The South of France region of Alpes-Maritimes has been hit by a massive power outage just hours ahead of the Cannes Film Festival’s closing ceremony.
Deadline staff on the ground reported that electricity was out across Cannes, with lights off in shops and restaurants, which could only take cash payments. Traffic lights were also down causing snarl-ups on the roads. The internet has also been impacted with popular Apps like WhatsApp offline.
Lights were still on at the Les Palais des Festivals, however, and a number of the big hotels along the Croisette still had power thanks to generators, although it was not clear for how long they could continue to provide electricity.
The press conference for Kelly Reichardt’s Mastermind, with the director cast members Josh O’Connor and Paul Mescal, went ahead as planned at 10.15 am local time.
“The lights are out across Cannes but at the Palais the lights are on. It’s business as usual, and the morning press conference with Kelly Reichardt went on without a hitch,” reported Deadline Anthony D’Alessandro.
“It’s town wide. Prada is closed. A lot of the shops are dark. You can only use cash in the Cannes gift shops. Everything’s dark.”
France Info radio reported that 160,000 households in the area were impacted by the outage which was caused by the fall of a power line.
Deadline has contacted the festival for update on whether this will impact the closing ceremony and other planned events across the day.
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