It's day seven of the Cannes Film Festival and the stars are starting to show up ... finally!

The first week of the festival was slow going in terms of star wattage, with only a few notables walking the red carpet (Tilda Swinton, Rachel Weisz, director Martin Scorsese, Emile Hirsch and - of course - Jerry Lewis, who is beloved by the French).

But the celebrity quotient jumped today courtesy of the kind of promotional stunt Cannes is known for. Jim Carrey showed up in a carriage amid "snowfall" at the Carlton Hotel, where he unveiled footage of his upcoming holiday movie, "Disney's A Christmas Carol."

He's kicking off a cavalcade of stars for Cannes' second week. Penelope Cruz hits the red carpet tomorrow for her new film "Broken Embraces" (directed by Pedro Almodovar), followed a day later by Brad Pitt, who's expected for the premiere of "Inglourious Basterds" (directed by Quentin Tarantino).

Star watchers are hoping his partner Angelina Jolie joins him. If so, it will be the third year in a row they've walked the red carpet at Cannes. Last year they appeared for Jolie's films "Kung Fu Panda" and "Changeling" and the year before for her movie "A Mighty Heart."

Other stars have been spotted not on the red carpet, but partying around town, including Orlando Bloom, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, Ryan Phillippe and, of course, Paris Hilton. Paris tends to draw a crowd anywhere she goes in the U.S., but apparently she isn't quite as big a deal over here. A film critic who has attended the festival for years told me people in Cannes ignore her.

"Nobody really cares," he said.

- Matthew Carey, CNN Entertainment Producer