Angélique, Evelyne, Sofya, Nadia… A huge banner with the names of victims of feminicides in France was unfurled this Sunday on the red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival by members of a feminist collective, Les colleuses, in honor of a documentary presented in the afternoon on the Croisette.
These are the first names or identities of 129 women killed “since the last Cannes Film Festival” in July 2021, which were displayed on the steps of the palace. Dressed in black, the activists then posed, fists raised, before using smoke bombs, shrouding the red carpet in black smoke.
With Raymond Depardon
The scene was immortalized by photographer Raymond Depardon. His son Simon directed, with Marie Perennès, Feminist response. This documentary follows these activists sticking, often at night, messages on the walls of cities to denounce gender-based violence, street harassment and bring messages of support to victims of sexual assault. Before the screening of the film, presented in a special session, the gluers once again raised their fists when the director called out their first name.
Another feminist punch action marked the 75th Cannes Film Festival: an activist denouncing the rapes committed by Russians in Ukraine burst onto the red carpet on Friday, before being stopped by security. The action was then claimed by the Scum movement, which defines itself as “radical” feminist.