Cannes opens amid heightened security, controversy
The 69th Cannes Film Festival opened on Wednesday with stormy skies, heightened security, the premiere of a new Woody Allen film and resurrected sex abuse allegations against the 80-year-old director regarding his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow.
Allen brought his 1930s Hollywood romance Cafe Society, along with stars Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg, to Cannes to kick off the French Riviera festival. But just minutes before their press conference, a column by Allen's son Ronan Farrow was posted online by The Hollywood Reporter in which he reiterated sexual abuse allegations against his father. Farrow questioned Cannes' continued embrace of Allen and chastised the press, who she said don't ask "the tough questions".
"That kind of silence isn't just wrong. It's dangerous," wrote Farrow. "It sends a message to victims that it's not worth the anguish of coming forward. It sends a message about who we are as a society, what we'll overlook, who we'll ignore, who matters and who doesn't."
