Cannes hit by power cut as film festival draws to a close

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CANNES - The Cannes film festival drew to a close on Saturday, promising to overcome a major power cut in the Riviera town in order to hand out its prizes at a VIP-studded ceremony later.

Rumours were buzzing about the likely winners, with a dissident Iranian film, a Ukrainian-directed feature about tyranny and a Scandinavian family drama seen as the frontrunners.

But traffic was widely snared and festival goers and tourists were scrambling for paper money after a power cut hit the town, leaving cash machines out-of-order and restaurants unable to process card payments.

"Another hour and I'll throw everything away," owner of the Jamin restaurant in central Cannes, Laurent Aboukrat, told AFP as the outage stretched into its fifth hour.

Speaking as a customer pleaded to pay with a cheque at the end of the lunch service, Aboukrat said his fridges had been off since the start of the cut at around 10:00 am (0800 GMT).

Inside the nearby festival headquarters, workers were preparing the red carpet for the closing ceremony, where French actor Juliette Binoche and her jury will hand out awards, including the Palme d'Or for best film.

The best-reviewed contenders include Iranian director Jafar Panahi's "It Was Just an Accident" and Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa's study of despotism in "Two Prosecutors", according to analysis from Screen magazine.

But cinema bible Variety predicted a triumph for Norwegian director Joachim Trier's "Sentimental Value", a moving tale about a quietly fractured family starring Elle Fanning.

It received an extraordinary 19-minute standing ovation after its premiere on Thursday.

Algerian-French actress Lyna Khoudri poses during a photocall for the film "13 jours, 13 nuits" (13 Days, 13 Nights) at the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 24, 2025. (AFP)

The cause of the power outage has not been announced, but police sources told AFP it was a fire, probably an arson attack, at an electricity substation.

Politics

Amid the glitz and glamour at this year's politically charged Cannes Festival, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as US President Donald Trump, have been major talking points.

The Gaza war has been on the minds of some of the festival's guests, with more than 900 actors and filmmakers signing an open letter denouncing "genocide" in the Palestinian territory, according to organisers.

Binoche, "Schindler's List" star Ralph Fiennes, US indie director Jim Jarmusch and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange -- in town to present a documentary he stars in -- are among the signatories.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, however, said that the festival felt like a "bubble of indifference".

Trump's presidency was denounced by US filmmaker Todd Haynes as "barbaric", while Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal admitted it was "scary" to speak out against the Republican leader.

Awards

Other awards have already started to be announced.

The first Chechen film to screen at the Cannes Festival -- "Imago" -- won best documentary, while the film about the life of Assange -- "The Six Billion Dollar Man" -- picked up a special jury prize on Friday.

In the secondary Un Certain Regard section, Chilean filmmaker Diego Cespedes won the top prize for "The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo", which follows a group of trans women living in a desert mining town in the 1980s.

French actor-turned-director Hafsia Herzi won the unofficial Queer Palm for "The Last One", a coming-of-age tale about a teenage lesbian Muslim living in Paris.

"I wanted to show that there were no borders in friendship, in love," Herzi said.

On a lighter note, a sheepdog that features in Icelandic family drama "The Love That Remains" won the Palm Dog prize for canine performers in festival films, organisers announced.

Icelandic director Hlynur Palmason cast his own pet, Panda, in his poignant story about a couple navigating a separation and the impact on their family.