EVENTS | HAPPENINGS | WORLD OF CABANA
Acclaimed director Ron Howard sets sail during the Cannes Film Festival to celebrate his new documentary, Avedon – about the American fashion and portrait photographer, Richard Avedon – accompanied by publishing legend Graydon Carter and Alexander Klabin, Chairman and CEO of Ancient.
BY SOPHIE GOODWIN | HAPPENINGS | 20 MAY 2026

Left to right: Jonathan Beckett, Alex Klabin, Ron Howard, Graydon Carter.
On 18 May, the festival-packed Boulevard de la Croisette was radiating its particular brand of organised delirium when Graydon Carter and Alexander Klabin, Chairman and CEO of Ancient, cleverly elected to relocate their premiere party offshore.
The occasion was the Cannes premiere of Ron Howard’s new documentary Avedon, which screened the evening prior to great acclaim. Invitations were artfully managed by Graydon and his wife Anna's digital correspondence platform, Electragram, while the venue was Renaissance, the 112m flagship of the Burgess global charter fleet. Guests were collected by limousine tender and, shoes surrendered to the Côte d’Azur’s implicit dress code, made their way to the main deck where slippers and a glass of Ruinart Blanc de Blancs were waiting.
Live cooking stations ringed the pool, where Michelin-calibre chefs dispensed bluefin tuna chutoro with chives and caviar, wagyu steak tartare on brioche, hamachi ceviche with mango, green chilli and cilantro, chicken yakitori with Matsuhisa glaze, and charred beef short rib empanadas with chimichurri. Château Minuty circulated alongside a Hugo spritz, and a Renaissance dark chocolate crémeux closed proceedings.
Guests discussed Cannes happenings, and Howard's much-lauded new documentary, with proud members of the Avedon family in attendance. Michael, Matthew, and Caroline Avedon, the photographer’s grandchildren, came onboard to celebrate their grandfather, gathering for a family photograph that felt rather more moving than anyone admitted at the time. Across the room, producers Sara Bernstein, Darcie Reisler, Dallas Rexer, Chris St. John, and Justin Wilkes refreshed their phones, with the feverish energy of people watching reviews arrive in real time. Which they were, and it was going well.
The Bannenberg & Rowell-designed interiors were a fitting backdrop, rewarding the curious with a double-height dining room, lower-deck cinema, and a wellness deck with hot and cold plunge pools that several guests regarded with wistful intent (though staff were briskly efficient in redirecting the tour, noting that a proper exploration of the vessel would require considerably more of the afternoon than was available).
Jean Pigozzi, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Courtney Kivowitz were among the guests who drifted, eventually, back to the waiting tenders, each departing with a Burgess-branded bag containing an Anya Hindmarch gift and a selection of Renaissance-monogrammed items – thoughtful souvenirs from a glorious night on the water.