The city of Cannes was struck by a large power outage on Saturday morning, a few hours before the cinema festival awarded this year’s golden palm.
Around 10:15 am, just when the press conference of the competition film by Kelly Reichardt “The Mastermind” began, power in various fields of the city was released. According to Screen, which was the first to report the news of the breakdown, the power also fell into several projection rooms, interrupting the films halfway. In the JW Marriott on the Croisette, a festival center that several participants fled for internet access, the power has died on several occasions.
“A power failure currently affects the city of Cannes and the surroundings,” said a festival representative Variety. “At this point, the cause of the breakdown has not yet been identified. Catering efforts are underway. ”
The representative added: “The Palais festivals of the independent diet, allowing all the programmed events and projections, including the closing ceremony, to continue as planned and under normal conditions. However, the cineum screenings have been temporarily suspended and will resume as soon as the power is restored.”
The French broadcaster France 3 published a video on its X account showing that participants sailing in the festival in the dark, saying that there had been a “general power outage in the city”.
The festival award ceremony should start on Saturday evening at 6:40 p.m. CET. The president of the jury Juliette Binoche and the members Halle Berry, Jeremy Strong, Payal Kapadia, Hong Sansooo, Alba Rohrwacher, Leïla Slimani, Dieudo Hamadi and Carlos Reygadas will put the best prices of the festival.
Variety contacted the festival to comment.
More to come …
