• César.Polanski Awards renounces the gala

The actress and animal advocate Brigitte Bardot on Friday supported the film director Roman Polanski in full controversy of the César awards. The Franco-Polish director will not attend the César gala tonight before the protests announced by feminist groups and in order to avoid more tensions.

"Fortunately that Polanski exists and saves the cinema from his mediocrity . I judge him by his talent and not about his private life. I regret never having shot (a movie) with him. Long live Roman," Brigitte Bardot wrote in his own handwriting. in a message he shared on Twitter.

The 85-year-old actress retired from the cinema in 1973 to devote herself to the defense of animal rights. The activist, who was a sexual myth of the 50s and 60s in France, lives dedicated body and soul to the Brigitte Bardot Foundation and is very active in social networks.

Polanski is in the eye of the hurricane after the latest accusations of rape against him. In recent years, 12 women have accused Polanski of sexual abuse. He denies the charges.

The last to point the finger was the French actress and photographer Valentine Monnier. This actress accused him last November of having mistreated and raped her in 1975 in a chalet in Switzerland after skiing when she was 18 years old.

His film J'accuse (The officer and the spy) , on the Dreyfus case, starts as a favorite by achieving 12 nominations, which has raised the anger of French feminist organizations and revived the debate in France about whether to separate the Author of his work. Bardot seems clear, as he says he only judges Polanski for his talent as a director. An opinion that not everyone shares.

"To recognize Polanski is to spit in the face of all the victims . In other words, raping women is not so bad," said recently French actress Adèle Haenel, nominated for best actress in the César for her role in Portrait of a woman on fire.

Haenel, face of the MeToo movement in France, is a victim of sexual violence. The actress publicly denounced film director Christophe Ruggia for sexual harassment and inappropriate touching, which began when she was 12 years old.

The Minister of Culture, Franck Riester, believes that if Polanski wins the Caesar to the best director, it would be an ominous signal to "the necessary awareness against sexist violence." Riester, however, did not rule out that the officer and the spy can win the award for best film because, after all, a film is a team work.

The minister understands Polanski's decision not to attend the César gala. "His presence tonight would obviously have been a source of tension, " said the minister in an interview with France Info radio.

The announced absence of Polanski at the César gala has not, however, served to calm the spirits. The Collages Féminicides Paris group hit posters this week against " Violanksi " - playing a pun with "viol" (rape) and the director's last name - at the César Academy headquarters and in the immediate vicinity of the Pleyel room, where The ceremony will take place.

The feminist organizations #NousToutes and Osez le féminisme! Protests are planned tonight in front of the red carpet against Polanski and against the French Film Academy. They consider the director a symbol of impunity for sexist violence and criticize that the academy continues to recognize a director accused of rape by several women.

The great festival of French cinema takes place in a time of crisis. The members of the management of the French Film Academy presented their joint resignation in mid-February after criticism of the lack of parity within the academy (65% of its members are men) and the controversial Polanski .

A group of actors and directors also denounced Thursday the lack of racial diversity in French cinema. They demand a greater presence of actors of color in main roles and in the nominations for awards.

In the end it will be the 4,313 members of the academy who have the last word and those who will decide with their votes the winners of the César. Whether or not Polanski is awarded or not, the big winner of the night, The officer and the spy has already been a blockbuster: 1.5 million viewers have seen the film in France.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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