Twitter photo.
Cannes: Hollywood star and Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett went barefoot at the Cannes Film Festival party hosted by Variety and the Golden Globes on Friday in solidarity with Iranian women, Variety reported.
She was to present an award to the Iranian actor Zahra Amir Ebrahim.
At Cannes, women are mandated to wear heels on the red carpet, and footwear has become a political symbol here.
Blanchett, with a breakthrough artiste's award, grabbed the trophy and joked: "This is to stab everyone who stands in the way of women's rights. Up the vajayjay!" 'Vajayjay', incidentally, is the jocular expression for 'vagina'.
In her remarks, an emotional Ebrahimi called attention to her home country Iran, which is "executing innocent people".
She said, and 'Variety' reports: "I always thought being an actress was a paradox: serving the emotions of your own and being a flag or mirror or light. This award celebrates this paradox."
Along with Ebrahimi, 'May December' actor Charles Melton, 'Black Flies' star Tye Sheridan and 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' breakout Shaunette Renee Wilson were also honoured at the gathering -- a first-time Cannes collaboration with Variety and the Golden Globes that celebrated breakthrough actors.