Protestors from animal rights group PETA disrupted the closing night of the 68th BFI London Film Festival (LFF) causing a brief delay to the European premiere of Morgan Neville’s Pharrell Williams film ‘Piece By Piece’.
Prior to the screening, while festival director Kristy Matheson was asking questions to Neville and Williams, two men draped a barrier over the balcony at the Royal Festival Hall and began shouting about animal rights, including directly towards Williams.
Matheson attempted to placate the protestors from the stage and thanked them for their message, before beginning to guide her guests off-stage to begin the film.
However Williams - who was also suffering from illness that limited the strength of his speech - intervened, saying he didn’t want the protestors to control the narrative.
He went on to introduce the film and thank the audience for coming.
The protestors were removed from the auditorium by security, with the film beginning following a delay of just a couple of minutes.
The protests follow similar action at Toronto, where Piece By Piece had its world premiere.
”At tonight’s protest at RFH our Security team followed the protocol, asked the protestors to leave and then escorted the protestors out of the auditorium,” said a BFI statement.”
“Pharrell interacted with the protestors on-stage. We feel it was managed well and any attempt to remove them earlier would have exacerbated the problem.”
More to follow.
No comments yet