A serious energy outage struck southeastern France on Saturday morning, threatening to jeopardize the Cannes Film Festival’s closing celebrations, together with the much-anticipated Palme d’Or ceremony.
Police mentioned they’ve opened an investigation into possible arson.
Energy was restored hours earlier than the ceremony, round 3 p.m. native time, as music started blasting once more from beachfront audio system. The tip of the blackout was greeted with loud cheers from locals.
CAUSE OF MASSIVE EUROPEAN POWER OUTAGE UNCLEAR AS FULL SERVICE RETURNS
Employees members of the Palais Stephanie Seashore inform clients following a significant electrical energy outage, throughout the 78th Cannes Movie Competition in Cannes, France Could 24, 2025. (REUTERS/Benoit Tessier)
Earlier, about 160,000 households within the Alpes-Maritimes department misplaced electrical energy after a high-voltage line fell Saturday morning, electrical energy community operator RTE mentioned on X. The outage got here hours after a hearth at {an electrical} substation close to Cannes in a single day had already weakened the grid.
“We’re trying into the probability of a hearth being began intentionally,” mentioned a police spokesperson for the French nationwide gendarmerie.
In a press release, Laurent Hottiaux, the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes division, condemned “severe acts of harm to electrical infrastructure[s].”
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Workers stand outdoors a store throughout an electrical energy outage in Cannes, southern France, Saturday, Could 24, 2025. (AP Photograph/Natacha Pisarenko)
“All sources are mobilized to establish, monitor down, arrest and produce to justice the perpetrators of those acts,” mentioned Hottiaux.
Cannes Movie Competition organizers confirmed the outage affected the early actions of Saturday and mentioned the Palais des Festivals — the Croisette’s major venue — had switched to an unbiased energy provide.
“All scheduled occasions and screenings, together with the Closing Ceremony, will proceed as deliberate and beneath regular circumstances,” the assertion mentioned. “At this stage, the reason for the outage has not but been recognized. Restoration efforts are underway.”
Site visitors lights are switched off throughout an electrical energy outage in Cannes, southern France, Saturday, Could 24, 2025. (AP Photograph/Lewis Joly) (AP Photograph/Lewis Joly)
Site visitors lights in elements of Cannes and the encircling metropolis of Antibes stopped working after 10 a.m., resulting in traffic jams and confusion in metropolis facilities. Most outlets alongside the Croisette remained closed, and native meals kiosks had been solely accepting money. Prepare service in Cannes was additionally disrupted.
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Screenings on the Cineum, one of many pageant’s satellite tv for pc venues, had been briefly suspended, the pageant added.
The Palme d’Or — the pageant’s most prestigious prize — was set to be awarded Saturday evening, with prime contenders together with Joachim Trier’s household drama “Sentimental Worth,” Jafar Panahi’s revenge thriller “It Was Simply an Accident,” Kleber Mendonça Filho’s political thriller “The Secret Agent,” and Óliver Laxe’s desert highway journey “Sirât.”
