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Cannes in the South of France hosts the world's most glittering film festival, where the cream of Hollywood and European stars dazzle on the red carpet.

On this year from 13-24 May, the event sets the chic French Riviera town alight and is one of the highlights of the cinematic year. 

With so many stars and their attendant hangers-on in town, hotel prices go through the roof and the town booms in what for many other places along the Riviera is low season. 

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But just yards from the iconic Boulevard de la Croisette, where celebs glitter in their finery on the red carpet, the waters of the Mediterranean are anything but sparkling.

And the extent of the problem has been revealed in a video made by local diver and environmentalist Laurent Lombard.

As he pans the camera across the surface of the sea, everything looks as it should be, with expensive boats bobbing on what looks like a clear azure-blue sea.

Laurent Lombard has been chronicling the state of the town's waters on his Facebook page

It was only when Laurent posted a video of the junk dumped in the waters around the town that the mayor announced a clean up

But then the camera bobs down under the water and things change dramatically.  

The video, which has now been viewed close to three million times since the 37-year old diver posted it on Facebook, shows a shocking picture of marine pollution, which Lombard says is affecting not just the town, but the wider waters of the Mediterranean. 

The problem, says Lombard, who was born close in Cannes, in the town of Fréjus, is one that affects many of the world's oceans that may appear clean on the surface but which below water reveal a dirtier picture. 

Laurent Lombard captured the rubbish floating just below the surface of the azure seas

The problem, says Lombard, is that the Mediterranean is a closed sea making the concentration of plastic waste far higher than in the Atlantic

Lombard highlighted the pollution of the sea around Cannes but says the problem affects a lot of the Med coast

Normally pollution like this is unseen by tourists and it is only divers who are aware of how much litter is on the seabed.

But the celebs in Cannes are not the only ones who risk bathing in a host of debris if they take to the sea for a swim. 

The diver has also documented pollution close to the holiday villa of former French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, his camera revealing a sea bed covered with detritus. The waters of Cap Nègre, near to Sarkozy's sprawling Mediterranean home are littered with plastic bags, bottles and paper.

Since Lombard posted his video the Mayor of Cannes has cleaned the town's waters and it is one of the few towns in the world that cleans the seabed every three years.

Glamorous Cannes is on the French Riviera and is famed for its celebrity fans and marina packed with superyachts

A royally good look: Nicole Kidman posing for photographers on the red carpet for the opening ceremony and the screening of Grace of Monaco at the 67th international film festival last year

The problem, says Lombard, is that the Mediterranean is a closed sea making the concentration of plastic waste far higher than in the Atlantic. 

But those who take to the waters have nothing to fear.

'There is no danger to swimmers,' asserts Lombard. 'The most important thing is education. Do not throw anything on the street because with the rain it often ends up in our seas or rivers.'