Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton star at Three Thousand Years Of Longing premier

Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton have walked the Cannes Film Festival red carpet as they attended the premiere of their new film Three Thousand Years of Longing.

The Luther star, 49, adorned a midnight blue suit paired with a black bow tie while his co-star Swinton, 61, wore an elegant black gown with a blue embellished neckline.

Elba was also joined by his wife Sabrina, 32, who looked chic in a white, off-the-shoulder sheer dress with gold leaf decoration.

The new fantasy epic sees Swinton play an academic, Alithea Binnie, who discovers a genie, portrayed by Elba, who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom.

Their conversation, in a hotel room in Istanbul where the scholar of mythology attends a conference, leads her to make a wish that surprises them both.

Directed and co-written by Mad Max creator George Miller, it is based on the short story The Djinn In The Nightingale’s Eye by AS Byatt and is due in cinemas this summer.

The red carpet proceedings were briefly interrupted as a woman stripped off her clothes to reveal the message “Stop raping us” written across her torso next to the blue and yellow colours of the Ukraine flag.

As she yelled “Don’t rape us!” security guards quickly encircled her and took her off the red carpet.

Russia’s attack on Ukraine has often been in the spotlight at this year’s festival, which is screening several films from Ukrainian filmmakers.

The 75th annual festival has already hosted the star-studded premiere for Top Gun: Maverick, which saw Cruise attend for the first time in 30 years.

New biopic Elvis, in which Austen Butler portrays the king of rock and roll, will also launch at the festival in the south of France.

Despite being subject to heavy Covid-19 protocols in 2021, this year’s Cannes has largely done away with pandemic measures.

Published: 20/05/2022 by Radio NewsHub