Desk Report
Publish: 29 May 2022, 01:27 pm
Indigenous Canadian filmmaker Kelvin Redvers was wearing traditional moccasins at the 75th Cannes Film Festival || Photo: Collected
Indigenous Canadian
filmmaker Kelvin Redvers was denied entry to the red carpet at the 75th Cannes
Film Festival because he was wearing traditional moccasins, he told Canadian
media on Saturday.
The director is a
member of the Dene Indigenous community and grew up in the Northwest
Territories of Canada.
"I grew up
around my culture on the land and moccasins are a big deal," he told CBC.
"I understand
that there are certain rules about dress code on the red carpet so I thought if
I wore a tuxedo, a bow tie, and a piece that showed I was Indigenous, it would
be accepted."
Redvers added that
moccasins "are very much considered traditional and formal clothing"
among many cultures in Canada.
The director had
traveled to France with a delegation of Indigenous filmmakers and was invited
to the premiere of "Les Amandiers" by French-Italian actor Valeria
Bruni Tedeschi on May 22.
Festival security
officials, however, barred him from the red carpet, Redvers told several major
Canadian media outlets. He was only allowed to return once he had changed his
shoes.
"It's kind of
hard to process things like that. I was almost, and even now when I think about
it, (it) kind of gets me a little upset. I was disappointed. I was angry,"
he explained upon his return to Vancouver, British Columbia.
The brown moccasins
had been made by Redvers' sister, and he said he was "excited" to
wear them at a significant moment in his life.
"Every time I
wear them, it's (the) best feeling, to be connected to family and Dene
roots," he said.
Within hours of the
incident, the filmmaker said he met with top festival officials, who apologized
and invited him to wear the shoes on the red carpet during the presentation of
David Cronenberg's "Crimes of the Future" on Monday.
Redvers said on
Facebook that he hoped the incident would help spread the word around the world
"that Indigenous cultural wear is completely acceptable in formal settings
like the red carpet."_AFP
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