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Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture, announced it live from Cannes: from this summer, children and adolescents present on a film shoot will be accompanied by a “child manager”. A way to finally protect them from any influence?
The world of cinema must now be held accountable. After the testimonies of Judith Godrèche and other actresses on their filming conditions and the influence felt when they were still teenagers, it was urgent to show our credentials. It is in this context that the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati announced on May 18 the upcoming obligation of a child manager on each shoot, in order to protect the 4,000 minors who work on the sets each year.
A condition from this summer to receive help from the CNC
According to the minister, this manager would thus accompany minors on the sets and would also be the guarantor of their mental health. Concretely, without this manager, it will now be impossible to obtain financial assistance from the National Cinematography Center. A measure well received by cinema professionals.
“If we get to this point, it’s because there really was abuse before, so we really need to tighten the screws, and re-educate everyone in honesty and respect for others” commented Agathe Riedinger, director of the film Diamant Brut, on France Info.
As a reminder, until today, work by minors being prohibited in France, filming must be validated by a commission made up of a judge, a doctor and children’s services. When authorization is issued, a person accompanying the child may be present on set. These “coaches” are, however, not obligatory.
Real position or announcement effect?
For her part, actress Judith Godrèche remains on her guard. The one who personally pleaded before the Senate last February for “impose a neutral referent on filming with a minor”independent of production and trained, and does not “never leave a child alone on set” fears an announcement “opportunistic”.
“The associations have been working on a children’s supervision charter for a long time and officially. So the minister should know.”, she emphasizes. However, according to her, these associations were not consulted before the minister’s announcement.
“We hope that it is not opportunistic and that it is not to calm the spirits after the demonstrations against Dominique Boutonnat”(the president of the CNC, Editor’s note) was worried.
The quick announcement also does not give details on the training of these representatives, which the actress is surprised by. “I would like to know who she discussed it with because it is work that takes time. A lot of things have to be implemented and a lot of conversations have to take place to create this support for children”she insists.