Cannes is unarguably the most prestigious cinema awards globally, where film stars and artists from across the world yearn to get appreciation. Attending the Cannes is the most amazing thing that can happen to an artist in the movie industry, as its rich history of revolutionizing cinema is what makes it to the bucket list of most aspiring stars.

Cannes, along the years, had its fair shares of quirks and strange incidents. This is where most Hollywood actors make their best- or worst- memories, as evident in the instances reminicised here:

Pesce Huang/Unsplash. It was banned during the 2005 Cannes Awards to wear flat shoes on the red carpet.

Women wearing flats to the Premieres were sent away:

In the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, many female stars were stopped at the red carpet for the Premiere of the film Carol for wearing flat shoes and not heels. The controversy grew, as reports of one woman attending the red carpet were turned away as she wore ankle boots, while another was pushed away for putting on sandals. The entire blame was pinned on an ‘overly zealous security guard’.

It was banned to take a selfie on the red carpet

In 2015 again, Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux banned selfies on the red carpet. According to Fremaux, a person doesn’t look as ugly as they look in a selfie. He added that capturing selfies is not completely banned but discouraged, as they cause a bottleneck on the red carpet before screenings.

Aditya Wardhana/Unsplash. Director of the movie The Misfortunates rode on bicycles naked to promote their film and create a statement

Naked cyclists were used to promote a film

When the director of the film The Misfortunates got to know that his film has been selected for Directors’ Fortnight in 2009, he thought it would be apt to promote his film using a rather unique tactic. He reenacts a scene from his film, which revolves around a dysfunctional Strobbe family, in which the family is seen riding their bikes undressed. The director jokingly mentioned in one of his interviews during the premiere that they should do the scene again. And they actually did. The cast of the movie went to the festival a few hours efore the press conference, got undressed inside the Director’s Fortnight office and rode their bikes naked down the Croisette. He had also ordered a motorcycle to follow them carrying their underwear, in case they got arrested.

Gary Meulemans/Unsplash. Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ was promoted using actual birds, as 400 pigeons were flown outside the Carlton for the premiere.

Alfred Hitchcock appears amidst birds to promote ‘The Birds’

Alfred Hitchcock fully utilized the Cannes invitation in 1963 to enter mainstream cinema. He used The Birds as an opening to the Cannes, a move he maneuvered to improve his position on the French New Wave which was trending then. Being the showman that he was, he and the star of The Birds, Tippi Hedren, made 400 pigeons outside the Carlton to mark the premiere.

Roberta Cole