Freak storm leaves stars shivering at Cannes

A freak storm ripped through the French mediterranean city of Cannes Sunday night damaging the roof of a film festival screening room and leaving soaked stars shivering on the red carpet. The rain also forced the cancellation of a fireworks display to mark the festival’s 65th-anniversary. 

Reuters/Eric Gaillard

French actress Isabelle Huppert was drenched as she climbed the red carpet for the Michael Haneke film Love, as were the cast of the Danish thriller The Hunt starring heart-throb Mads Mikkelsen.

Organisers had to move two film screenings from the Salle du Soixantieme, built five years ago for the festival's 60th anniversary, to repair a section of roofing, although the room was operational again by mid-morning.

Photographers sheltered under umbrellas while staff swept water off the red-carpeted steps of the seafront festival hall, while in screening room queues, critics pushed and shoved as they sought shelter from the the downpour.

"We haven't seen such a wet red carpet since 1991," said the deputy mayor of Cannes David Lisnard. "It doesn't often rain on the Mediterranean, but when it does it rains buckets."

The weather, still wet and windy on Monday, has caused the cancellation of a string of the open-air parties that are usually a highlight of the glitzy event.

In 2010 a freak storm struck just before the festival, with giant waves sweeping away several beachfront bars. But the weather improved just in time for the event itself.