On Saturday, May 24th, a large-scale power outage suddenly occurred in Cannes and its surrounding area along the azure coast in southern France, affecting approximately 160,000 households. The incident happened on the closing day of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, posing a risk of interruption to the ceremony and the presentation of the prestigious Palme d’Or award. Authorities suspect the incident may be related to deliberate arson and have initiated a criminal investigation.
The French power company, RTE, announced through the social platform X that the outage occurred around 10 am local time, impacting a wide area of the Alpes-Maritimes region in southeastern France, and full power restoration was achieved around 4:30 pm. According to France 24’s report, the cause of the incident was a fire at a substation in Tanneron, followed by damage to a support structure of a high-voltage power tower in Villeneuve-Loubet, leading to the power disruption. Police suspect intentional sabotage in both events and are actively investigating the related leads.
The Prefect of Alpes-Maritimes, Laurent Hottiaux, strongly condemned the “severe destruction of the power infrastructure” in a statement and stated that authorities have mobilized all available resources to track down the perpetrators.
The power outage affected local transportation and commercial activities, with malfunctioning traffic lights in Cannes and nearby Antibes causing severe congestion in the city center. Many shops along the Croisette Boulevard were forced to close, while some vendors could only accept cash transactions due to limited equipment. Train services also experienced delays and interruptions.
The organizers of the Cannes Film Festival confirmed that the power outage affected some events in the morning, but reassured that the main venue, Palais des Festivals, had switched to an independent power system and was not severely impacted. Screenings at the satellite venue Cineum were briefly interrupted but later resumed as usual. The statement mentioned, “All scheduled events and screenings, including the closing ceremony, proceeded as planned and maintained normal operation.”
Despite the unexpected incident, the 78th Cannes Film Festival concluded successfully. Iranian director Jafar Panahi was awarded the prestigious Palme d’Or for his political thriller “It Was Just an Accident.” Panahi, who had been banned from leaving Iran for 15 years due to his criticism of the regime, made a touching appearance in Cannes to receive the award for the first time.