Shoes of an unidentified guest are pictured as she walks on the red carpet for the screening of the film Saul Fia (Son of Saul) in competition at the 68th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes on Friday.

DPA
Cannes
Actors and directors at the Cannes Film Festival poked fun at the event’s strict dress code yesterday after its staff refused to admit women wearing flat shoes to one of the movie showcase’s gala premieres.
The group of women had been invited to attend the Sunday premiere of US director Todd Haynes’s 1950’s lesbian drama Carol when they were rejected by attendants at the door, US entertainment daily Screen International reported.
Canadian-born Hollywood director Denis Villeneuve mocked the festival’s rigid dress code for evening soirees that demands women wear high heels and formal dresses and men arrive in black tie.
Villeneuve joked that he and the male stars of his high-action Mexican drugs drama Sicario, Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro, would wear high heels to the film’s opening night.
“I think that everyone should wear flats, to be honest,” said British-born actress Emily Blunt, who is also starring in Sicario. “We shouldn’t wear high heels.”
“That’s very disappointing, just when you kind of think there are these new waves of equality,” said Blunt, who plays an FBI agent in the film.
This is not the first time that women in flat shoes have been told they cannot attend the festival’s glitzy premieres.
Two women received the same treatment last year.
Australian film writer Stephanie Bunbury decided to give away her invitation to a gala opening five years ago after attendants barred her from attending a premiere in flat gold sandals.
This year, Cannes festival organisers have made special efforts to address perceived sexism in the film industry and tackle head on criticism for being something of a boys’ club.
Cannes efforts to advance gender equality at the event include daily forums to discuss the role of women in the motion picture business, with attendees including Hollywood legend Jane Fonda and star US producer Megan Ellison.
For the first time in about 28 years, a film from a female director, France’s Emmanuelle Bercot, opened the 11-day festival.
This year the smiling face of Ingrid Bergman radiates all over Cannes with the festival marking the centenary of the Swedish actress’ birth by using her image as the festival’s official poster.
But now in its 68th year, only one woman director has won the festival’s coveted Palme d’Or for best picture: New Zealand-born Jane Campion in 1993 for The Piano.
Only two of this year’s main competition films come from female directors, and men make up the majority of the festival’s jury.
Criticism of the festival over the lack women directors in its competition gained momentum three years ago following the publication in the French press of letter from several feminist groups, which declared: “And let the Cannes film festival competition forever be a man’s world.”