INDIGENOUS Canadian film-maker Kelvin Redvers was denied entry to the red carpet at the 75th Cannes Film Festival for wearing traditional moccasins, he told Canadian media yesterday.

The Dene Indigenous community member 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.”

The director said moccasins “are very much considered formal and traditional clothing” among many cultures in Canada.

He travelled to France with a delegation of Indigenous film-makers 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 allowed to return only when he changed his shoes.

“It is kind of hard to process things like that. 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 were made by his sister, and he was “excited” to wear them at a significant moment in his life.

“Every time I wear them, it is (the) best feeling, to be connected to family and Dene roots.”

Within hours of the incident, the film-maker said he met with top festival officials, who apologised and invited him to wear the shoes on the red carpet during the presentation of Crimes of the Future by David Cronenberg tomorrow.

Redvers said he hopes the incident will help spread the word around the world “that Indigenous cultural wear is completely acceptable in formal settings like the red carpet”. – AFP, May 29, 2022.