Clint Eastwood reflects on life—and the bustling crowds of the Croisette—from the back of a car. Grace Jones, her hair sculpted to perfection, is caught mid-conversation. The Leningrad Cowboys, with their gravity-defying hairstyles, scan the scene. Swarms of paparazzi, aspiring starlets squeezing through to premieres, Helmut Newton pausing mid-photo. Wide-eyed spectators, devoted fans, even a few adult film stars. This could only be the Cannes Film Festival in all its dazzling, golden glory—captured by Derek Ridgers and compiled in a new photo book from Idea, celebrating the “festival of exhibitionism.”

The British photographer has long focused his lens on music, film, celebrities, and youth subcultures, creating striking portraits. Cannes, in particular, drew him back year after year from 1984 to 1996. Picture a young Elizabeth Berkley, star of the now-cult classic Showgirls, strolling the Boulevard de la Croisette, or a brooding Mick Jagger strutting into an after-party. Whether in black and white or vivid color, Ridgers immortalized the bold, fast-paced energy of the era—before camera phones, the ban on risqué red-carpet fashion, or the decline of over-the-top celebrity antics.

Clint Eastwood.
Photo: Derek Ridgers, courtesy of IDEA.

Paparazzi in action.
Photo: Derek Ridgers, courtesy of IDEA.

“Most of my previous books have been serious photography collections—mainly documentary portraits from the ’80s,” Ridgers tells Vogue. “After The London Youth Portraits, I thought I’d explored that theme enough. This book isn’t deep or profound. It’s a playful look at the wild, chaotic energy of the Cannes Film Festival in the ’80s and ’90s.”

“It only struck me this past January that these photos could form a cohesive book,” he adds. “Thirty years since I last shot there gave me enough distance to appreciate how different those times were.”

Ridgers first visited Cannes in 1984—the year Paris, Texas won the Palme d’Or, and films like Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise and Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America premiered. His assignment? Photographing Afrika Bambaataa, who was promoting Beat Street for NME. Back then, Ridgers knew little about the festival—or rap and hip-hop.

“I’d never seen the film or heard a single note of Afrika Bambaataa’s music,” he admits. “You could say I was a bit green.”

John Waters interviewed for his then-new film Crybaby.
Photo: Derek Ridgers, courtesy of IDEA.

Jasmine on Carlton Beach.
Photo: Derek Ridgers, courtesy of IDEA.

He attended Beat Street’s premiere at the Palais des Festivals—his only time walking the red carpet. “It was overwhelming. I spent just one afternoon and evening with the film’s team. The rest of the time, I wandered the Croisette, soaking in the spectacle.”

“At one point, I spotted paparazzi clustered outside a bar on a side street, so I joined in. They were all aiming their long lenses at Mickey Rourke, who seemed to be the bar’s only customer. I don’t use long lenses, so I snapped him as he stepped out to tie his shoelace. After that, I was hooked.”

His go-to camera was the Nikon FM2, a manual film camera that relied on a battery only for the light meter—minimizing technical mishaps. “A manual camera slows you down,” Ridgers explains. “With a motor drive, you could easily burn through a hundred rolls of film in a day at Cannes.”

In the ’90s, he also used a Nikon F4. “Autofocus came in handy when jostling with other photographers,” he says.photographer, and you’re holding your camera up high,” he says. For events where cameras weren’t allowed, Ridgers would hide a small Olympus Mju in his sock.

Damon Albarn and Justine Frischmann.
Photo: Derek Ridgers, courtesy of IDEA.

The Leningrad Cowboys.
Photo: Derek Ridgers, courtesy of IDEA.

Most days in Cannes started slowly, with the town not waking up until noon. But Ridgers would leave his budget hotel and head to the British Pavilion by 10 a.m. “I’d have a coffee or two, maybe a croissant, and try to find out what unmissable events were happening that day,” he says. In the afternoon, he’d shoot commissioned portraits of actors and directors in the grand hotels—like the Hôtel Martinez, the Carlton, or Hôtel Barrière Le Majestic—and spend the early evening spotting stars along the Croisette. (He usually skipped lunch to avoid missing anything.)

“Unless it was a huge star like Clint Eastwood, most lesser-known stars would walk from their hotel to the Palais des Festivals because the roads were jammed with limos,” he recalls. Evenings usually ended with drinks at the Petit Carlton bar, where English-speaking journalists gathered alongside up-and-coming producers and directors. “It was a place for random but memorable connections.”

1996 was a standout year—and Ridgers’s last time at Cannes—when Francis Ford Coppola was jury president and Mike Leigh won the Palme d’Or for Secrets & Lies. “The biggest party that year, and probably the most star-studded one I’ve ever been to, was for Trainspotting at the Palm Beach Casino,” he says. “It was the kind of party where everyone who mattered was there.”

Helmut Newton.
Photo: Derek Ridgers, courtesy of IDEA.

Photo: Derek Ridgers, courtesy of IDEA.

“When I arrived, I sat on a low wall near the entrance with another English photographer who also didn’t have a pass,” Ridgers recalls. “We watched famous faces arrive. When Mick Jagger showed up, all the paparazzi—even ones he knew well—shouted, ‘Hey, Mick! Over here!’ but he ignored them. Then he spotted us, came over, and warmly greeted my friend, giving him a big hug before walking off without a word. My friend had never met Jagger and didn’t even like the Rolling Stones. Later, we figured Jagger must have mistaken him for Douglas Adams.”

Politeness helps when photographing celebrities, but persistence is just as important. “I wouldn’t have become a photographer if I let doormen stop me with lines like, ‘Sorry, mate, private party,’ or ‘You’re not dressed right,'” he says.

How did he stand out from the paparazzi? “That’s the million-dollar question,” he replies. “Some of those guys earned ten times what I did, but I preferred shooting the more interesting—to me—people on the fringes.” Throughout his work, curious onlookers, indifferent locals, and hopeful dreamers add to the surreal spectacle.

Daryl Hannah.
Photo: Derek Ridgers, courtesy of IDEA.

Frankie Rayder.
Photo: Derek Ridgers, courtesy of IDEA.

Sylvester Stallone.
Photo: Derek Ridgers, courtesy of IDEA.

Ridgers remembers one…Here’s a more natural and fluent version of your text:

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A Sticky Situation:

“With her permission, I was taking photos of a British model at one of those big annual parties a film company hosted in an old castle,” he says. “Her boyfriend didn’t like that and ended up attacking me. She had to pull him off. I won’t name him, but he was a well-known British soap star at the time—on TV every week. About an hour later, I saw him again, and he came over. I thought he was going to apologize.”

“Instead, he said, ‘I’m not going to do you here—too many people around. But when we get back to England, you’re dead.’ Those were his exact words. I’ve never seen or heard from him since.”

One of the most striking images in the book shows a woman posing in a striped coat. A few photographers snap her picture while the rest of the crowd watches, waiting for something to happen. “It really captures a part of the Cannes experience,” Ridgers says. “Everyone knows something’s going on, but nobody’s quite sure what.”

CANNES by Derek Ridgers is now available from IDEA.

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This version keeps the original meaning while making the language smoother and more conversational. Let me know if you’d like any further refinements!