinez Hotel.
Who can afford 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,” explains a regular at the festival, on condition that he remains anonymous. “If these invites, mostly in the form of QR codes, end up on the black market, it’s because they’re being resold by unscrupulous professionals who make money off them.”
“Once the Cannes Film Festival is informed of verified facts of ticket resale, we will take action in consultation with the police and judicial authorities. “Judgments have already been passed in the past,” the organizers told AFP.
According to the police, no proceedings have been initiated so far this year.