This Tuesday, May 16, the activities began in the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, event in France that started on the wrong foot thanks to the opening film starring Johnny Depp, and which has already brought protests on social networks.
To recap a bit, in June of last year the legal battle that Johnny Depp had against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, for the crime of defamation ended. One where the actor won said lawsuit and the actress’s reputation was badly damaged.
The 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival began with a lot of controversy
Things were different for Johnny Depp, who this year came to Cannes thanks to the film ‘Jeanne du Barry’selected to screen on the opening night of the film festival and was not liked by many.
And it is that a campaign began on the internet with the hashtag #CannesYouNot, which calls out the Cannes Film Festival for “celebrating abusers for 76 years.” Not only by Johnny Depp, but by other people who have been applauded at previous ceremonies.
Johnny Depp’s participation kicked off #CannesYouNot
According to the portal Varietythe campaign against Cannes began days before the festival and was driven mostly by supporters of Amber Heard and survivors of sexual abuse, who They say the festival seems to be proud of “its history of supporting rapists and abusers.”
One of the notable people at the #CannesYouNot protest is lto journalist and activist Eve Barlowwho posted several photos on his social networks where men like Roman Polanski, Harvey Weinstein, Woody Allen, Gerard Depardieu y Luc Besson.
An online protest against the Cannes Film Festival for supporting abusers
These men, in addition to being accused of sexual abuse, were also awarded in other editions of the Cannes Film Festival. “If you support Cannes, you support predators” says the publication that Barlow made on his social networks.
And it seems that the Cannes Film Festival knows well that not everyone received their choice of the opening film well, since Variety reports that the city of Cannes has banned protests along the Croisette and its surroundings during the event. Something that led to the creation of the protest on the internet.
One of the participants in the protest against Cannes, called Rebecca and who runs a Twitter account in support of Amber Heard, told the portal that Although the #CannesYouNot campaign was intended for Johnny Depp, in the end they want to highlight a bigger problem.
“In the wake of Harvey Weinstein’s defining moment, the Cannes Film Festival said it took allegations of abuse seriously… We believe it is hypocritical for the Cannes Film Festival to have a policy against discrimination and abuse, while opening the festival with a film starring Johnny Depp”indicated.
Although Johnny Depp is not the only name that sounds in the Cannes controversy
But the controversy surrounding Cannes is not the fault of Johnny Depp alone. As you surely know, tape ‘Jeanne du Barry’ is directed by French filmmaker Maiwennwho recently admitted that he spat in the face of the French journalist, Edwy Plenel, earlier this year.
Plener is editor-in-chief and founder of Mediapart, an independent French investigative online newspaper that published an investigation into allegations of rape and sexual assault against Luc Besson, Maiwenn’s ex-husband.
They accuse the director of ‘Jeanne du Barry’ of assaulting a journalist
Apparently the director did not take that job well, because in March of this year he ran into Edwyn Plenel in a restaurant and pulled his hair to spit in his face. Something that according to the complaint made by the journalist left him “traumatized.”
Just this month of May and in a television interview, Maiwenn admitted to having assaulted the journalist and said that she would talk about it until she was ready, because at the moment she is very nervous about the release of her movie starring Depp.
Despite everything, the director of the Cannes Film Festival supported the decision to open the festival with said film
To finish adding, Thierry Fremaux, director of the Cannes Film Festival, defended the festival’s decision to open with the film ‘Jeanne du Barry’, stating that he does not know about the reputation of Johnny Depp nor was he aware of the trial against his ex-wife.
“In my life I only have one rule, it is freedom of thought, and freedom of expression and action within a legal framework… If Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a movie, or the movie was banned, we wouldn’t be here talking about it.”indicated.
