British-born singer and actress Jane Birkin on Monday joined a protest on the sidelines of the Cannes film festival to highlight the ordeal of the survivors of Myanmar's cyclone disaster.

"The actors and directors here in Cannes are extremely receptive, like all of us, to the sufferings of the world," she told AFP as the protestors were told by the mayor of Cannes that he had their support.

The 50 protesters, who included Burmese Buddhist monks, held a rally in the town's main square near the festival headquarters to denounce the slow response of Myanmar's military junta to help the two million survivors in dire need.

The head of this year's Cannes jury, US actor-director Sean Penn, last week also criticised the inefficiency of the junta's response to the disasters.

"When these things happen, all these governments, and I include mine, their control over people... their keeping people from getting help when they need it, they've got to be pushed out of the way by people," he told reporters.

Myanmar's military regime has been heavily criticised for a slow-moving relief effort after Cyclone Nargis left at least 133 000 dead or missing.

AFP