While "J'accuse" by Roman Polanski took the lead in the nominations during the first round of voting for the French cinema awards which will be presented on February 28, several feminist associations and personalities are calling not to vote for the director's film, recently charged with a new rape charge. On the initiative of Dare to Feminism !, these organizations sign an "open letter to cinema professionals voting for the Césars" which we publish exclusively.
"If raping is an art, give Polanski all the Caesars!"
“12 nominations for the Césars for the film J'accuse by Roman Polanski. 12, such as the number of women who accuse him of child molestation. Feminist associations and personalities will be there on February 28, 2020 at the Cesar ceremony to call to say NO to the celebration of a rapist who silences the victims.
Through these 12 nominations, the world of cinema gave frank and unconditional support to a rapist on the run, who admitted having drugged and raped a 13-year-old child and fled from American justice. Two years after #METOO, while in the United States Harvey Weinstein risks life imprisonment, in France, we cheer and celebrate a child molester rapist.
We cannot "separate the man from the artist" when Polanski himself, in the film's press kit, speaks of "false accusations, rotten legal procedures". No one is fooled. Polanski uses his notoriety, instrumentalizes the Dreyfus affair to rehabilitate himself and pose as a victim while he is an executioner.
To Alain Terzian, president of the Académie des Césars who declares that he refuses "moral positions": you are mistaken. It is about justice, not morality. Refusing to take a stand, celebrating an aggressor like Polanski, is supporting the system of impunity for male violence, and muzzling the words of the victims.
Let's listen to the victims, let's listen to Valentine Monnier, the 12th woman to report an extremely violent rape by Polanski, when she writes: “The reaction time is not worth forgetting, rape is a time bomb. […] Is it tenable, under the pretext of a film, under the guise of History, to hear someone say I accuse by the one who marked you with iron, when it is forbidden to you, the victim to accuse him? "
To you, the 4,313 cinema professionals who will vote for the Césars 2020:
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In 2018 at the Césars, you displayed in large numbers the white ribbon #MaintenantOnAgit against male violence. In 2019, you supported Adèle Haenel, her courage and her truth: depoliticizing reality is repoliticizing it for the benefit of the oppressor . No more hypocrisy. In 2020, you are responsible for taking a stand and refusing to decorate a child molester who poses as a victim. In 2020, do not agree with a sexist Academy of the Caesars which invisibilizes women too much for the benefit of the aggressors (only one woman nominated for the best film and the best achievement; and 55% of cinema students are students when only 6% of women are awarded the Césars).
Feminist associations call for a rally in front of the Salle Pleyel, where the César ceremony is held on February 28, 2020, at 6 p.m., and urge professionals to vote #METOO! "
The signatories: Dare Feminism! Family Planning, Feminist Collective Against Rape, Hélène Bidard (Assistant to the Mayor of Paris in charge of equality for women), International Association of Victims of Incest, Mie Kohiyama (President of MoiAussiAmnesie), World March of Women, Watchdogs, National Collective for Women's Rights, Family Abandonment - Zero Tolerance !, Feminist Network Breakups