A major power outage struck southeastern France on Saturday, disrupting transportation and temporarily halting events at the Cannes Film Festival, just as the prestigious event was preparing to present its top award.
Approximately 160,000 households in the Alpes-Maritimes department lost electricity after a high-voltage power line failed Saturday morning, according to electric grid operator RTE, who announced the incident via X (formerly Twitter).
The outage came just hours after a fire at an electrical substation near Cannes overnight, which had already weakened the local power grid.
Cannes Festival Switches to Backup Power
Organizers of the Cannes Film Festival confirmed that the outage affected early Saturday activities and stated that the Palais des Festivals — the main venue on the Croisette — switched to an independent power supply to continue operations.
As the festival nears its closing moments and prepares to award the Palme d’Or, the interruption served as an unexpected jolt to the international celebration of cinema.
