A Ukrainian model has said she is getting ready to file a lawsuit against “the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival” over what she described as the aggressive force used against her on the red carpet by the festival’s security.
Launching her search for a lawyer on social media on Wednesday, model Sawa Pontyjska said she was seeking a “serious” lawyer to take the festival organizers to court over “unreasonable physical force” she witnessed from festival security.
“I had always dreamed of getting into the Cannes Film Festival,” she said. “But then I was shocked about the rudeness and unreasonable use of force I experienced on the red carpet.”
Pontyjska was one of several Cannes Film Festival guests, including American singer Kelly Rowland and Dominican actress Massiel Taveras, who was filmed in red-carpet altercations with the same festival guard.
In an interview with the BBC, Pontjyska said she had not done anything wrong during the altercation but was “violently kicked” and has since tried to contact festival organizers to request an apology but has not received a response.
“I was trying to escape from this lock. I went down and I started to run away on the stairs because it was the way back [out],” she said. “She was trying to push me in[side], so nobody can see what she’s doing with me. Then she kicked me out through the back door.”
Her legal complaint said she was “violently challenged by one of a group of security guards” in front of “thousands of people,” the BBC report states.
In her social media video, Pontyjska says she is banding together with other red-carpet victims to launch the case. It is unclear who exactly she is referring to as her co-claimants.
Organizers for the Cannes Film Festival didn’t immediately respond to our request for comment.
