Arson probably as a power outage disrupts the last day of the Cannes – National Film Festival

French authorities believe that arson may have played a role in a power outage on Saturday in Southeast France that threatened the Cannes Film Festival’s Final parties, including the long -awaited Palme d’Or ceremony.

Power was restored hours before the ceremony, around 3 p.m. local time, while music started shooting again from speakers on the beach. The end of the blackout was greeted with loud cheers of the local population.

Authorities investigated the chance of arson in a fire in an electric substation near Cannes that the schedule weakened at night, said a spokesperson for the French National Gender Barmerie.

The power outage happened hours later, after a high -voltage line fell at another location. Authorities investigated, so that that line collapsed.

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About 160,000 households in the Alpes-Maritimes area lost electricity.

In a statement Laurent Hottiaux, the prefect for the area, “serious damage to electrical infrastructures”.

“All resources are mobilized to identify, detect, detect and realize the perpetrators of these actions,” said Hottiaux.

Cannes Film Festival Organizers confirmed that the malfunction influenced Saturday’s early activities and said that the Palais des Festivals – the most important location of the Croisette – had switched to an independent power supply.

“All planned events and impressionsIncluding the final ceremony, will continue as planned and under normal circumstances, “said the explanation.” The cause of the malfunction has not yet been identified at this stage. Restoration efforts are going on. “

Traffic lights in parts of Cannes and the surrounding city of Antibes no longer worked after 10 a.m., which led to traffic jams and confusion in city centers. Most stores along the Croisette remained closed and local food kiosks only accepted cash. Train service in Cannes was also disturbed.

Screening in the Cineum, one of the satellite locations of the festival, were briefly suspended, the festival added.

The Palme d’Or – The most prestigious prize of the festival – would be awarded on Saturday evening, with top candidates, including Joachim Trier’s family drama “Sentimental Value”, Jafar Panahi’s weack thriller “It was just an accident”, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s political thriller “Sir, and Emar Sirt. “

& copy 2025 The Canadian Press