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German star at Cannes condemns ‘madness’ of protective culture for UK child actors

Cast member of Palme d’Or contender shot in Kent says the high number of chaperones and intimacy coordinators on set was over the top

Franz Rogowski, the acclaimed German actor who plays a key role in Bird, British director Andrea Arnold’s contender for the top Palme d’Or prize, said this weekend that the proliferation of chaperones and intimacy coordinators that had been required on the shoot on location in Kent qualified as well-intended “madness”. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesHer short film, Moi Aussi, which premiered on Wednesday night, drew on the testimony of the many hundreds of women and men who have told her they were mistreated and who have contacted her since she first spoke out about the problem six months ago at the French César awards. She added that regulation is hard to impose in an industry that relies on short-term contracts and where “a culture of fear” can lead workers to accept longer hours than they should and, in extreme cases, to submit to other forms of bad treatment or abuse.

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