Paris (AFP)

The situation of Roman Polanski, who faces a new charge of rape, will be discussed Monday by officials of the ARP, an organization comprising more than 200 filmmakers, at a meeting that should establish new rules for convicted members or prosecuted for sexual violence.

The Civil Society of Authors, Directors and Producers will meet with its board of directors on 18 November and propose "that, henceforth, any member convicted of sexual offenses be excluded and that any member indicted for the same reason be suspended, "she said Tuesday in a statement, which does not name the French-Polish filmmaker.

If the board of directors, gathering twenty people, validate this proposal, it would pave the way for a suspension of Roman Polanski, who fled the United States in 1978 and is still facing prosecution for illegal sex with a minor.

The multi-award-winning director and member of the ARP would not be excluded but "suspended" association because the procedure concerning him in the United States is "in progress", told AFP president Pierre Jolivet.

"We consider that this is a moment serious enough for our board of directors to express itself fully," he added while French cinema was also shaken last week by accusations of "touching" and "sexual harassment" of the actress Adèle Haenel against the director Christophe Ruggia, between his 12 and 15 years.

The ARP "must take into account that our professions, by the power they confer, can open the door to reprehensible excesses, which can not under any circumstances be justified or tolerated," she says. in his press release.

In a testimony published by Le Parisien Friday evening, the photographer Valentine Monnier accuses Roman Polanski of having struck and raped in 1975 in Switzerland when she was eighteen. It claims to have decided to publicly bear this accusation because of the release this Wednesday in France of "J'accuse", Grand Prix of the jury at the Venice Film Festival, which relates to the miscarriage of justice suffered by Alfred Dreyfus at the end of XIXth century.

This accusation adds to those of other women in recent years, for facts prescribed and challenged by the filmmaker of 86 years.

She disrupted the promotion of the film, with interviews of actors canceled at the last moment (Jean Dujardin, Emmanuelle Seigner) or finally not broadcast (Louis Garrel).

© 2019 AFP