The Festival de Cannes opened the various accreditation options for the 2021 event on 15 March for all the major tracts:

• Festival (professionals)
• Market (professionals)
• Press
• Cinephiles (public)
• Three Days In Cannes (young people)

All accreditation requests must be submitted online via the Festival's accreditation portal.

Changes for 2021

Accreditation options for 2021 remain largely unchanged from last year, although the Festival has tinkered here and there, and prices have inevitably risen.

Festival Accreditation
'Earlybird' and 'Regular' deadlines have been retained for 2021. The biggest change has been the introduction of a mandatory 20€ "environmental contribution" for all attendees. The fee will be donated to a carbon offset programme and is part of the Festival's new environmental policy. It's worth noting that the fee is exclusive of French VAT, which means anyone from the EU who is not registered for VAT will actually need to pay 22€ (during the pandemic, the French VAT rate has been temporarily reduced to 10%).

Although it probably won't break the bank, it does effectively end the free accreditation option for Cannes. Earlybird will now cost 20€ (22€ inc VAT) and regular/walk-in will be 120€ (132€ inc VAT).

Market Accreditation
For 2021 the Festival has expanded the options for Market accreditation to three (four, if you include the Short Film Corner). Last year's options of 'Standard' and 'Platinum' are joined, unsurprisingly, by a new 'Online' flavour.

Prices have risen across the board, but the increase is largely due to the inclusion of the 20€ environmental contribution. For standard market accreditation, the earlybird rate is 349€ (by 15 April), jumping to 399€ (by 22 Jun), and 493€ walk-in. The new online-only accreditation will set you back 129€ (by 15 April) or 169€ (by 22 June). There's no late option for online accreditation. For the platinum tier, you must request this type of accreditation by 22 Jun and it costs 2,160€. Again, no late or walk-in options here. Lastly, remember that 10% VAT is also payable in addition to these fees for anyone from the EU who doesn't have a VAT number.

As in 2020 (before the pandemic spoiled the party), the Festival is also offering a corporate accreditation option, known as "The Croisette Package". This is primarily targeted at companies who are effectively 'exhibitors' in Cannes, but choose to have their presence outside the Palais. Registrants get up to six standard market accreditations, each of which includes access to the Plage des Palmes lounge, and listing in the market publications as an 'exhibitor'. Like last year, the pricing for this option raises the question as to why most companies would bother, when it's considerably cheaper just to register individuals via standard market accreditation.

Another notable change for 2021 is that market accreditation now has the concept of 'bolt-on' options. The main one is the Producer's Network. Previously this was treated as a semi-separate type of accreditation. Now it's simply an additional 74€ on whichever price you pay for standard market accreditation (however the same qualification criteria apply as in previous years). For the online and platinum tiers, the Producers' Network bolt-on is free, so long as you meet the criteria.

The other bolt-on available for standard market accreditees is 'priority access'. For an extra 200€, acquisitions companies (only) can get priority access to festival and market screenings.

2021 also sees the 'Producer's Workshop' form of market accreditation dropped. This was targeted at newer producers to help them learn about and navigate the market. It's a shame as, aside from the chosen name (which caused a bit of a confusion with the Producers' Network), the Producers' Workshop did offer some useful sessions and socialising opportunities.

Finally, as we've previously covered, there are significant changes to accreditation for the Short Film Corner in 2021.

A full rundown on the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, is available in the book, Cannes - A Festival Virgin's Guide (7th Edition).
Find Out More >

< Back to Home Page