The Académie des César has decided to withdraw, for its next ceremony, the people implicated “for acts of violence”, in the wake of the Sofiane Bennacer affair, a young actor revealed in Les Amandiers indicted for rapes. “Out of respect for the victims (even presumed in the event of indictment or non-final conviction), it was decided not to highlight people who would be implicated by justice for acts of violence” , said the Academy on Monday in a press release. Concretely, if one of the nominees is indicted for acts of violence, in particular of a sexual or sexist nature, or convicted, he cannot be invited to the ceremony on February 25, nor any of the events associated with it. “This withdrawal will also exclude any speaking on behalf of this person during these same events – including if a César were to be awarded to him at the end of the second round of voting”, continues the Academy. This decision has was taken for the 2023 ceremony, following the indictment at the end of November for rape and violence against the spouse of actor Sofiane Bennacer (who is not named in the Academy press release). The one who held with Les Amandiers de Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi his first big role on the screen had been retained in the list of the thirty revelations of the Caesars, before being released urgently, when the legal proceedings against him were have been made public. See also on Konbini The Caesars had immediately considered modifying their rules. Work will take place in this direction in the first semester, “given the magnitude and complexity of these issues, from a moral and legal point of view”. For professionals of the 7th art, the accusations against Sofiane Bennacer had come to recall the memory of the Polanski affair, regularly overtaken by old accusations of sexual abuse, or even the indictments of actors like Gérard Depardieu or Ary Abittan for facts of rape, which they dispute.
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