A woman allegedly attacked an audience member with pepper spray after he asked her to switch off her phone.

The incident reportedly occurred during the AFI Film Festival screening of Mike Leigh’s drama Mr Turner at the TLC Chinese 6 theatre in Hollywood.

An eyewitness told Variety magazine a male audience member repeatedly asked a woman to switch off her mobile phone a few minutes after the film started.

The woman allegedly refused to do so, to which the man responded by reaching over her seat and tapping her on the shoulder while repeating: “You need to turn off your phone!”

The woman is then reported to have stood up, turned on her phone's flashlight app, “screamed at the man” and threatened to call the police, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Moments later, she reportedly produced a bottle of mace and sprayed the self-defence chemical in the man’s face.

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At some point after this, the man then left the cinema with his companion. Meanwhile, the attacker is understood to have continued watching the film for another 15 minutes before being escorted by security off the premises.

A representative for the AFI said: "There was an incident, and it has been handled, and everyone is OK.” The representative said screenings continued as scheduled.