Inside Vanity Fair’s Cannes Luncheon With Colman Domingo, Maria Bakalova, and More

It’s hard to complain about a sparkling sunny day on the Croisette, much less if you’re walking down the steps to the iconic Carlton Beach Club. Attendees couldn’t have asked for a better welcome from the Riviera weather gods during Wednesday’s intimate luncheon hosted by IHG Hotels & Resorts and Vanity Fair’s Awards Insider. Greeted with champagne or cocktails before sitting for an elegant three-course lunch, the event marked the perfect, peaceful gathering ahead of the Cannes Film Festival 2024’s final act.

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The striking setting certainly set the mood. The Carlton Cannes, a Regent Hotel, part of IHG’s luxury and lifestyle portfolio, stood spectacularly tall as our backdrop, a staple of the festival that shimmers even brighter this May, on the one-year anniversary of the hotel’s extensive remodeling. But its history with the Croisette’s annual cinematic celebration goes back much further. “To put it in context for where we are today and why we’re all here, if there were a film made about Regent hotels and resorts, best actress would go to the Carlton,” IHG’s SVP of Luxury & Lifestyle Brands, Jane Mackie, said in her welcome remarks. “The Carlton hosted the original first film festival in 1946. There was no Palais—it was all happening at the hotel.”

As Mackie indicated, the likes of Cary Grant and Grace Kelly once wandered the Carlton’s halls. Its star power has not waned in the decades since. Over the weekend, I interviewed Kevin Costner there; this year’s IHG/Awards Insider luncheon featured Oscar nominees Colman Domingo and Maria Bakalova, who may both be back in the race this year for their new movies Sing Sing (out in July via A24) and The Apprentice (which just premiered to a lengthy standing ovation in Cannes), respectively. Several rising stars were also on hand, including new Bridgerton lead Hannah Dodd, Good One’s Lily Collias, and Mortal Kombat’s Lewis Tan. One of the first arrivals, meanwhile, was former Cannes prize-winner Diane Kruger, back in competition this year with David Cronenberg’s The Shrouds.

Following some mingling by the bar, we sat for lunch overlooking the water at one long table, immaculately designed as a seascape. (Our place cards were actually labeled oyster shells.) Further highlighting IHG’s relationship with cinema and Hollywood, Mackie teased the upcoming opening of a new Regent hotel just off the sand in Santa Monica, California. My colleague and Vanity Fair chief critic Richard Lawson then shared some words of thanks, as delectable smoked salmon appetizers made their way to each attendee. “This is my 10th Cannes, and 10 years ago, the first movie party I went to was at the Carlton,” he said. “I don’t remember what the movie was, but I remember that it was at the Carlton—I think that speaks to the quality of the hotel and the quality of the movie.”

The crowd laughed, knowingly—aware that no festival comes without some misses. And that when it comes to Cannes, it’s hard to beat even a brief experience of this glamorous, renowned seaside hotel. Especially when the sun is shining.