"Mme Bachelot is not a judge and the state censorship of the theater was abolished in 1906".
The output of the Minister of Culture, Monday morning, explaining
"regret"
the participation of Bertrand Cantat in a new production of the Théâtre de La Colline, goes badly.
Wajdi Mouawad has entrusted the former singer of Noir Désir with the task of composing the music for his show
Mère
, which will be premiered in November.
Fury on the side of the director, also director of the institution: Wajdi Mouawad reaffirmed his artistic choices and put his resignation in the balance.
Read also The presence of Bertrand Cantat in the credits of the show Wajdi Mouawad goes badly
The sling against the Minister of Culture gained momentum on Wednesday with the rise to the niche of the Observatory for the Freedom of Creation - made up of 15 cultural organizations, including the League of Human Rights, the League of education and the National Syndicate of Public Scenes.
In a letter addressed to the playwright, the organization is indignant at this position taken by the ministry.
"The role of the minister is to encourage art and artists, not to interfere in the programming of the scenes, even if they are national, as she has paradoxically reminded it"
, assert the signatories .
They underline that
"the freedoms of creation, of broadcasting and of programming are affirmed in articles 1 to 3 of the law of 2016 known as the law" freedom of creation ""
and worry
"that Mrs. Bachelot
[...]
takes the risk of encourage the protest movement ”
with regard to La Colline's programming on social networks. And between the lines to support feminist associations which accuse Wajdi Mouawad of paying the musician with public funds. A musician sentenced in 2003 to eight years in prison for beating his partner Marie Trintignant to death.
For the Observatory for the Freedom of Creation, Roselyne Bachelot
“shows herself incapable of distinguishing what comes under the necessary legal proceedings against the aggressors and the means to be implemented
[…]
so that men are no longer sexual predators, and the fact that a man who has served his sentence has the right to practice his profession ”
.
See also # MeToothéâtre: victims of gender-based and sexual violence engage headlong in the fight
The collaboration between Bertrand Cantat and the Théâtre de La Colline has revived another controversy. The director Jean-Pierre Baro is scheduled this season on the stage of the 20th arrondissement of Paris. What feminist collectives denounce. Targeted by a complaint for rape in 2018, while he was director of the Théâtre des Quartiers d'Ivry, Baro had resigned from his post in 2019, even though the case was dismissed.
The “affair” is part of a climate of freedom of speech concerning sexual violence in the theatrical environment.
Since a message posted on October 7 on Twitter by Marie Coquille-Chambel, a YouTuber specializing in theater, calling for testimonies from alleged victims, the MeTooThéâtre movement is gaining momentum on social networks.
Saturday, October 16, 300 people came to demonstrate in front of the Ministry of Culture, in order to assert their demands, gathered in a forum published by the newspaper
Liberation
.
