Beiruting News

Every year, the Cannes Film Festival sees the world's biggest stars from Emma Watson to Cate Blanchett descending on the French Riviera to take to the glitzy red carpet. However, while stars have started sharing the experience with fans by taking selfies for social media as they walk the red carpet, it seems that this year they will have to put away their phones.

"We are waging a campaign to slow down the contemporary practice of selfies on the red carpet and the steps," Thierry Fremaux, the artistic director at Cannes, revealed to press at the launch of the festival. "Beyond what we think, it's a practice that's often extremely ridiculous and grotesque," he added.

"We don't want to prohibit it but it's really a matter of timing," he admitted. "We have a certain amount of time to get people across the red carpet and up the steps and it really slows things down if people stop every two metres to take a picture of themselves, with themselves."