Sexism in cinema, no flats allowed.
Cannes film festival this year has been trying to approach the issue of sexism at Cannes Film Festival and ultimately in cinema and film production.
There have been talks by high profile actresses and producers speaking about how we should no longer be subjected to the dark ages of film and if women want a career behind the camera there should be no stopping them…as long as they have talent, hopefully.
So it must come as a surprise to all this positivity and broaching of the subject that women have been turned away from the festival for wearing flat shoes. This does not seem to have been an isolated case and many women and husbands were regaling their stories of finger wagging at their flats and refusal to watch premiers of films.
Film producer Valerie Richter was only finally allowed entry to Gus Van Sant’s Sea of Trees after much discussion, she was wearing flats as she is no longer able to balance in high heels due to the amputation of her big toe and part of her foot. Surely this is the last thing anyone expects to have to go through, especially after having had such an operation. No one should have to justify why they choose a particular foot wear or clothing.
This is not an isolated case though, and not the first instance of the Cannes Film Festival enforcing an out dated doctrine on women’s clothes. It’s one thing to have a smart, black tie, casual etc dress code but for many years women were not even allowed to wear trousers, even if they were designed to be beautiful.
Perhaps, the women that were promoting the issue of sexism in cinema like Salma Hayek should have taken a stand together and decided to wear no shoes at all, or the most ugly of trainers to make a point to the organisers and press as a whole. Women are not to be judged by the way they look but instead on what they can do, their ability to work and produce great pieces of art, film, literature etc.