Argentine abortion battle hits screen at Cannes

Daniel MEROLLA

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AFP•May 17, 2019

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Activists in favor of the legalization of abortion disguised as characters from Canadian author Margaret Atwood's feminist dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" display green headscarves in Buenos Aires, on August 5, 2018

Activists in favor of the legalization of abortion disguised as characters from Canadian author Margaret Atwood's feminist dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" display green headscarves in Buenos Aires, on August 5, 2018 (AFP Photo/ALEJANDRO PAGNI)

Buenos Aires (AFP) - Filmmaker Juan Solanas declares himself an atheist but says that if God did exist he would wear a green handkerchief, emblem of Argentina's pro-abortion movement and subject of his documentary that premieres at the Cannes Film Festival Saturday.

Solanas, 52, says the film was shot on the spur-of-the-moment when he became inspired by television reports of massive women's pro-abortion protests in Argentina.

He grabbed his camera and took to the streets of downtown Buenos Aires to get amongst them, "fascinated by so much talent, life and creativity in the Green Movement."

Months of protests to decriminalize abortion in Pope Francis' homeland culminated in a make-or-break Senate vote on a cold, wet night in February.

Having passed through Congress the year before -- despite strong pressure from the Catholic Church -- the abortion bill fell at the final hurdle in the Senate, defeated by 38 votes to 31.

- 'Anger, indignation'-

"That night I died from the cold, from the rain, I almost broke my camera," Solanas told AFP.