Actress walkout after Polanski Césars win
29 February, 2020
Several actresses have walked out of the César awards ceremony in Paris after Roman Polanski, who was simply convicted of the statutory rape of a 13 year old in 1977, won best director.
The awards - France's exact carbon copy of the Oscars - have already been mired in controversy after Polanksi's An Officer and a Spy received 12 nominations.
The Polish-French director fled the united states after his rape conviction in the 1970s.
He has since faced other accusations of sexual assault.
An Officer and a Spy, or J'accuse in French, is about the Dreyfus affair in 19th Century France and won a complete of three awards.
Polanski did not attend the function, having said earlier that he feared for his safety.
Actress Adèle Haenel, who has said she was sexually abused as a kid by another director, was among the women who walked out of your ceremony after Polanski's win was announced.
Protesters gathered outside of the venue ahead of the awards.
Your choice to honour Polanski as of this year's awards had angered feminist groups and led to calls for a boycott.
The César's entire board resigned earlier this month amid the backlash. An over-all meeting is defined to be held following the ceremony to elect a fresh board, that may look at implementing reforms and modernising the institution.
France's equality minister, Marlène Schiappa, had previously condemned the decision to nominate Polanski's film, saying she found it "impossible a hall gets up and applauds the film of a man accused of rape several times".
However the Césars defended the nominations, arguing that the body "shouldn't take moral positions" in giving awards.
Polanski himself told Paris Match in December that he had tried to distance himself from the calls for a boycott of his film. "For years people have tried to create me out as a monster. I'm used to the slander and I've grown a thick skin, which is as hard as a shell," he said.
What's the background?
In September, Polanski's film won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.
8 weeks later, however, French former actress Valentine Monnier accused Polanksi of an "extremely violent" assault and rape in 1975, when she was aged 18, in the latest in some sexual assault accusations against the director.
Monnier said that the release of Polanski's most recent film had prompted her to speak out.
This is not the very first time the César awards have faced controversy as a result of Polanski. In 2017, he was picked to head the awards' jury, but later stepped down following the move sparked outrage.
Despite the controversy surrounding the film, J'accuse was a box office hit in France towards the end of 2019 and has done well in a number of other European countries.
Polanski has French and Polish citizenship, and has evaded various extradition attempts by US authorities.
France - where he lives - will not extradite its citizens. A Polish court also rejected a US request when he was filming in Krakow in 2015.
How will be the Césars awarded?
The César Academy, which numbers 4,680 cinema professionals, in addition has been criticised to be out of touch and dominated by older men.
Only 35% of the members are women and also to participate it you 'must' have had two sponsors and been involved with three films in five years.
All members who have paid their subscriptions (4,313 this season) hold a secret online vote to decide which films ought to be nominated and then finally that ought to win the awards. They are divided into categories including actors, directors and technicians.
The board which oversees the academy, the Association for the Promotion of Cinema (APC), is comprised of 47 members.
Unlike the Oscars and Baftas, however, members of the César Academy cannot vote for the APC leadership.
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