Power restored in Cannes after suspected arson disrupts film festival
Paris: Electricity has been restored in the southern French city of Cannes after a major power cut disrupted the closing weekend of the international film festival, with police suspecting an act of arson.
Some 160,000 homes in the coastal resort and neighbouring municipalities had their power restored on Saturday, electricity network operator RTE wrote on X.
The film festival's awards ceremony will go ahead as planned on Saturday evening, the organizers have confirmed.
The main venue - the Festival Palace - has its own independent power supply, so the festival programme continued as normal for the most part despite the power cut.
However, film screenings at the Cineum, a multiplex cinema located outside the city centre, were interrupted.
The Cannes Film Festival is considered one of the world's most prestigious, along with Venice. This year, 22 films are competing for the top prize, the Palme d'Or.
Police are still investigating the power cut, with a night-time fire at an electricity station believed to be the reason for the outage.
A police spokeswoman said authorities believe the fire, in the municipality of Tanneron, may have been started deliberately.
However, she was unable to say whether there was a connection between the incident and the film festival.
According to French media reports, a pylon also fell onto a high-voltage power line in the morning.
Le Parisien newspaper reported that the pylon had been tilting strangely at the time. It is not yet clear whether the incident had a criminal background. (DPA)
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