CANNES INTERNATIONAL FIREWORK FESTIVAL

WHAT: CANNES INTERNATIONAL FIREWORK FESTIVAL
WHY: INTERNATIONAL FIREWORK COMPETITION
WHERE: BAIE DE CANNES, LA CROISETTE, CANNES, FRANCE
WHEN: VARIOUS DATES FROM 14TH JULY – 24TH AUGUST 2018
COST: FREE FROM AREAS AROUND THE BAY

There are few places synonymous with wealth and beauty, but Cannes must be one of them. Cannes is the quintessential playboy paradise with sun and sea and on the stunning French Riviera. Known for its luxury hotels and the area has been used to influence the film industry creating fantastic films like Ronin, Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch A Thief and the compelling French Connection to name but a few.

This event has been running for over 50 years now and continues to delight and amaze the gathered spectators today. There is a rich mix of pyro companies taking part in this year’s competition which will bring the best of the best to battle it out filling the skies over the azure blue waters of the Med. The Bay lies between Iles de Levine and La Pointe de L’Esterel and they are competing this year for the Silver Vestale.

The pyro is set up and fired from 3 barges in the Bay some 400 metres from the seafront. Each team is tasked with creating a 25-minute display choreographed to music. The judges will allocate the scores for each of the competing teams according to these rules:

Music and firework conception: originality and quality of the pyrotechnics
The soundtrack- quality and originality
The synchronisation – the precision timing between the bursts/breaks/effects and the cadence of the music track
General artistic impression – each juror will note their personal impressions and compare notes at the end

The teams competing and the dates they will be displaying on are as follows:

14TH JULY 2018 - SUREX – POLAND

21ST JULY 2018 - ARTVENTURA – FRANCE

29TH JULY 2018 - JUPITER - ARGENTINA

7TH AUGUST 2018 - ALPHA PYRO - FRANCE

15TH AUGUST 2018 - JOHO PYRO – FINLAND

24TH AUGUST 2018 - DRAGON FIREWORKS – PHILIPPINES

The jury awarded the Vestale D' Argent 2017 to Patrick Brault from Alpha Pyrotechnie and the Jury Prize 2017 to Joven Ngo from Dragon Fireworks which was absolutely beautiful with clear crisp colours and effects throughout.

The support team is on the ball when it comes to clearing up after the event with a boat which goes out and clears up all the remnants of expired floating shells which are floating on the water and the next day a specialist team cleans up the seabed.

A couple of the teams have actually picked up awards at this event previously, so they will all be bringing their ‘A’ game. Jupiter won the silver vestal in 2015 and at the same competition, Surex picked up the jury’s prize.