"The film has been placed in a secret location outside the country (outside the United States)," a spokeswoman for the Weinstein Company, Sarah Levanson-Rothman, told AFP.

Moore, who won the Cannes Palme d'Or in 2004 with "Fahrenheit 9/11", is due to present "Sicko", his new documentary which takes a scathing look at the US health industry and its powerful insurance lobby, at the film festival on Saturday.

He is currently being investigated by US authorities for making a February trip to Cuba for a segment in the film in which he takes emergency workers from Ground Zero, the New York site of the September 11, 2001 attacks, to the communist island for medical treatment.

Washington maintains an embargo on Cuba and restricts travel by US citizens there, with exceptions for special cases such as journalists, politicians and those with family on the island. Violators face fines of a few thousand dollars.

Harvey Weinstein, owner of the Weinstein Company, said that a letter sent to Moore by the US treasury department "suggests that the Bush administration is proactively trying to discredit the film," and that his firm had "taken steps to protect the negative of the film.

"We are doing everything in our power to ensure that it premieres in its entirety on Saturday night in Cannes," he said in a statement.