How a makeup artist fleeing Ukraine landed her Cannes Film Festival dream

Ukrainian makeup artist Aliona Antonova applies make-up on a model at a salon in Cannes, southern France, on the sidelines of the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival. Photo: AFP

Ukrainian makeup artist Aliona Antonova had little idea when she fled her hometown the morning of the Russian invasion that she would soon find herself among the stars at the world's top film festival.

Antonova's made-for-Hollywood odyssey to Cannes began at dawn on Feb 24, with the first bombs going off in Odessa not far from her beauty salon and makeup school.