A major power outage struck southeastern France on Saturday morning, disrupting traffic and briefly halting events at the Cannes Film Festival as the prestigious event prepared to hand out its top prize. Power was restored around 3pm local time, amid cheers from bystanders and music blasting again from beachfront speakers. Earlier, about 160,000 households in the Alpes-Maritimes department lost electricity after a high-voltage line fell Saturday morning, electricity network operator RTE said on X.
The outage came hours after a fire at an electrical substation near Cannes overnight had already weakened the grid. Police have opened an investigation into possible arson, per the AP. "We are looking into the likelihood of a fire being started deliberately," said a spokesperson for the French national gendarmerie. Cannes Film Festival organizers confirmed that the outage affected the early activities of Saturday and said the Palais des Festivals—the Promenade de la Croisette's main venue—had switched to an independent power supply.
"All scheduled events and screenings, including the closing ceremony, will proceed as planned and under normal conditions," the organizers' statement said. "At this stage, the cause of the outage has not yet been identified. Restoration efforts are underway." Traffic lights in parts of Cannes and the surrounding city of Antibes stopped working after 10am, leading to traffic jams and confusion in city centers. Most shops along the Croisette remained closed, and local food kiosks were only accepting cash. Train service in Cannes was also disrupted. Screenings at the Cineum, one of the festival's satellite venues, were briefly suspended, the festival added.
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