MIPCOM Cancels Opening Night Red Carpet, as Deadly Floods Sweep Through Cannes

MIPCOM Cancels Opening Night Red Carpet, as Deadly Floods Sweep Through Cannes

MIPCOM has canceled its traditional opening night red carpet following violent floods in France that have left at least 16 dead.

“The Grand Hyatt Cannes Hotel Martinez is not in a position to host the Red Carpet,” organizers said in a statement to the media Sunday. “We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the exceptional circumstances that are beyond our control.”

Torrential rains inundated the French Riviera this weekend bringing the equivalent of two months of rainfall in less than two hours, the Associated Press reported. Some of the victims were found dead in a retirement home, at campsites and in submerged cars.

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French President Francois Hollande visited some of the affected areas Sunday and promised government aid for the victims. “It’s not over,” Hollande said as he got a firsthand look at the devastation at a retirement home in the town of Biot.

MIPCOM, a global market for entertainment content across all platforms, runs from Monday through Thursday in Cannes, France.

A pre-opening screening of Sony Pictures Television’s “The Art of More” was held Sunday as scheduled in the Palais des Festivals Grand Auditorium. However, organizers canceled the red carpet gathering at the Grand Hyatt because it was too late to change locations.

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“We have been working closely with our clients, the city of Cannes and the Palais des Festivals to overcome this extraordinary challenge,” MIPCOM spokesman and Reed MIDEM director of communications, Mike Williams told TheWrap.

Monday’s events at the annual trade show “will open on time,” Williams said.