Cannes 2022 Through the Eyes of 2 Young Lions
Day 1
Starting off with a bang seeing our hero Cindy Gallop in the flesh.
Our first time in the famous Lumière Theatre and it was only for one of the most important sessions of the whole festival. ‘Ukrainian Creatives: Creativity Under Bombs’ got the first and only standing ovation we witnessed all week, with an appearance from the legend himself Volodymyr Zelensky calling on the creative communities to use their talents to help stop the war.
Rushed lunches between talks so that we didn’t miss anything. We were told Cannes was all glamour. Can confirm we did not chew our food 30 times.
Tarana Burke making us take a good look at ourselves and realise that we, individually and as a society, have reduced the Me Too movement to headlines and the notable, “celebrity” cases, instead of focusing on the victims as individuals. An incredible woman.
Wow. A Gold Lion before our very eyes in the Palais. We weren’t allowed to touch it, so we’ll just have to win one next year.
A humongous Ryan Reynolds watching over us all for the week. Fine by us.
The overwhelming feeling of discovering just how HUGE the exhibition of The Work was in the basement, and then walking around it at 0.2km/h to take it all in.
Celebrity spot no. 1 on CC:DC’s Inkwell Beach: the fabulous Naomi Campbell. She reinforced that DE&I in the workplace is not a fad. Photo also features celebrity spot no. 2: Edward Enninful casually sitting in the front row. We found it difficult to remain cool, and not because of the scorching heat.
Day 2
Day 2 began with a sweaty trip to a beautiful villa through the old town and up in the hills for the Diamonds Are Forever BBQ Party, hosted by the uber-cool people behind The Gerety Awards. There was a pool and an endless supply of Aperol Spritz - day 2 was a good day.
The discovery that it’s actually very difficult to dance on sand at LBB’s Creativity Rocks beach party. Unfortunately for bystanders, that didn’t stop us.
Our inauguration at the Gutter Bar. Still can’t quite believe the size of the crowds… or the price of a drink.
Day 3
So apparently, it can rain in Cannes. Thank goodness for my backpack that doubles up as an umbrella.
And as a result, arrived drenched and less ready to impress a pea-sized Ryan Reynolds. Taking place in the Lumiere, we sat on Row Z (or whichever letter comes way after Z?) as he quite rightly encouraged us to make ads “more fun”.
Then, a sprint to Debussy to catch the powerhouse that is Issa Rae. During ‘The Mirror Only Has One Face’, she talked about the necessity of having diverse teams and minds at every step of the process and how our industry still hasn’t caught up to that, what-should-be-obvious task.
We continued on with our activity of the day (celeb spotting), by heading to see Regina Hall talk about ‘When Women Tell The Stories’. A talk that was rudely interrupted by a chair(?) going on fire(?) in the theatre... Don’t worry, nobody was injured and Regina continued to dazzle.
We spent the rest of the afternoon devouring The Work and, quite refreshingly so, noticing a LOT of boobs. This Adidas campaign is just one example of many.
That night, none other than Fatboy Slim descended onto the Croisette to play at Yahoo’s beach and we were lucky enough to be invited. Tune after tune. After tune.
Day 4
On Thursday morning we were woken up on our walk to the Palais by a Greenpeace takeover - a stark, and effective reminder that our industry is still culpable and needs to take action.
Our first stop of the day was the Saatchi & Saatchi New Creators Showcase. We were exhausted (blame Fatboy Slim!) but we were kept invigorated by one masterpiece after another. We also couldn’t get out of our heads the shocking and disappointing statistic that only 16% of industry talent in the UK comes from a working class background.
The moment we knew we were true kindred spirits, when we discovered our shared love for rocket lollies. Possibly the most important insight from the week.
Meeting lots of cool people at The Drum Wrap Party. It was hosted in an Irish bar, so Emma became a resident jury member to judge the Guinness.
Day 5
Annalise swapped the glamour of Cannes for the glamour of Glastonbury.
So, I (Emma) had no other choice but to replace her and go hang out with another queen of the industry, Colleen DeCourcy, this year’s recipient of the Lion of St. Mark. She is the second ever female to be given such a title, and not the last.
Chief Creatives on the Terrace. A chance to top up the tan and hear from inspiring, creative leaders. Some great stories and important advice for young creatives to pack in their suitcase and take home with them.
The final Happy Hour on the Terrace :(
And the most impressive firework display I’ve ever witnessed to mark the end of an amazing week.
