WATCH VIDEO: Thieves steal  $1 worth of jewels during cannes film festival 

Jewels worth more than $1 million were stolen from a hotel in Cannes, France, police in the nearby city of Nice said Friday.

The theft of the jewels, from the Swiss firm Chopard, came Thursday night, on the second day of the renowned Cannes Film Festival, which opened Wednesday and runs through May 26.

watch video: 

The annual Cannes festival brings together the rich and famous from around the world for movie screenings and glittering parties.

Commandant Bernard Mascarelli, of the Nice police, said the jewelry was stolen from a safe in the Suite Novotel hotel on Boulevard Carnot in Cannes.

The whole safe had been unscrewed from the inside of the hotel room and carried out, Mascarelli said.

By coincidence, the theft occurred on the same day as the screening in Cannes of Sofia Coppola's "The Bling Ring," which stars Harry Potter actress Emma Watson as a member of a thieving group of teens who steal from the famous.

The movie isn't in competition but was selected to open the "Un Certain Regard" portion of the film festival.