10 Cannes Film Festival Protests (That Had Nothing To Do With Shoes)
3. When Cannes Insulted An Entire Town
Away from debates circling around high heels and bow-ties, this years edition has already met with its fair share of series controversy. The festival this year opened with Emmanuelle Bercots Standing Tall, starring Catherine Deneuve. The film has been described as taking a rosy view of French juvenile courts as it chronicles a social workers and a juvenile judges attempts to keep a young offender out of jail. So far, so non-controversial, right? Correct until, that is, Deneuve decided to give a pre-Cannes screening interview where she described the French town of Dunkirk as kind of depressing the only business that seems to do well is cigarettes and alcohol. Dunkirk, which lies to the north of France was the site of a World War II battle. It is also the location where Standing Tall was shot and where the actor herself stayed for some time during filming. The actors statements caused outrage among the mayor and the inhabitants of the town, leading to protests at the opening of the festival and spurring satiric magazine Charlie Hebdo to dedicate the cover of its Cannes issue to Deneuve with a less-than-flattering caricature and tagline;
