Reporter inspires Cannes hit

The award-winning war correspondent Marie Colvin has inspired one of the favourites to win the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Girls of the Sun tells the story of the female Kurdish fighters who took up arms against Islamic State in Kurdistan. Its director described the Sunday Times journalist who was killed on assignment in Homs in 2012 at the age of 56 as ‘‘bigger than nature’’.

Eva Husson said that she had drawn inspiration from Colvin’s desire to ‘‘give testimony’’ of human tragedy despite the risks to herself. One of the main characters, Mathilde, a French journalist who embeds herself with a female battalion, is based on Colvin.

Mathilde, who is played by Emmanuelle

Bercot, 50, wears an eyepatch; Colvin had worn one since losing sight in her left eye as a result of a Sri Lankan army grenade attack in 2001.

Mathilde says that she wears hers after being hit by shrapnel in Homs.

Husson said that it had been important to show how crucial journalism was in highlighting the truth. ‘‘I read a lot about Marie Colvin, I wanted to know exactly who she was,’’ Husson said.

‘‘I was looking for women who had been reporters and there were two names that struck me – Marie Colvin and Martha Gellhorn.

‘‘Both of them led extraordinary lives, they are extraordinary people. They are people who are bigger than nature. I drew inspiration from all of this when I drew up the female characters. It is incredible how she [Colvin] faced extraordinary tragedy and she stayed in order to give testimony.’’

The film, which has already become a frontrunner for the Palme d’Or, focuses on the Girls of the Sun battalion fighting Isis in Kurdistan. It is based on the real female battalions that are fighting with the various Kurdish factions.

Many of its members have seen family members killed and have themselves been kidnapped by Isis soldiers and sold into sex slavery before escaping and taking up arms.

At the weekend Girls of

the Sun found itself at the centre of the gender equality campaign that has enveloped the film industry.

Before its premiere at Cannes on Saturday, Cate Blanchett, who is leading the festival’s jury, led another 81 women up the red carpet to protest the lack of female representation in the industry.