An army of workers built giant screens and tested spotlights in Cannes Tuesday as the rich and famous were set to invade the French Riviera town for two weeks of film and fun -- all under maximum security.
A lone cleaner painstakingly mopped the staircase to the Palais des Festivals, the main venue for the world's top film festival, before the red carpet is unrolled to welcome a host of Hollywood stars when the cinema extravaganza gets under way on Wednesday night.
"Is this where the red carpet goes? Really?" an excited Chinese tourist breathlessly asks a fellow traveller, joining dozens others walking up and down the Croisette beach strip snapping selfies.
The population of the picturesque Mediterranean town is set to nearly triple to some 200,000 people as film producers, industry workers, actors and tourists roll in to soak up the glamour, sell films, network and party.
The 69th Cannes film festival has created a security headache worthy of a movie script for French authorities who have highlighted an unprecedented terror threat six months after a series of attacks left 130 people dead in Paris.
"We must keep in mind as we prepare to open this festival, that we are faced with a risk which has never been as high, and faced with an enemy determined to strike us at any moment," Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on a visit to Cannes Monday.
As a result an "extraordinary mobilisation" of security forces has been put in place, with 400 private security agents deployed around the Palais des Festivals to control who goes in and out and check the bags of those entering.
Cazeneuve said bomb experts would carry out daily sweeps before film screenings at the venue.
Hundreds more police officers and specialised units will be on duty in the city, whose lure for the rich and famous makes it equally attractive to jewellery thieves -- with several multi-million dollar heists in recent years.
- Balancing security and fun -
Just along the coast from Nice on the French Riviera, Cannes is home to 500 CCTV cameras, making it the most closely monitored town in France, said mayor David Lisnard.
He dismissed concerns that the tight security will throw a wet blanket over the parties, glitter and glamour of the event.
"Do you think an attack brings merriment? We have succeeded in preserving the festival atmosphere. The public will be at the foot of the (red-carpeted) steps. All the parties will be authorised, but, security must be taken care of," he told AFP.
"Cannes must be protected not because of the cocktail parties, but because it is a professional event of a high level which brings honour to France."
Last month elite police forces staged a simulated terror attack at the Palais des Festivals, where the films in the running for the main Palme d'Or prize are shown.
As part of the tight security, air and sea exclusion zones have been declared, as well as a ban on drones, and Lisnard has said random searches will be conducted in the streets of Cannes.
- Will rain soak red carpet?-
The film festival is likely to get off to a rain-drenched start with a downpour predicted for Wednesday night when Woody Allen's "Cafe Society" starring Kristen Stewart will open the event.
The movie, about a young couple who fall in love in 1930s Hollywood, is being screened out of competition.
With the clock ticking down to festival time, cranes, production trucks and construction equipment lined the Croisette where seaside dancefloors were hammered into place, and a giant screen erected on the beach.
In the Cannes port, crew members scrubbed and shined the sleek yachts where many of the festival's parties take place.
Several billionaires have parked their superyachts along the Riviera for the festival: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's "Octopus" was in Nice and director Steven Spielberg's "Seven Seas" in Antibes, according to Forbes.com.
Among the stars expected on the red carpet during the festival are Julia Roberts, Jodi Foster, Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Kirsten Dunst, Charlize Theron and George Clooney.
An army of workers built giant screens and tested spotlights in Cannes Tuesday as the rich and famous were set to invade the French Riviera town for two weeks of film and fun — all under maximum security.
A lone cleaner painstakingly mopped the staircase to the Palais des Festivals, the main venue for the world’s top film festival, before the red carpet is unrolled to welcome a host of Hollywood stars when the cinema extravaganza gets under way on Wednesday night.
“Is this where the red carpet goes? Really?” an excited Chinese tourist breathlessly asks a fellow traveller, joining dozens others walking up and down the Croisette beach strip snapping selfies.
The population of the picturesque Mediterranean town is set to nearly triple to some 200,000 people as film producers, industry workers, actors and tourists roll in to soak up the glamour, sell films, network and party.
The 69th Cannes film festival has created a security headache worthy of a movie script for French authorities who have highlighted an unprecedented terror threat six months after a series of attacks left 130 people dead in Paris.
“We must keep in mind as we prepare to open this festival, that we are faced with a risk which has never been as high, and faced with an enemy determined to strike us at any moment,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on a visit to Cannes Monday.
As a result an “extraordinary mobilisation” of security forces has been put in place, with 400 private security agents deployed around the Palais des Festivals to control who goes in and out and check the bags of those entering.
Cazeneuve said bomb experts would carry out daily sweeps before film screenings at the venue.
Hundreds more police officers and specialised units will be on duty in the city, whose lure for the rich and famous makes it equally attractive to jewellery thieves — with several multi-million dollar heists in recent years.
– Balancing security and fun –
Just along the coast from Nice on the French Riviera, Cannes is home to 500 CCTV cameras, making it the most closely monitored town in France, said mayor David Lisnard.
He dismissed concerns that the tight security will throw a wet blanket over the parties, glitter and glamour of the event.
“Do you think an attack brings merriment? We have succeeded in preserving the festival atmosphere. The public will be at the foot of the (red-carpeted) steps. All the parties will be authorised, but, security must be taken care of,” he told AFP.
“Cannes must be protected not because of the cocktail parties, but because it is a professional event of a high level which brings honour to France.”
Last month elite police forces staged a simulated terror attack at the Palais des Festivals, where the films in the running for the main Palme d’Or prize are shown.
As part of the tight security, air and sea exclusion zones have been declared, as well as a ban on drones, and Lisnard has said random searches will be conducted in the streets of Cannes.
– Will rain soak red carpet?-
The film festival is likely to get off to a rain-drenched start with a downpour predicted for Wednesday night when Woody Allen’s “Cafe Society” starring Kristen Stewart will open the event.
The movie, about a young couple who fall in love in 1930s Hollywood, is being screened out of competition.
With the clock ticking down to festival time, cranes, production trucks and construction equipment lined the Croisette where seaside dancefloors were hammered into place, and a giant screen erected on the beach.
In the Cannes port, crew members scrubbed and shined the sleek yachts where many of the festival’s parties take place.
Several billionaires have parked their superyachts along the Riviera for the festival: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s “Octopus” was in Nice and director Steven Spielberg’s “Seven Seas” in Antibes, according to Forbes.com.
Among the stars expected on the red carpet during the festival are Julia Roberts, Jodi Foster, Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Kirsten Dunst, Charlize Theron and George Clooney.
