Director Romans Polanski expelled from the French Film Academy / Article / LSM.lv

On Thursday, November 12, the Caesar Academy of the French Film Awards decided to exclude 87-year-old film director Roman Polanski from among its members in response to a month-long dispute over a director with a controversial reputation.

At the same time, 17 more members were expelled from the Academy, including Indochina, the director of Indochina, and Thomas Langman, the producer of the artist.

The 18 filmmakers had received Academy status for their awards, but in recent months, calls for Polanski to be expelled on charges of rape had become louder.

The Academy stated on its website that its leadership is now equal and democratic, as its general assembly consists of 164 elected members – 82 men and 82 women.

The members of the academy are chosen by more than 4,000 cinematographers.

The entire board of the academy resigned in February before “Caesar” was awarded, and one of the reasons was that Polansky’s film “J’accuse” (“The Officer and the Spy”) was nominated for the largest number of awards this year.

The inclusion of Polanski’s film in the shortlist of award nominees has been criticized by equality ministers, women’s organizations and some critics, but, as Caesar’s Academy explained, it should not be expected to take a stand on moral issues when judging films.

Polanski’s film, which had already won awards at the Venice Film Festival, was nominated for 12 “Caesars”. Polanski received the Best Director and Critics Award in Venice, while the film “J’accuse” in France attracted a lot of audience interest and commercial success, despite the protests of opponents.

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