Cannes (France) (EFE).- The 77th edition of Cannes opens its doors this Tuesday under strong agitation from the #MeToo movement, while those responsible for the festival acknowledge that they do not have a specific plan to face possible accusations that affect artists with films in programming.
On the one hand, nine women have publicly denounced sexual abuse – including a rape of a 15-year-old girl – against Alain Sarde, one of the great French producers, described as a “myth” by the general delegate of Cannes, Thierry Frémaux.
On the other hand, a hundred personalities from the world of cinema, including Juliette Binoche and Isabelle Adjani, published a forum today in which they denounce the inaction of the authorities regarding reports of sexual abuse in the seventh art.
And those responsible for Cannes are not forceful in their responses. In a press conference held yesterday, on the eve of the inauguration, Frémaux yesterday wished for a festival “without controversy” and avoided responding to the information that appeared in some French media that warned of the imminent publication of new accusations of sexual violence in the world. of cinema.
Without a concrete plan to deal with cases of abuse
While the president of the festival, the German Iris Knobloch, acknowledged today in a meeting with a small group of media outlets, including EFE, that they do not have a specific plan to deal with cases that may become public during the Cannes celebrations. .
“You realize when you start thinking about it that it’s almost impossible to have a plan because it really depends on the specific situation,” said Knobloch, for whom “there are many different nuances about whether this person is accused of bad moral behavior or of having raped someone…”, as well as whether it is a public accusation or a police report.
Because for days, in some French media and on social networks, a list of ten names of French directors, producers or actors who would be involved in cases of sexual abuse has been circulating. Some of them should be in Cannes these days to present their latest works.
At the moment the clearest accusation is published in the latest issue of Elle magazine, which has the testimonies of the nine women who accuse – publicly but not judicially – Sarde.
A well-known producer in France, who is behind titles such as ‘Mulholland Drive’, by David Lynch, or ‘The Pianist’, by Roman Polanski. More than 200 films bear the signature of Sarde, 72, who has been abandoning cinema in the last decade.
Actress Annelise Hesme, now 47 years old, recalled to the magazine that in 2001, when she was 24, they arranged a meeting for her with the producer and she hoped he would offer her a role, but that was not the case.
The producer, leaning back in his chair, told her that he organized dinners with actors, directors and distributors and that he liked to have pretty and witty women like her at the table. “Of course, it’s paid, and then, if among all of them there is one that you like, it’s your turn to earn more money at night…” Hesme remembers.
He began to feel bad and left the room as best he could while Sarde shouted at him: “What do you want? It’s not enough for whores anymore.”
Another woman, who worked on several television series between 1990 and 2000, claims that he raped her in 1985 when she was only 15 years old. And a well-known actress who prefers to remain anonymous also says that she suffered an attack by Sarde.
“It was a system in which powerful men observed what was happening in the market, young actresses, and helped themselves with the complicity of our agents,” he says.
Changes but not enough
In recent years, since the beginning of the #MeToo movement in the United States, things have been changing and complaints have multiplied, but not enough.
For this reason, a hundred film professionals published a column today on the website of the evening newspaper Le Monde, to insist that “sexist and sexual violence is systemic, not exceptional.”
“Are they really listening to us?” ask the signatories, among whom are performers who have denounced being victims, such as Judith Godrèche, whose activism caused the National Assembly to create a commission of inquiry and who tomorrow will present a short film in Cannes titled ‘Moi, aussi’ (‘Me, too’) about sexual violence.
In their manifesto they ask for “a comprehensive law” against this type of violence and demand the departure of the president of the National Cinema Center (CNC), Dominique Boutonnat, accused of sexual assault.
