Roman Polanski was already excluded from the Academy of Oscars, it is now his French peers who take the plunge. The Civil Society of Authors, Directors and Producers (ARP), an organization with more than 200 filmmakers, will propose in the spring to its general assembly to suspend the Franco-Polish director, accused of rape in the United States.
The Board of Directors of the ARP voted, Monday, November 18, "the establishment of new procedures of suspension for any member put under examination by the justice, and of exclusion for any sentenced member - in particular for infractions of sexual nature, "reads the statement of the ARP.
"This suspension would concern Roman Polanski, whose judicial information is still open in the United States and for which he has been subject to an indictment," says the ARP. The filmmaker was indicted in the United States in 1977 for the rape of 13-year-old Samantha Gailey.
Judicial Information in the United States
At the age of 43, Polanski admitted to having had illegal sex with a minor. The judge had agreed not to withhold other incriminations, including rape. After spending 42 days in prison, Roman Polanski fled the United States in January 1978, fearing he would be more heavily convicted. US prosecutors are still seeking to return him to the country to receive his sentence.
>> Read: Feminists fisted against the Polanski retrospective at the Cinémathèque de Paris
To this first complaint in the United States, other charges followed. That of the British actress Charlotte Lewis in 2010, Renate Langer or Marianne Barnard. The last one dates back to early November. The French photographer Valentine Monnier accused her in Le Parisien of having beaten her and raped her in 1975, in Switzerland, when she was eighteen. The director challenges the facts.
This latest accusation has earned her a revival of feminist movements that have reserved an eventful exit to the filmmaker's latest film, "J'accuse", on the Dreyfus affair. Many sessions were canceled in Paris and Rennes, not preventing the film from reaching the top of the box office in France.
Rally of feminist activists at the Paris premiere of "J'accuse": "Polanski rapist, cinemas guilty, public accomplice" pic.twitter.com/6nMFkr02EB
Romain Jeanticou (@romainjeanticou) November 12, 2019The 7th French art shaken
French cinema has often been accused of protecting Roman Polanski and, more broadly, of turning a blind eye to the horrors of these big names. Even after the Weinstein affair, he had barely faltered. The middle had remained welded, some going so far as to sign a platform to defend "the freedom to annoy". However, since the testimony of Adele Haenel, time seems to change.
The 30-year-old actress accused director Christophe Ruggia of "touching" and "sexual harassment" about facts that occurred when she was between 12 and 15 years old. Following its speech, the Society of Film Directors (SRF), another important organization of filmmakers, announced on November 4 to have launched a "procedure of cancellation" against Christophe Ruggia.
The French Minister of Culture, Franck Riester, announced last week measures to fight against sexual harassment in French cinema, so that the speeches "are not in vain". Without ever naming Polanski, he felt that "genius (is) not a guarantee of impunity".