Roll Out The Red Carpet

Liz Rowlinson explores the real-estate bubble that is Cannes and what the glamour of the film festival has done for the area

- Liz Rowlinson

PROMISING glitz and a dash of scandal, the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, the world-renowned event that kicks off the summer season on the French Riviera, is here (until May 19). The following days will see 200,000 film folk and A-listers descend on the small town for trading, networking, parties on billionaires’ yachts and palatial villas and, of course, dazzling poses on the red-carpeted steps of the Palais des Festivals on Promenade de la Croisette.