Cannes film festival: police, protests and platforms

The 63rd Cannes film festival may already be winding down, but director Rachid Bouchareb and actor Jamel Debbouze are in high spirits at a photocall for Hors la Loi (Outside the Law)
Photograph: Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters

Actors (from left) Chafia Boudraa, Sami Bouajila, Jamel Debbouze and Roschdy Zem flank director Rachid Bouchareb (centre) at a Cannes photocall for Hors la Loi. The film depicts the Algerian struggle for independence through the experience of three brothers
Photograph: Christophe Karaba/EPA

Hors la Loi has already stirred controversy, with some factions calling it an insult to France. In Cannes today, demonstrators from Mandelieu-La Napoule bear placards declaring 'Respect French history' against Rachid Bouchareb's film
Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images

Policemen stand guard next to the Palais des Festivals as demonstrators mass for a protest against Rachid Bouchareb's Hors la Loi
Photograph: Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images

Pied-Noir, or French nationals who were born and lived in Algeria, demonstrators hold placards to protest against Hors la Loi. Bouchareb is certainly no stranger to stirring controversy with his films: his 2006 movie Days of Glory told of the sacrifices of North African soldiers who fought for France in the second world war and depicted their neglect in contemporary France. The outrage that ensued moved the French president to even up the pensions of the African veterans to the levels their French cohorts
Photograph: Eric Gaillard/Reuters

Demonstors line up outside the Cannes town hall to protest against Hors la Loi
Photograph: Anne-Christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images

Elsewhere in Cannes, the Iranian film directors Bahman Ghobadi (second from left) and Mohsen Makhmalbaf (fourth from left) appeal for the release of their compatriot Jafar Panahi, who is still detained by Iranian authorities
Photograph: RFE/RL /Demotix Images

More demonstrations, albeit of a more stylish nature, as journalists from the French daily Nice Matin wear dresses partially made from their newspaper to protest the sale of the paper's Nice headquarters at the screening of Fair Game
Photograph: Eric Gaillard/Reuters

Ken Loach's Route Irish, a last-minute addition to the Cannes competition lineup, had a daytime premiere, resulting in (from left) the director, screenwriter Paul Laverty, and actors John Bishop, Mark Womack and Trevor Williams taking the traditional red-carpet walk, illuminated not by huge lights but bright sunshine
Photograph: Fiona Hanson/PA

Another Palme d'Or contender meets the Cannes press pack as Thai actor Wallapa Mongkolprasert and director Apichatpong Weerasethakul attend the photocall for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Photograph: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

Another annual event on the Cannes film festival round of parties is the Amfar Cinema Against Aids gala at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, which is where we find Patti Smith and Marion Cottilard …
Photograph: Francois Durand/Getty Images

… Kate Beckinsale and Russell Crowe, leading an auction …
Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters

… and the inimitable Grace Jones
Photograph: Joel Ryan/AP

Separated at birth? … Valerie Plame Wilson joins Naomi Watts, who plays her in Fair Game, at the film's Cannes premiere
Photograph: Mark Mainz/AP

French actor Gérard Depardieu shares a laugh with his puppet at the Canal+ TV show Le Grand Journal …
Photograph: Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images

… while Kirsten Dunst and James Franco grin at the frenzied chaos of it all
Photograph: Loic Venance/AFP/Getty Images