The China Mail - Cannes hit by power sabotage as film festival draws to a close

A suspected arson attack on a local substation and the sabotage of an electricity pylon along the coast were blamed for the more than five-hour outage.

Festival goers and tourists were left scrambling for paper money during the black-out, which left cash machines out-of-order and restaurants unable to process card payments.

The festival said it had "switched to an alternative electricity power supply, which enables us to maintain the events and screenings planned for today in normal conditions, including the closing ceremony".

Inside its headquarters, journalists dressed up in black tie and headed to the 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.

Rave-themed road trip movie "Sirat" by Franco-Spanish director Oliver Laxe also has many cheerleaders on Cannes famed Croisette sea-front boulevard.

- Fire details -

Power was being restored to Cannes by the middle of the afternoon, with traffic lights blinking back into life after they went blank at around 10:00 am (0800 GMT).

Local officials said a suspected arson attack on the substation about 12 kilometres (seven miles) northwest of central Cannes had caused a major fire at around 02:00 am.

Firefighters in seven different vehicles required five hours to extinguish the flames, the officials told AFP.

Along the coast in the opposite direction, a pylon which carries a high-voltage line was discovered with three of its four legs damaged, the local prosecutor's office announced.

- 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 -- were 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.

D.Peng--ThChM