The Cannes Market is deploying a three-pronged plan to assure better conditions for market attendees in booking tickets to festival screenings in anticipation of a record number of participants expected for its 2024 edition.

Initiatives include an improved algorithm, cracking down on no-shows and bolstering options for market badge-only catch-up screenings in order to “prioritise professionals,” explained Guillaume Esmiol, executive director of the Marché du Film.

Esmiol said Cannes Film Festival and the Marché have been working hand in hand for months to ensure more tickets are circulating. They hope to ease long-existing frustrations over not being able to secure tickets for red-carpet premieres that escalated at least year’s event as attendance numbers skyrocketed.

The electronic ticketing system is set to open on Friday (May 10). As in previous years, reservations open four days ahead of screenings and stay open until up to one hour before screenings at the Lumiere Theatre, where films In Competition and official selection gala screenings are held, complete with the Palais des Festival’s signature red-carpet steps.

Tickets are available only for accredited market or festival participants, with the exception of certain “non-professional” tickets made available through various initiatives such as the festival’s “3 Days in Cannes” programme for cinephiles aged 18-28 and the Cannes Cinephiles programme via the city’s mayor’s office.

A market badge is priced at €499 this year (the €429 price for early-bird discounts represents around 40% of total badges sold while the €600 price for late badges purchased on site account for around 1% of allocated accreditations, according to Esmiol). The market badge allows the holder to book festival screenings and reruns of official selection and market screenings on site and online.

“The tension to get festival screening tickets will always be very high,” Esmiol noted.

If tickets for a screening are not booked or are cancelled, they are redistributed within the electronic ticketing system. Esmiol estimated around 80,000 tickets are redistributed during the festival. “We’ve worked to optimise how they are reallocated, always with a priority for professionals,” he said.

The festival and market are laying down the law when it comes to no-shows. Someone who books but does not attend a screening will first receive a warning message, then, on a second offence, will be blocked from booking any tickets for a 24-hour period.

“We want people to understand that these tickets are a great opportunity and when you don’t show up, you deprive someone else of a spot,” said Esmiol.

But despite the efforts to satisfy market badge holders seeking red-carpet glamour, Esmiol admitted: “There will always be frustration. There are 35-40,000 people at the festival and 5,800 seats [across the festival’s nine cinemas] .”

However, the market has doubled the capacity for its next-day catch-up screenings for Competition films accessible by market badge with no need to book in advance. In addition to screenings at Cinema Olympia on Rue d’Antibes which can accomodate 331 people, it has added another screening room at Auditorium K on level four of the Palais with 147 more spots “for people who really want to see the films,” Esmiol said.

“It doesn’t replace the red carpet. I know people are looking for glamour, but anyone truly interested in the films in Competition will have the opportunity to see them.”

The market will also once again screen all of the Competition films at the end of the festival for market badge holders.

Last year, attendance at the market broke records with more than 14,000 participants. Esmiol estimates that number will jump at least 6% this year to upwards of 15,000 marketgoers from across the globe.

While France raised its national security alert system to its highest level in March, security at the festival and market has been at its maximum for the past decade following terrorist attacks at home and geopolitical escalation abroad. To avoid lengthy queues and constant complaints from attendees – “We understand the frustration and we’re working behind the scenes to alleviate it,” said Esmiol – the market is bolstering its “fast access” line to the Palais for Palais exhibitors and buyers.

The initiative launched last year and will now extend to other entrances other than the main one on the Croisette.

It will also deploy more of its hi-tech security portals that not only amplify protection but allow for a quicker process whereby on-site security agents are not required to search through each person, but can let the scanning machines do most of the work,

“Security is always our very first priority, and at the same time we work to make entry easier.”

While ostensibly minor adjustments, Esmiol insisted: “They will make a big difference and things will be more fluid.”

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