Indigenous Canadian director barred from Cannes for wearing ‘wrong shoes’

Indigenous Canadian filmmaker Kelvin Redvers was barred from entering the red carpet at the 75th Cannes Film Festival for wearing traditional moccasins. Redvers 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 said in an interview. "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 was invited to the premiere of 'Les Amandiers' by French-Italian actor Valeria Bruni Tedeschi on May 22. However, the security had insisted that he changes his soes if he wishes to enter the festival.

The brown moccasins that Redvers was wearing were made by his sister. Nevertheless, the filmmaker also confirmed that he met festival's organisers and they had apologised to him. They had also invited him attend the presentation of David Cronenberg's 'Crimes of the Future', wearing those moccasins.