Amputee Stopped Four Times At Cannes Premiere For Not Wearing Heels

The red carpet hosts at Cannes might be worse than the most prudish prom chaperones. Yesterday, we wrote about ladies who were turned away from a screening of Carol for having the nerve to wear flats on the red carpet. Today comes the news that an amputee was stopped several times and scolded for her footwear.

Valeria Richter, a film producer and scriptwriter who has been coming to Cannes since 1998, told her story to The Telegraph. She said that she was stopped by festival officers four different times on her way to see Gus Van Sant's Sea of Trees because she was wearing flats.

Not that she should have to explain, but Richter says that she wears flats because it's difficult to wear heels since she had part of her foot amputated. Years ago she lost a big toe and part of her left foot. She told the BBC that it hurts to wear heels and it's hard to keep her balance.

Richter says she saw others also being rebuked on the red carpet, including a colleague with metal in her foot who can't wear heels. She also saw another woman who was forced to change because she was wearing sandals with a small heel.

She points out that wearing heels is tough even for women who don't have foot problems: "We are all working women who walk up and down the streets of Cannes all day doing business. They cannot force us to wear heels."

Another woman at the same screening told Buzzfeed that a host demanded an "invalid card" when she said that wearing heels hurt her back and ankles too badly.

The Cannes Film Festival organizers have reminded the hosts that there actually isn't a rule demanding that women wear heels on the red carpet as long as they show up in evening wear.