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CANNES

Female stars call for equal pay in Cannes protest

Hollywood stars including Cate Blanchett, Kristen Stewart and Salma Hayek called Saturday for equal pay in the cinema industry and beyond in a historic red carpet protest at the Cannes film festival.

Female stars call for equal pay in Cannes protest
Photo: AFP

Eighty-two actresses, filmmakers and producers marched arm and arm to demand equality and “a safe workplace”, seven months after the world was shaken by the #MeToo movement and the fall of mogul Harvey Weinstein.

The ranks included a battalion of Oscar winners from Helen Mirren and Marion Cotillard to US blockbuster directors Ava DuVernay and Patty Jenkins who made “Wonder Woman”.

“We demand that our workplaces are diverse and equitable so they can best reflect the world in which we live,” said Blanchett in a statement read out with the legendary 89-year-old French director Agnes Varda.

Blanchett, a double Oscar winner, said they wanted “a world that allows all of us in front and behind the camera to thrive shoulder to shoulder with our male colleagues.”

With Cannes under fire for its dearth of women directors, the world's top film festival hoped to fend off some of the fierce criticism with the march.

The number of protesters was highly symbolic as it represented the 82 films by female directors who have competed for the top Palme d'Or prize since 1946 — a number dwarfed by the nearly 1,700 male contenders.

The star-studded group stopped halfway up the stairs to the Palais des Festivals to mark the obstacles they face in trying to reach the top.

“The stairs of our industry must be accessible to all. Let's climb,” Blanchett declared, with some of the rally's participants visibly moved.

The Australian actress also head the female-majority jury that will decide the festival's top prize.

Several protestors including Stewart made a strong fashion statement by donning suits and tuxedos, in a show of defiance to Cannes' red-carpet dress code which is often denounced as sexist.

Women have been stopped from entering premieres in the past for not wearing high heels.


Filmmakers, actresses and producers walk the red carpet in protest of the lack of female filmmakers honoured throughout the history of the Cannes festival at the screening of “Girls Of The Sun (Les Filles Du Soleil)”. Photo: AFP

Producer and activist Melissa Silverstein of Women and Hollywood hailed the event as a “massive milestone towards change”.

“An honour to share the carpet with Ava (DuVernay) and all the other women who are pushing for more opportunities for women,” she said in a tweet after the march.

The protest took place ahead of the premiere of “Girls of the Sun” by Eva Husson, one of only three women out of 21 directors in the running for the Palme d'Or.

The film is the story of the Kurdish Yazidi all-female Sun Brigade who are fighting Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq, where thousands of women were kept as slaves.

The protest comes at the first Cannes festival since the cinema industry was engulfed by the spiralling sex abuse allegations against Weinstein.

Cannes was the scene of several of the disgraced Hollywood mogul's alleged attacks on actresses.

In response, the festival set up an anti-harassment hotline this year.

The number has already received “several calls” since the festival's launch
on May 9th, said French Equality Minister Marlene Schiappa.

Cannes “must be a safe space for women,” she stressed.

Blanchett has criticised Cannes for once again failing to invite more female directors.

“There are many women on the jury but I wish there were more in competition,” the Australian-born star told French radio earlier this week.

The 48-year-old has emerged as a key figure in Hollywood's fight against sexual misconduct.

One of the first women to call out Weinstein, Blanchett co-founded the “Time's Up” movement to support abuse victims.

Her comments echo those of fellow actress Jessica Chastain who served on the jury last year and lambasted Cannes for its “disturbing” depiction of women.

Chastain caused a stir on Thursday when she revealed that she planned to make Hollywood's first big budget all-female blockbuster with a cast including Penelope Cruz and Lupita Nyong'o.

Only seven percent of Hollywood blockbusters were directed by women in 2016.

France has the best ratio among the major film-producing countries with 23 percent of films directed by women.

READ ALSO: Cannes: Progress of gay cinema evident at French film festival

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FILM

Cannes Film Festival postponed to July due to Covid

The Cannes Film Festival has been rescheduled for July 6th to 17th - postponed by around two months due to the ongoing virus crisis, organisers said on Wednesday.

Cannes Film Festival postponed to July due to Covid
The 2018 Palme d'Or winner Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-Eda posing for the cameras at the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual highlight for movie lovers in France. Photo: AFP

“As announced last autumn, the Festival de Cannes reserved the right to change its dates depending on how the global health situation developed,” they said in a statement.

“Initially scheduled from 11th to 22nd May 2021, the Festival will therefore now take place from Tuesday 6th to Saturday 17th July 2021.”

The festival was cancelled last year, while rival European events in Berlin and Venice went ahead under strict health restrictions.

The Berlin Film Festival, which usually kicks off in February, said last month it would run this year's edition in two stages, an online offering for industry professionals in March and a public event in June.

France has closed all cinemas, theatres and show rooms alongside cafés, bars and restaurants as part of its Covid-19 health measures and the government has pushed back their reopening date until further notice due to rising levels of viral spread across the country.

The Cannes festival normally attracts some 45,000 people with official accreditations, of whom around 4,500 are journalists.

It had only been cancelled once before, due to the outbreak of war in 1939.

Its Film Market, held alongside the main competition, is the industry's biggest marketplace for producers, distributors, buyers and programmers.

Last year, the festival still made an official selection of 56 films – including the latest offerings from Wes Anderson, Francois Ozon and Steve McQueen – allowing them to use the “Cannes official selection” label.

 

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