Awards Daily is going to cover the Cannes Film Fest for the first time ever, but because being a first-timer almost always ends up with what most politely refer to as a “shit badge,” I wanted to call your attention to others who will have the coveted “pink badges” and therefore much better access. Despite the bloody French revolution, it seems that the Cannes film fest is most definitely a class system at work. White badges reign supreme. Below the white badges are the pink badges with a yellow dot, as seen here on Hollywood-Elsewhere’s Jeff Wells’ badge — Wells has been covering the fest for many years now and definitely earned that status.
And another pink badger who will be covering the fest, and has done for many years as well, is Indiewire‘s Anne Thompson. Her writing for the Cannes Film Fest for Variety is still fun to read even though it happened last year and the year before.
Another fest-friendly, and probably a white badger, is the LA Times’ Kenneth Turan, who has been reporting on Cannes for years and years. I wonder if, in all of the years Roger Ebert covered the fest, whether he was ever given the white badge?
Either way, the lowly first-timers will include AD, Rope of Silicon’s Brad Brevet and In Contention’s Guy Lodge. We are probably going to get a yellow badge, or a blue badge, which is apparently slightly higher in rank.
So, basically, if you aren’t pink badged, you must wait in long lines while the higher-ups pass you by and get seats. You must sit in the nose-bleeds, even if the seats on the ground floor aren’t filled up, and you can’t really attend many of the press conferences or gala events, premieres, etc.
The key is probably to not to get caught up in badge-envy, but just to enjoy the opportunities available in the crowded city by the sea. The films are one thing, but we’re still talking about France here. It’s a beautiful place to get pushed to the back of the line.