Cannes: Woman Stripes To "Stop Rape In Ukraine"

Mr. Zelensky launched a video appeal for aid for Ukraine at the Cannes opening ceremony.

Cannes: Amid the Ukrainian war, a woman stripped off on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival to reveal her body painted in the colors of the Ukrainian flag with the words "Stop Raping Us" in a solo protest on Friday.

The woman was wearing underpants stained red, and the demonstrator shouted and posed for photographers before being led off by security guards.

The stunt briefly interrupted the parade of guests in evening wear, including Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba, attending the premiere of their film "Three Thousand Years of Longing" by George Miller.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last month that investigators had received reports of "hundreds of cases of rape" in areas previously occupied by Russian troops, including sexual assaults of small children.

Zelensky, a former actor, launched a video appeal for aid for his country at the Cannes opening ceremony on Tuesday.

“The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people,” Zelensky said. “And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”

He added: “Again, then as now, there is a dictator. Again, then as now, there is a war for freedom. Again, then as now, cinema must not be silent.”

He received a standing ovation.

On Wednesday Ukrainian filmmakers at the festival were horrified by the warfare theatrics of a French fighter jet display to honor actor Tom Cruise and the film “Top Gun: Maverick,” Agence France Press reported.

While taking notes from the way, it has already been a major theme at the festival, with a special screening on Thursday of "Mariupolis 2", a documentary by Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravicius, who was killed in Ukraine last month -- reportedly by Russian forces.

Ukraine's beleaguered filmmakers will get a special day at the industry marketplace on Saturday, and one of its most promising directors, Sergei Loznitsa, will show "The Natural History of Destruction" about the bombing of German cities in World War II.