At Cannes this year, the real competition may not be for the Palme d’Or, but for proximity to the red carpet.
Behind the flood of influencer photos and “India at Cannes” headlines lies a thriving market for paid access, rented glamour and questionable promises.
And as demand surges, so do the scams.
In reality, the official red carpet is active only around major premieres and screenings, typically in the evenings. Outside those hours, the carpet is simply there — without the spectacle or access.
“For 2026, access to high-profile premieres at the Palais des Festivals reportedly starts at around €5,750 (approximately ₹5.5 lakh) for balcony seating, while orchestra and premium corbeille access can go up to €7,250 (around ₹7 lakh). These packages often include red carpet entry for major screenings,” read a 2026 article in The Free Press Journal.
But this year, "ticket scalping" — particularly from India — spiralled out of control.
Pankhuri Harikrishnan, founder and director of Fetch India, shared an Instagram story calling out the scams circulating around the festival.
“I’ve been called by various individuals who had been promised carpet appearances, but after they have landed in Cannes... the organisers vanished,” she said.
According to Harikrishnan, several people flew to Cannes after booking flights and hotels on the promise of walking the famed red carpet, only to find themselves lost.
“But then, they’re stranded,” Harikrishnan tells The Hollywood Reporter India. She explains that while official red carpet appearances happen during evening premieres, many were falsely told they could walk the carpet at 11 AM.
She recalls, “Someone called me and asked, ‘Can you get me a ticket?’ It was very last minute, but then they said, ‘Would you be able to get us clothes too?’”
That, she says, was part of the package being sold.
The Cannes black market has long been an open secret.
A 2025 article by Screen Daily detailed the different packages available. “A red carpet-only experience will set attendees back $2,995 per person, while the Tier 1 Premiere package for the biggest films and cast goes for $10,795,” it reads.
“It includes hair and make-up at the hotel, a limousine from the hotel to the red carpet, and a set of photographs, with the option of a Getty photographer’s services for an additional fee depending on availability.”
The Whole Package
Harikrishnan has been attending the Cannes Film Festival since 2018, and says there are only a handful of legitimate ways to walk the carpet. The first is through official festival accreditation or invitations. The second is by being associated with a film premiering at the festival. Beyond that, brands affiliated with Cannes are also permitted to bring guests onto the carpet.
“It seems like certain organisers have found ways of opening it up to people who may have nothing to do with films or [brands]. It's become a flex to say that they were on the carpet,” she says. “But to what end goal?”
Harikrishnan believes, for many, it has become a badge of honour — a symbol of status and influence back home. But she also feels there is widespread confusion, both among those attending and the audiences they are trying to impress, about what the festival actually represents.
That disconnect is perhaps most evident in what people are asking for. According to her, almost none of them want tickets to the films screening at what is, fundamentally, a film festival. They simply want to walk the carpet.
“Earlier, even if you walked the carpet, how would anyone know unless someone covered you? You got covered in newspapers or magazines if you were of a certain repute,” Harikrishnan says, pointing out that media gatekeeping once filtered out those who did not belong there.
“But today, with bots, social media (where you have your own presence) and multiple platforms where you can pay to promote yourself, the landscape has changed. Anybody who has the ability to buy and amplify can go.”
According to her, that is how the narrative of attendees “representing India” began to take shape. “Not only are you getting access because you can buy it, you're also getting media [attention] because you can buy that too. Together, therefore, you're creating a narrative that’s completely self-funded.”
The Influencer Boom
She recalls that in 2018 and 2019, there were serious conversations around who should attend Cannes and whether they genuinely represented something meaningful. “People looked up to it, we prepared for it, went there, and created conversations,” she says. But post-pandemic, access widened dramatically alongside the rapid expansion of influencer culture.
Harikrishnan points to last year’s debate around whether influencers belonged on the carpet, though she now considers that conversation outdated. “Today, influencers are everywhere and you cannot wish them away. But it's gone beyond that. [The Cannes red carpet has] become a joke.”
She says many of the people arriving in Cannes through these unofficial channels lack both industry connections and any real purpose for being there. Instead of networking, they often end up overwhelmed and confused. From the calls she received, it became clear that many did not even know how the carpet worked or how to access it.
Of course, Cannes has always had an ecosystem of parties and after-parties, with tickets frequently available for purchase. “But this whole gimmick of the carpet has become a disaster,” Harikrishnan says.
As she wrote on Instagram, “Between Brut India continuing to take anyone who can pay them, to now other so-called event people who are scamming people, we are just giving India a terrible, terrible name at an international platform.”
She adds, “We're looking ridiculous with these fancy dresses that are going up on the carpet. And each festival has its own limit, right? So whatever these tickets are, whoever's buying them and selling them, they are dipping into the scope of others who could actually be there.”
While Harikrishnan admits this ecosystem is unlikely to disappear, she believes the larger issue is the mindset driving it. People need to ask themselves why they want to go to Cannes, how they are getting there, and what exactly they hope to gain from dressing up, taking photos and posting them online.
“The reason this is happening is because there's a demand, right? Someone's tapped into it and they're making lots of money off it.”