Climb Aboard a Members-Only Yacht Party in Cannes With Dance Stars Francis Mercier & Marten Lou

Can house music on an opulent vessel for a private members club cut through the noise at the Cannes Film Festival?

This week, Billboard boarded a superyacht with Kismi, a new nightlife venture that bills itself as “a sonic sanctuary for music lovers,” and spoke with the event’s performers, Haitian producer Francis Mercier and German artist Marten Lou, to find out.

Amid its namesake film festival, Cannes attracts individuals of high net worth and influence and, with it, a host of splashy parties. Artists, celebrities, tastemakers and more tee up a tight schedule of appearances at exclusive premieres, gatherings, clubs and more, seduced by the spotlight and invitations to the hottest events. Among them was Kismi, a private, members-only experience soundtracked by the scene’s most current iterations of house music.

When guests exited their black cars at Port de Cannes on Wednesday (May 21), they were greeted with a stunning sight: the distant view of the city, with its lights breaking up the darkness, and the waves of the Mediterranean lapping against the spotless sides of Cannes’ famous lineup of yachts.

Just days before, this same ship saw a slew of celebrities who boarded for the afterparty of the premiere for A$AP Rocky’s new film Highest 2 Lowest, but this night was set to be far more discreet. “We’re not targeting everyone,” said Kismi chairman Paul Martino, a longtime tech entrepreneur who is also the managing general partner and co-founder of Bullpen Capital, a San Francisco-based venture capital fund. “Our members are stylists, founders, artists, collectors, tastemakers who care deeply about the details: the sound, the setting, the crowd. They’ve already seen what traditional nightlife looks like. They want something quieter, more elevated, and rooted in great music.”

To wit, the lineup for the evening featured headliner Francis Mercier, the steadily rising Afro house producer who’s been making his name on the global circuit from Coachella to Burning Man to Ibiza, where he’s launching a residency this summer at Club Chinois. The night’s opener was Marten Lou, who is German-born but residing in Paris and who shared his Euro-forward interpretation of the genre, along with German favorite Jan Blomqvist, who appeared for a surprise set and skillfully layered his vocals over his moody and melodic signature sound.

Mercier shared his excitement for bringing his set to a smaller crowd than he normally plays for. “You get a bit of every culture closer to you. You get a sense of the wider European energy, in the sense that during Cannes Film Festival, there’s a lot of internationals from Italy, a lot of internationals from East Europe, a lot of internationals from France, from the U.S. and whatnot,” he told Billboard, motioning to the surroundings. “So at the end of the day, it gives me the capacity to really connect with people on a closer level.”

Mercier also commented on the current Afro house boom, which he’s a part of alongside a host of other acts who’ve made their name on the sound, turning it into a global trend and massive draw.

“I think right now, Afro house has become quite mainstream, where I would say a lot of artists have used the genre and its popularity to kind of infiltrate and kind of like commercialize it and Westernize it,” says Mercier. “But I think the authentic Afro house is gonna grow some more. I think the original Afro house artists are yet to gain stardom. I think it’s still underway.”

While Kismi keeps trends and individual talent in mind for bookings, founder Christine Becker insists that intuition is key. “Some of the artists we’ve booked happen to be at the edge of something bigger, but that’s not the reason I chose them. It’s usually instinct, when something feels honest and precise, I know it fits.” Previous Kismi event bookings by Becker include Hugel, Moojo and Keinemusik’s &ME.

As Lou, Blomqvist and Mercier went back-to-back, they gave a heartbeat to the event. Their rhythms swayed the partygoers on a dance floor that was small, but never packed to the point of discomfort. The guestlist included actors Ian Bohen (Yellowstone) and Tyler Hoechlin (Superman); reality TV personalities including Jason Oppenheim (Selling Sunset), Lenny Hochstein (The Real Housewives of Miami), and Porsha Williams (The Real Housewives of Atlanta); contemporary artists, directors, photographers, models and more; but the crowd felt both present and surprisingly egalitarian – especially when, with limited options, everyone waited together for the few available bathrooms. 

Kismi’s Cannes party painted a picture of what’s to come – but what does the future hold for the event? “Growth for Kismi won’t look like expansion in the traditional sense. We’re focused on deepening the brand, not widening it,” Martino explained. “That means three to four core events a year in culturally significant locations, two off-calendar pop-ups, and a set of very specific brand and artist partnerships.”

The price tag to get into these parties run the gamut from $1,000 member’s guest tickets to $50,000 member tables, with Kismi also offering $100,000-plus membership tiers, which Martino calls “a way to be part of shaping that energy from the inside.”

As Kismi sets its eyes on a future of electronic music parties for the elite, the genre itself continues its own perpetual forward march. “Many people talk about, ‘Oh, now [House] is getting burned or it’s too commercial, it’s too big.’ I think that’s just natural development, you know?” Lou reflects. “I think that’s a great development and everyone has to adapt, develop new things, try to find new sounds.”