Reconciling one’s successful and dynamic professional activities with a flourishing family life entailing countless responsibilities, without giving either up, is by no means easy. This is why the Cannes Film Festival and the Marché du Film (14-23 May), in tandem with the recently founded group Parenting at Film Festivals, have decided to launch an initiative called Le Ballon Rouge, Where Children Are the New VIPs this year.

Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, and Jérôme Paillard, director of the Marché du Film, had this to say about the newly introduced scheme: “Although the ever-present issue of work-life balance affects everyone, regardless of gender, we know the impact on women is much greater. There is much work to be done by major festivals to make their infrastructure and services family-friendly, to more effectively enable the participation of women in the industry, who will benefit from a better balance and thus more success. We are excited to be leading the way among major festivals and hope other festivals will follow."

Named after the popular children’s film by Albert Lamorisse, the Le Ballon Rouge initiative offers a concrete package of five key services for families: a family-friendly accreditation process for film professionals travelling with babies and young children (which will grant access to the Kids’ Pavilion in the Pantiero Village and to a Changing and Feeding Corner in the Palais, and will offer two additional free badges for nanny and baby; a Parenting at Film Festivals group has also been created on Cinando in order to better identify the community and its needs); the Kids’ Pavilion in the Pantiero International Village, which will welcome parents and children from 14-21 May, from 10am to 6pm, with the added possibility of leaving children for up to six hours in the care of professional nannies provided by a specialised company, in exchange for a small financial contribution; the Express Changing and Feeding Corner, which will be open from 9am to 6.30pm, from 14-25 May, in the Palais des Festivals; priority access to the Marché du Film for parents entering with children; and a Ballon Rouge Baby VIP Kit (including various elements that may prove useful for parents on the Croisette).

Unifrance, Cinando, EAVE, Wolf Kino, The Film Agency, Pyramide, Madman Entertainment, ADEF, Europa International, Film Constellation and Charades have all contributed to this endeavour being organised by the Marché du Film and the Parenting at Film Festivals group (which has received additional backing from Raising Films and 5050X2020) with financial support. Parenting at Film Festivals also offered enthusiastic thanks to the Cannes Film Festival and the Marché du Film: “We're heartened and amazed that the festival and the Marché du Film have listened so intently to our concerns. They embraced the vast majority of our proposals and are seriously considering the rest for 2020 once the demands for these services have been evaluated. We believe this will pave the way for an unprecedented new child-friendly journey that other festivals can draw inspiration from.”