CANNES, France (AP) – Gaudy, glamorous Cannes is a bubble inside a ring of steel.
France is on heightened terrorist alert after deadly attacks in Paris, and the monied French Riviera offers rich pickings for criminals. That means the world’s glitziest film festival, which opens Wednesday, is the focus of an intense security operation to try to keep disaster and drama confined to the screen.
“It’s not a subject we want to talk about,” said festival chief Thierry Fremaux, sitting on a sun-baked terrace overlooking Cannes’ yacht-filled harbor.
“Since Sept. 11 – since always – Cannes is a place which is very well protected,” he added. “The security measures are very, very, very important here.”
Security has been tightened across France since Islamic extremist attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket in Paris in January left 20 people dead, including three gunmen.