Demonstrators block delivery of film reels to Cannes

French show business workers protesting against cuts to their unemployment benefits briefly blocked a shipment of movie reels headed for the Cannes Film Festival, demonstrators said today.

Actors, technicians, musicians and others in the performing arts have been locked in a stand-off with the government and vowed to take their protest to the Riviera festival, where they will have an international audience. Cannes opens on Wednesday.

About 100 show business workers camped out late last night at a warehouse in Garges-les-Gonesse, in suburban Paris, unloading the films from trucks and blocking the gate, organisers and warehouse officials said. They left early today, vowing more protests at the movie festival.

Last summer, major protests by performing artists led to the cancellation of the famed Avignon theatre festival and many others.

Cannes, however, will likely only face disruptions and runs little chance of being cancelled by an all-out strike. Unlike many other festivals, Cannes does not depend on part-time show-business workers.

The performing artists are angry about a reform to France’s unique unemployment fund for artists that takes into account their downtime between shows.