Cannes kicks off cinematic fare amid terror threat

With almost enough star wattage to forget the grim anti-terror measures in place, the Cannes film festival opened on Wednesday with Woody Allen's Cafe Society, starring Kristen Stewart.

The red carpet awaits some of Hollywood's biggest stars, such as Julia Roberts, Jodie Foster, Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron and George Clooney, as the French Riviera town transforms into the film capital of the world for 12 heady and exhausting days.

The event has heaped pressure on French authorities already on high alert six months after a terror attack left 130 dead in Paris.