The reels on the bus: inside Cannes's first creche

Away from the hustle of the Croisette, some Cannes film festival attendees are busy taking a nap. You might surmise that they are recovering from one of the festival’s many afterparties, but you’d be wrong. Alongside them, other “delegates” are busy singing nursery rhymes, or having their nappies changed.

For the first time, a daycare centre has been installed at Cannes, as part of Le Ballon Rouge, an initiative designed to make the festival more accessible to parents of young children. As well as childcare services, a breastfeeding and nappy changing room has been installed in the Palais, and free passes are available for children, nannies, carers or family members. The centre, which is open from 10am to 6pm until 24 May, costs €50 for the whole festival.

Named after a 1950s Palme d’Or short-film winner, Le Ballon Rouge is a collaboration between Cannes and Parenting at Film Festivals, a new organisation created by three female industry professionals, who were alarmed by the difficulties faced by those attempting to balance parenting duties with the glad-handing and deal-making of festival life. “This is an industry that is baby-unfriendly, and that is something we want to change,” says co-founder Sarah Calderón.

Film festivals have long been unwelcoming spaces for mothers, lacking in areas for breastfeeding and changing facilities. Finding babysitters in foreign cities, meanwhile, can be difficult and expensive, meaning that for some parents the only option is either to attend a festival for a short period, potentially missing out on a deal, or not go at all.

The film industry is ‘baby-unfriendly’ say Le Ballon Rouge organisers.Photograph: Régis Duvignau/Reuters

While a few festivals have sought to make things easier for parents – Sundance already has its own on-site “playhouse and nap room” – others have not. Parenting at Film Festivals believe this is out of step with the current mood. “Times are changing,” says co-founder Aurélie Godet. “You can’t just ask women in the film industry to take two years off.”

So Calderón and Godet, along with third co-founder Michelle Carey (who was busy playing with her son when I visited the daycare centre), began by creating an informal WhatsApp group where film industry mums (and dads – Le Ballon Rouge is keen to highlight that many men working the in film industry have similar childcare issues to women) can share tips on how to best navigate festivals from Berlin to Toronto. “We had 70 people on it in a week, and now has grown to 250 parents. It’s a network for us to support each other,” says Calderón.

For Cannes they’ve gone further – as well as the on-site facilities they’ve launched a survival guide with tips on where best to change nappies and an exhaustive list of babysitters. They’ve also partnered with a local nannying firm to run the centre, which is available to children aged six months to six years old. Childcare atthe site is cheaper than much private childcare – it’s free for parents to visit with their children for as long as they please. There’s even a space on the patio outside where industry types can take meetings alongside their kids – although Hollywood power-players might balk at conducting business on the squishy red seats provided.

Le Ballon Rouge has proved popular, with 120 families signing up for this year’s festival, and plenty of others expressing an interest for next year. “There are people who have never considered bringing their kids but are now considering it,” says Godet, who outside of her work with Le Ballon Rouge, is a member of the selection committee at the Berlin film festival.

Still there has been the odd issue. A director attending the festival with her baby this year claimed that Cannes told her that she would have to buy a €300 delegates pass for her child and was later turned away from the festival site. Cannes blamed poor communication among festival staff for the incident, and Godet compares the situation to a rare occurrence like a plane crash where lots of errors have to occur at the same time. “She was very unlucky,” Godet says.

Related: Cannes festival in row after director and baby blocked from Palais entry

Calderón and Godet admit the odd teething problem is to be expected. They are looking to create airline-style info sheets for next year, which will guide festival staff in how to deal with mothers and babies, and they want to expand the daycare centre, which could only accommodate 11 children at a time. There are also plans to bring Le Ballon Rouge to other festivals – with Rotterdam, Toronto, Berlin, San Sebastián and Venice are all reportedly interested.

Tickle time in the tent.Photograph: Régis Duvignau/Reuters

It is a development that Calderón, Godet and Carey hope provides a necessary corrective to an imbalanced industry. “I have a friend from Japan who is a sales agent,” Godet says. “She got married, her boss has been suggesting that she delegate some of her territory to the junior guy in the team. Not telling her to quit, but preparing her to maybe take a back-office position [for when she has a child]. If she has tools like this one, she can show her boss and say, ‘Look I can do it anyway’.”