Top Picks

The World's Best Film Festivals

By: Jes Ware

Red carpets unfurl, beautiful people appear and lights flash. Film festivals aren’t just celebrity parades and previews for the next big hit, they’re celebrations of culture and beautifully crafted storytelling—and well, they’re also awesome opportunities to hop on a flight and spend time in a new city. But, plan ahead—hotels are booked solid by film studios and celebrity personal assistants far in advance—and you don’t want to get there when the credits are rolling. Here are Skylark’s picks for where to stay for the world’s top film festivals.

VENICE

The Venice Film Festival is currently showing—having started August 30th, the festival ends September 9th. La La Land, Arrival, Spotlight, Birdman and Gravity all had their premieres at the Venice Film Festival, so—want to get there to see who’s hands the Leone d'Oro (Golden Lion) roars in? Check into Centurion Palace, there are still rooms and flights available so you can catch the end of the festival. 

TORONTO

Running September 7 through the 17th, TIFF starts today! Amazingly, The Park Hyatt Toronto still has open rooms for the entire duration. This year’s lineup includes work from Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence, Emma Stone, Benedict Cumberbatch, Steve Carell… yes, we can keep going. There will be 25 films making their world premieres at TIFF this year, so book your room now to be the first to know who will get in the ring as an Oscar contender.

SUNDANCE

Cinephiles and ski bunnies unite! Sundance starts January 18th next year and runs through the 28th, with screenings in Park City, Salt Lake City and Sundance, Utah. There’s little room left if you want to attend the whole festival, but we found space for the last weekend. Tack on a few days after the final night to hit up the slopes on Solitude or Snowbird. Montage Deer Valley and the Waldorf Astoria Park City still have space to watch those final few days of the highly-anticipated event that brought us Boyhood and Manchester by the Sea.

BERLIN

Who’s going to get the Golden Bear? The Berlinale awards just three of these Golden Bears to the films of the year. As a reference, Meryl Streep presided over the international jury in 2016, so we’d say we’re pretty excited to see who the winners will be. Running from February 15th through February 25, almost miraculously, Rocco Forte de Rome still has room—and we’re going to say, even the indomitable Miranda Priestly would be pleased.

TRIBECA

The Tribeca Film Festival, the annual, self-proclaimed “storytelling festival,” spans April 18th to the 29th next year. Robert DeNiro founded the festival as a way to revive NYC’s film scene—in a great stroke of luck, it’s early enough to snag a room at The Greenwich Hotel, owned by the festival’s maestro himself. A personally curated, low-key showstopper, DeNiro’s hotel is a right around the corner from the festival’s screenings in Tribeca.

CANNES

2018 will be the 71st year of the Festival de Cannes—the Croisette will be teeming with celebs and paparazzi from May 9th through May 20th. Amazingly, Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic Cannes still has space during this fabulous and glitzy festival. Just across from the Palais des Festivals, the hotel is as close as one can get to without being blinded by the stars.