The issue of sexual abuse in the world of cinema marked the Goya ceremony, the high mass of Spanish cinema, celebrated Saturday evening in Valladolid in Castile and Leon. Both stars and representatives of the political sphere supported this Spanish cinema meetoo, while two directors are accused of having abused young actresses.
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With our correspondent in Madrid, Diane Cambon
The Goya ceremony, the annual high mass of Spanish cinema, equivalent to the French Caesars, dedicated the film on Saturday The Snow Circleat a time when the sector is shaken by accusations of sexual violence against a figure of independent cinema.
Directed by Juan Antonio Bayona (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The Impossible), the feature film, which received the prize for best film and best director, traces the odyssey of the young players of an amateur Uruguayan rugby team, whose plane crashed in the Andes in 1972 while traveling to Chile. The ceremony, which also awarded the prize for best European film to the French film Anatomy of a fall and an honorary award to American actress Sigourney Weaver, was marked by the sex scandal affecting Spain.
“ Enough of these abuses! »
While on the red carpet of the great theater of Valladolid the stars of Spanish cinema such as the director Pedro Almodovar or his favorite actress Penelope Cruz paraded, the question of macho violence in the cinema sector was at the center of the debate. “ It is urgent that we all demand guarantees of equality, and this means condemning all abuse and sexual violence “, declared actress and singer Ana Belén at the opening.
Among the moviegoers who walked the carpet of the stars, the head of the Spanish government, the socialist Pedro Sanchez, who took advantage of the spotlight to recall his fight against “ this scourge of society » : « Violence against women is structural violence. I agree with what the presenters of the ceremony said: they want a healthy film industry, because they want a healthy society. Putting an end to this structural violence is primarily the responsibility of men. This is a civil, citizen commitment. »
The vice-president of the government and Minister of Labor Yolanda Diaz showed solidarity with the actresses: “ I take advantage of being here to show my solidarity with all the women victims and I will say it once again, in our country, enough of this abuse! We will take all essential measures to prevent, as the Minister of Culture said, to support and continue to denounce abuses in the cinema and in the culture of our country. »
A figure of independent cinema
This #MeToo in Spanish cinema broke out at the end of January with the publication of a daily investigation El País in which three women accused filmmaker Carlos Vermut of sexual violence. A figure of independent cinema, Carlos Vermut, whose real name is Carlos López del Rey, won the most prestigious prize at the San Sebastian festival in 2014, a major event for Spanish-speaking cinema, for his second feature film, The Girl of Fire, critically acclaimed. The accusations against him caused a wave of indignation in Spain, a country at the forefront in the fight against gender violence. Vermut stated in El País not to be ” aware of having committed sexual violence against a woman ”, but admitted to having “ strangled people but in a consensual manner “.
In the wake of this affair, another Spanish director, Armando Ravelo, was accused by an artist of having “ incited » to have sex when she was only 14 years old.
The Ministry of Culture announced the creation of a unit specializing in the care of victims of sexist violence in the cultural sector and in particular in the cinema, where speech is just beginning to be freed.
Since the start of the #MeToo movement in 2017, figures from the world of cinema have been accused of sexual violence in many countries, like in France the actor Gérard Depardieu and, this week, the filmmakers Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon, against which the actress Judith Godrèche filed a complaint.
(With AFP)