Polanski: ARP filmmakers "appalled" by the deprogramming of "J'accuse" in Poitiers

Paris (AFP)

The filmmakers of ARP (Authors, directors, producers) expressed Friday their "consternation" after the announcement of the deprogramming of the film "J'accuse" Roman Polanski in a cinema in Poitiers, saying "condemn" everything "political act that is akin to a form of censorship".

The filmmakers of the ARP, an association that has more than 200 filmmakers, including Roman Polanski, "have learned with dismay of the deprogramming of the film + J'accuse +, including the Theater Auditorium of Poitiers," they said in a statement.

"Consistent with its previous communications, the ARP will always condemn, and with the utmost firmness, any political act that amounts to a form of censorship, which would violate freedom of expression, and which would prohibit the spectators access to a movie, "they added.

A cinema in Poitiers, the TAP (Theater auditorium of Poitiers) announced Tuesday that it deprogrammed its screens the film, because of the "disturbance provoked" by a new charge of rape against the director of 86 years.

"Accuse" with Jean Dujardin, devoted to the Dreyfus affair, came out in full controversy after a charge of the photographer Valentine Monnier, who says to have been "beaten up" and raped by the director in 1975 at the age 18 years old, in Switzerland.

The film had an eventful release, with sessions canceled due to blockages and disruptions by feminist activists. But despite calls for a boycott, it attracted 886,000 spectators in two weeks.

Last week, the community East Ensemble, which includes nine municipalities of Seine-Saint-Denis, announced wanting to request the deprogramming of the film of its six public cinemas, before returning to this decision.

The ARP announced last week, following a meeting of its board of directors, that it would propose to its general assembly new rules for members convicted or prosecuted for sexual violence.

These would result in the suspension of Roman Polanski, who is still facing prosecution in the United States for unlawful sexual relations with a minor in 1977.

© 2019 AFP