The Cannes film festival is staging a terror attack simulation this morning to prepare for this year’s event, and it has emerged that a long-running parallel event, the Directors’ Fortnight, is to be scaled back over security concerns.

French security forces are staging the simulation in and around the Palais du Cinéma and on La Croisette, the affluent promenade that stretches along the city’s mediterranean coast and hosts the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. The exercise will involve civilian and military police forces, firefighters, hospital workers and medical professionals, according to a statement on the town of Cannes’ official website.

“Throughout the duration of the exercise, people in the vicinity of the different sites might hear explosions and also witness unusual and important troop movements,” read the statement, which was translated by Screen.

Directors’ Fortnight artistic director Édouard Waintrop said the number of features in the programme will be reduced to 18 this year after 17 hours of screenings were lost due to extra security precautions. “If the numbers have fallen this year, it’s not out of choice but necessity,” he told Variety. Last year, the event hosted 19 screenings.

France has been on high alert since the Charlie Hebdo attack and the 13 November terrorist attacks in Paris, which killed 130 people. Cannes, which is a major tourist centre, already has tight security protocols in place, as well as 200 armed police officers. At a press conference last week, the festival’s president, Pierre Lescure, said the event would have an additional 500 highly trained security agents for its 2016 edition, which takes place 11-22 May.

