After six months of often-heated hearings, a special committee of France’s National Assembly tasked with probing sexual assault within the film and cultural industry published its findings on Wednesday (April 9), complete with 86 recommendations to better protect artists moving forward.
Following some 85 hearings, more than 118 hours of discussions with 350 professionals, plus hundreds of testimonials received since November, the 313-page report urges radical change in the film industry, including a ban on the sexualisation of minors on screen and more strict regulations concerning the casting process and intimate scenes on set.
In October, the government body voted unanimously to launch the commission, chaired by economist and politician Sandrine Rousseau. The initiative was spearheaded by actress/filmmaker Judith Godrèche who has become a key figure in the French #MeToo movement.
The committee has since summoned major industry figures including Cannes Film Festival’s president Iris Knobloch and general delegate Thierry Fremaux, producers Hugo Selignac, Dimitri Rassam, François Kraus and Olivier Delbosc, Pathe Films president Ardavan Safae, and actors including Jean Dujardin, Gilles Lellouche, Juliette Binoche and Noémie Merlant. Some of the testimonies have been made public, while others were conducted behind closed doors.
“Moral, sexist, and sexual violence in the cultural sector is systemic, endemic, and persistent,” read a conclusion from Rousseau in the report, which blasted the French industry as a “veritable machine for crushing talent”.
The report added: “No one will be able to say they didn’t know, no one will be able to refuse to move forward and take action. Turning a blind eye is tantamount to complicity.”
Addressing media after delivering the report at the national assembly, Rousseau referenced Cannes: “The festival must be the place for this change in mentality, where we say loud and clear, institutionally but also in the glitter and red carpets, at the microphone and on the podium, that we finally want, all of us, all the players, all the levels of these professions, for things to change, because this is not acceptable.”
The report comes in the wake of last month’s sexual assault trial for actor Gerard Depardieu, the most high-profile French industry figure to face criminal accusations.
Godrèche spoke out following the report’s publication, telling local media its conclusions are “impressive and rather terrifying,” but adding: “I’m not surprised because I didn’t expect anything better.”
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