The red carpet is turning completely unpredictable at the Cannes Film Festival in 2014.
Salma Hayek broke the festival’s non-political tradition by holding up a #BringBackOurGirls sign on the red carpet for the premiere of the animated film The Prophet. Hayek was one of a few guests at the red carpet gala showing off the sign.
The sign was in support of 230 school girls who were kidnapped from the Chibok Government Secondary School by Boko Haram terrorists in Nigeria on April 15.
The traditional Cannes red carpet is generally reserved for glamour and celebration of film. All participants are required to dress in formal wear, and men without the proper black tie are turned away.
The political message “is most unusual,” says Marie-Pierre Hauville, director of communications for the festival. “It’s rare. But clearly this is happening all over the world and was a personal impulse.”
The move follows a red carpet event of a very different sort — a Ukrainian prankster journalist had to be forcibly removed from the red carpet after climbing under America Ferrera’s dress before the premiere of How to Train Your Dragon 2.
