Film Festival in the Shadow of Darkness: French Riviera Without Electricity

(Patria) - A major power outage hit the French region of Alpes-Maritimes on Saturday, including the famous city of Cannes, where the 78th International Film Festival is currently being held.

The blackout caused chaos in public transport, with passengers at railway stations, tram and bus terminals waiting for hours in hopes that the power supply would soon stabilize. Part of the city lighting and traffic lights were also out of order, and problems with the mobile network were reported in some parts of the region.

The exact cause of the outage is not yet known, but the incident occurs just a month after millions of citizens in Spain, Portugal and several regions of France were left without electricity due to a fault in the European high-voltage grid. Although similar problems were then attributed to regional climatic conditions and technical errors, authorities are not ruling out any option, including the possibility of sabotage.

Given that Cannes is currently in the spotlight of the world public due to the 78th edition of the Film Festival, the power outage poses a serious challenge for the organizers. As confirmed by the festival team, there was a temporary delay in certain technical segments, but the program was not suspended because generators and backup power sources were deployed for key locations and events.

The festival gathers thousands of visitors, including filmmakers, journalists and celebrities from around the world, and a large number of media outlets are covering the event live, which further increases the importance of the smooth running of technical logistics.

Local authorities and emergency services are on the ground and are working intensively on the full normalization of the supply. Citizens and tourists are advised to be cautious and to follow official information.

More details on the cause of the outage and damage assessments are expected during the day.