Here's what it was like to attend the world's most glamorous film festival in Cannes, from regular COVID-19 tests to strangers arguing over movies

The Palais des Festivals, which hosts both the Cannes Film Festival and the Marché du Film (the business counterpart of the main festival), was kitted out in this year's iconic-looking poster for the festival featuring jury president Spike Lee.

Tourists were drawn to this spot and it was packed night and day, with people taking selfies, snapping pics of the red carpet, and trying to catch glimpses of celebrities.

The crowds did occasionally make life difficult, with police cordoning off sections of the main road to accommodate red carpet events. This mean you often had to walk down the road to the designated street-crossing section only to walk back the way you came on the other side of the road to get to your destination.

One staff member at the prestigious hotel Le Majestic said that this could made the festival both a pain and a blessing.

Everyone and every business was keen to get in on the action, giving the town an almost festive vibe — like the citizens of Cannes had decorated for Christmas.

While these famous brands didn't slap a poster in their store window, they did still make the effort to join in the theme. This Dolce & Gabbana store had prop movie cameras and reels of films adorning their store window.

Members of public had to resort to photos as they weren't allowed to simply waltz up the red carpet without a pass or ticket, but those of lucky enough to have a pass did get to enjoy the red carpet — albeit briefly. We were herded along pretty quick.

While I was only at the festival for the tail end four days, one festival goer informed that every film screening that took place had a queue to get in, with "Annette" and "Titane" (more on those later) some of the longest.

You quickly baked in the sun while queuing, and it was foolish of me to forget about applying sun cream. A must, if you ever go to Cannes.

The queues built up quickly as people arrived before the start time of the screening in hopes of grabbing the best seats, which were all un-allocated. Once the screening time began, we were quickly and efficiently shepherded in with minimal fuss.

And even when I did have to wait, I didn't actually mind sometimes. This was the queue for a screening of "Blue Bayou," which was shown at a theatre at the back of the Palais des Festivals. Here, you could see right across the cost of the beautiful Cannes.

I watched "Blue Bayou" on Bastille Day, with festive celebrations increased thanks to that. However, I happened to be inside the screening when the fireworks were going off, so I sadly missed that.

You had to book your tickets for the specific film screening online on the Cannes website a couple of days before the screening. Here, you had to act fast. Seats were limited and all movies were popular. If you didn't secure your ticket quickly, you weren't going.

As well as the tickets, however, you also had to show your pass (mine was a press pass), and proof of a negative COVID test.

Everyone attending the festival was required to take a COVID test every two days, either at a pharmacy (which provided 15 minute tests) or at the festival's own testing tent, which gave you results in six hours. You were then sent a QR code that security scanned to check if your test was negative. Then, you were finally allowed in.

I could hear the fireworks going off during the film, but I enjoyed "Blue Bayou" so much that it didn't hinder my experience one bit.

"Blue Bayou" follows Justin Chon (who also wrote and directed the movie) as a Korean-American man who faces deportation despite being adopted by American parents when he was three years old.

Chon, who previously starred as Eric in "Twilight," was one of the festival's breakout stars, and is a director to keep an eye on.

Even at night, when the red carpet was completely empty and the day's events finished, tourists still gathered to take photos around the Palais des Festivals.

And you can see why. Cannes is an infinitely picturesque town.

Only those with passes or tickets to see a movie were allowed in to the main building, but it was an expansive and stunning interior. Staff were plentiful in numbers and extremely polite and helpful, as it could get confusing to figure out where each theatre or event was.

Rather handily, the Orange WiFi Cafe acted as the press centre for journalists, who frequented the cafe to work.

I worked here multiple times and, even if no one could speak to each other much because of language barriers and masks, it felt great to be in a room full of journalists all typing away writing about films.

After over a year of working form home, I missed that sorely.

The main building also had a terrace specifically for journalists to chill out on, with free cold drinks and coffee available all day long. The terrace offered a delightful view of the harbour, which was filled with yachts. Classic Cannes.

Keeping on your mask in this hot town was a challenge at times as it could get stuffy in the Orange WiFi Cafe and in the various theaters. Some slyly took their masks off when the films started, but anyone who got caught mask-less was asked to put them back on by other members of the press.

However, the strict rule of wearing mask was made to feel a bit redundant when their was a cafe giving out free cups of several varieties of coffee all day. Journalists would sit in the main centre sipping coffee and chatting, and that was deemed fine.

I took a quick break from my day's work to soak in the views of Cannes in this rickety old Ferris wheel, something which a lot of other journalists did, too, as it was so near to our main place of work.

The second movie I saw was "Titane," the now-famous French body-horror movie directed by Julia Ducournau.

The movie follows a young woman who has sex with a car, becomes impregnated by it, and then disguises herself as someone's long-missing son.

This picture, more than any other, was the talk of the town. After my viewing, two strangers got into an argument with one another — one insisted it was a great movie deserving of the Palme d'Or, the festival's highest honor, while the other declared the film to be the worst he's ever seen at Cannes.

Ultimately, "Titane" did indeed win the Palme d'Or.

The festival always hosts a few in-depth talks with famous filmmakers, and I managed to get a ticket to Steve McQueen's talk.

The event was packed, with not one seat left available when McQueen took to to the stage with rapturous applause. In the talk, McQueen spoke about his work, how he would never make Disney movies, and took questions from some very excited audience members.

I was expecting to be spotting celebrities like I was on a safari park but, sadly, I always seemed to be in various events or meetings when red carpet events were happening. So, I only ever saw celebrities on TV screens playing the red carpets and press conferences.

I did, however, catch a glimpse of French film director Jacques Audiard, who was at Cannes for his film "Les Olympiades" ("Paris, 13th District" is the US title). Audiard, whose previous film "Dheepan" won the Palme d'Or at the 2015 festival, seemed gracious and charming as he signed autographs for some fans before heading into his press conference.

Climbing the red carpet, as they say, was pretty cool. Unfortunately, it didn't last long. Like many other journalists, I stopped to quickly snapped a selfie on the carpet but was soon urged to hurry into the theatre as the festival staff were keen to maintain the efficiency they were demonstrating.

Still, walking the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival is something I can now tick off my bucket list.

Held on the Friday night, the penultimate night of the festival, press members were allowed tickets to watch the ceremony as the Un Certain Regard jury, headed by British director Andrea Arnold, gave out their awards.

It was a very casual awards ceremony, but it still clearly meant a lot to the filmmakers who received prizes. The Russian movie "Unclenching the Fists," directed by Kira Kovalenko, was awarded this year's Prix ​​Un Certain Regard.

Finding the time to eat, let alone to actually write the stories I had planned, was always tricky as events came at you fast and in high quantity.

But I made sure I did find the time to enjoy some of Cannes most famous food, which mostly includes seafood. Like a lot of other journalists, I dined alone.

In non-COVID times, we journalists dining alone might have been able to introduce ourselves and eat together, but mask-wearing and social distancing rules made that pretty difficult this year.

I saw "The French Dispatch" on the final day of the festival, and the queue was enormous despite me arriving half an hour before the start time. This is where the sun burn started to kick in.

People were incredibly to excited to see this one, and the queue built up more and more as we got closer to the start time.

While I managed to get in and secure myself a pretty good seat to watch Wes Anderson's new movie, not everyone did. Some journalists, hoping for spare tickets to be available on the day, were turned away. Every seat was taken.

If you're a fan of his, you'll love this movie, which acts as a series of vignettes loosely tied together by the fact that their main characters are all journalists who write for a magazine called, you guessed it, The French Dispatch.

It was a charming, quaint movie and thoroughly enjoyable, with Anderson's shot composition second to none. It was also a movie in stark contrast to something like "Titane," proving just how diverse the line-up at Cannes was this year.

Straight after I saw "The French Dispatch," I rushed into an extra screening of "Annette," the movie that opened the festival.

Directed by Leos Carax, the film stars Adam Driver as an experimental stand-up comedian and Marion Cotillard as an opera singer who get together and soon have a baby.

I'll remember this screening and this movie for a long time for a variety of reasons. Before it had even began, people were booing the movie — they booed when the Amazon Studios logo came up.

Cannes festival goers are fiercely protective over cinema and despise streaming studios. Netflix has previously been booed at Cannes.

Then, the movie started. And "Annette" is one of the strangest pictures I've ever seen, stranger, to me, than "Titane." It's a musical unlike any other and divided opinion. I counted 15 people who walked out of the screening, and I was tempted to join them at times. But, in the days since, I have found myself listening to the catchy soundtrack on repeat, so I have no idea how to feel about this movie.

The closing ceremony was held on Saturday night, with the ceremony attended by many high-profile celebrities including Jean Dujardin, whose film "OSS 117: From Africa with Love," was closing the festival.

While many press members, including me, didn't get a ticket to this glitzy ceremony, we did get tickets to the press screening of said ceremony. This actually turned out to be a lot of fun — we could hear the cheers and applause from the ceremony our screening party had a relaxed, jovial atmosphere that made the whole thing a lot of fun.

What made it even more fun was Spike Lee, who mistakenly revealed the winner of the Palme d'Or at the start of the ceremony when it was supposed to be announced at the very end.

His fellow jury members, including Melanie Laurent and Maggie Gyllenhaal, were in hysterics at his mistake and the press screening loved it as the jokes continued Lee's gaff continued to flow throughout the rest of the ceremony.

What made it even more fun was Spike Lee, who mistakenly revealed the winner of the Palme d'Or at the start of the ceremony when it was supposed to be announced at the very end.

His fellow jury members, including Melanie Laurent and Maggie Gyllenhaal, were in hysterics at his mistake and the press screening loved it as the jokes continued Lee's gaff continued to flow throughout the rest of the ceremony.

"Titane" did indeed win the Palme d'Or and Lee profusely apologized to everyone involved for his mistake, but director Julia Ducournau, who was very emotional at her film's win, said she loved that the evening "wasn't perfect."

It was a fun end to what was a whirlwind four days, which gave me a perfect flavor of what the Cannes Film Festival is all about: movies, movies, movies, movies, movies.

If you're a film buff, head out to the next Cannes Film Festival you can — even if it's just for two days or so. Seeing a movie at the Palais des Festivals, walking the red carpet, and just being around like-minded movie lovers was a fantastic experience after a year of limited cinema. It felt like the movies were back.