A video showing the simulation of a terror attack at the Cannes film festival has met a mixed response from film industry executives.

The exercise on 21 April saw armed police firing blank rounds on the steps of Cannes’s celebrated Palais des Festivals, as a group of “terrorists” ran towards the buildings. Medical teams were also in evidence tending to the “wounded”, who lay on the floor in red bibs.



According to comments collected by the Hollywood Reporter, however, future attendees of the festival, which runs from 11 to 22 May, were somewhat nonplussed by the decision to hold such a public demonstration.

Cannes terrorist attack simulation – video.

Yuhka Matoi, a Japanese TV executive, said: “I wasn’t thinking about it until [the video] ... Maybe I’ll stay away from the red carpet [this year]”; while German film CEO Alexander van Dülmen said: “Anyone who goes to Cannes knows the French are good at putting on a show. I hope the security video wasn’t just a performance to convince us they are prepared.”

The mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, defended the exercise, saying: “The exercise is not reality, but the exercise helps to prepare for the reality and to limit the risk. The risks are changing … The buildings were designed 30 years ago when security issues were not the same.” Claire-Anne Reix, president of the Palais des Festivals, said: “It’s not frightening. What should be frightening is all the videos you see on the internet, not the coverage of an exercise.”

France has been on high alert for a considerable period, while the local so-called “Cannes-Torcy” terror cell was broken up in 2012 after an attack on a Jewish supermarket that year.