A press screening of Pedro Almodóvar’s Cannes Competition film Bitter Christmas at the Bazin theatre on Tuesday evening was evacuated part way through due to a medical emergency of one of the attendees.
Deadline was alerted to the incident by our critic Stephanie Bunbury that the 6:15PM press screening had been disrupted some 15 minutes into the seance.
During ironically a hospital sequence in the movie, loud yelps were heard from an elderly moviegoer in the Bazin. Per our eyewitness, the person collapsed in their seat, eyes closed. Those sitting nearby surrounded him as the feature continued to run. Soon after, the Bazin ushers ordered the audience to leave and the screening was abandoned.
Social media posts by journalists who were also in the room reported that they too heard a loud scream from a man seated in the middle of the auditorium who appeared to suffer some sort of seizure.
The social media reports also say that medical authorities were called to the scene, but others on the ground inform us that they didn’t arrive soon enough. “It was a muddle and it seemed as though the festival didn’t have any protocol in place for such an emergency,” said one attendee.
No further details are available. Deadline has reached out to the festival for an update on the situation, or whether the screening will be rescheduled.
The Bazin cinema is situated inside the Palais des Festivals and principally hosts press screenings for the films in the main competition. This evening’s screening for Bitter Christmas was timed to the world premiere of the pic in the Grand Theatre Lumière where Almodóvar received a standing ovation upon entrance.
