French authorities said local prosecutors had opened investigations into the sabotage, but they did not say whether they believed it had deliberately targeted the Cannes Film Festival – one of the world’s most famous, and a symbol of French glamour and cultural star power.
The festival’s closing ceremony on Saturday evening proceeded normally.
A Cannes restaurant without lights during the power outage.Credit: Getty Images
Still, the outages recalled another time that sabotage briefly blighted a moment of national pride: last year, arson attacks on rail lines caused momentary travel chaos in France on the opening day of the Paris Summer Olympics.
French authorities did not determine who was responsible for that arson, but at the time, they cast suspicion on “ultra-left” anti-capitalist groups that want to disrupt the workings of the state.
Disruptions to the film festival were limited. Organisers said in a statement that it had quickly switched over to an independent power supply, “allowing all scheduled events and screenings, including the closing ceremony, to proceed as planned and under normal conditions”.
It said screenings at one theatre had been “temporarily suspended”.
Loading
One festival goer was 90 minutes into a screening of Sound of Falling on Saturday morning at the Agnes Varda theatre when the screen blacked out and the emergency lights came on. A back-up generator kicked in 20 minutes later, and the screening resumed.
But the power outage also scrambled daily life in Cannes, which becomes a tourist magnet when movie stars and directors are in town.
Dark traffic lights forced police officers to direct the flow of cars through busy intersections, while firefighters responded to scores of elevator breakdowns in the region.
On the clock tower atop the city’s old quarter, the hands froze at just past 10am. Some boutiques were closed on the Croisette, a promenade along the beach known for its high-end hotels and luxury shops.
When the power came back on at one restaurant just before 3pm, patrons clapped and cheered.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
