Vermouth and Ravelo cases bring Spanish #MeToo to light: other harassment complaints in cinema

Carlos Vemut

three women According to an investigation published by ‘El País’ last Friday, which included the affidavits of the victims, it was claimed that they were subjected to ‘sexual violence’ by the director of the movie ‘The Magical Girl’. The incidents occurred between May 2014 and February 2022, and the filmmaker allegedly took advantage of his recognition and position in cinema to engage in violent sexual relations to which he did not consent.

In the same environment, the director and screenwriter, who won the San Sebastián Golden Oyster award in 2014, responded to the accusations by admitting that he had “rough sex” but “always in a consensual way.”

Armando Ravelo

In response to complaint against Canarian artist Vermut Koset Quintana accused film director Armando Ravelo (‘Once Upon a Time in the Canary Islands’, 2023; ‘The Skin of the Volcano’, 2021) of encouraging her to have sex, and offering drugs and porn When I was 14 years old.

Some facts that the producer admitted to EFE this Monday and announced his retirement from the cinema a short time later. Ravelo said in 2014, when he was 31 years old, “I was very drunk and thought I was going unpunished.” This, along with his apparent sex addiction, which he claims to have overcome after going to therapy, led him to this situation. “causing a lot of harm to a lot of women” with whom he “had long-term relationships”.

Javier Perez Santana

The first criminal complaint following #MeToo occurred last year. Filmmaker Javier Pérez Santana (‘My emptiness and I’, 2022), allegedly sexual assault to an actor during the party after the premiere celebration. 2023 Feroz Awards. The producer was arrested for allegedly being the perpetrator of the attacks because he was still at the workplace where the incidents took place when the Local Police teams arrived. The woman reported that the detainee touched and harassed her.

Theater Institute

‘Ara’ newspaper conducted an investigation in which about a dozen teachers participated. Theater Institute They would have been involved in cases of sexual harassment and abuse of power that allegedly occurred at the institution. The media named only three of the professors: Joan Ollé, Jorge Vera and Berty Tovías. Only the first continued to serve as professor until the present (died in August 202); the other two had already retired. According to testimony collected in the report, a number of teachers at the center had “abused their power” and made derogatory and sexually explicit comments to their students over decades.

Luis Maria Ferrandez

In 2021, ‘eldiario.es’ published the following statements: six women those who describe their experiences with film producer and director Luis María Ferrández (‘The night an intern met Emiliano Revilla’, 2016, ‘The wounded screen’, 2014). Four of them were students to whom he offered dates under the pretext of making things easier. scholarship or job support. “He took advantage of me, I told him I didn’t want to have sex, I’ve been trying to justify it until now,” one of them said.

Lleida Theater Class

Antonio Gómez, the former director of the Aula de Teatre de Lleida, is being investigated for an ongoing alleged sexual abuse crime. in 2018 nine students He reported suffering from this center Sexual abuse between 2001 and 2008When he was between the ages of 13 and 16, however, these alleged crimes would have expired. These events were made visible in the documentary.Groc sostre‘, regarding Isabel Coixet.

Thanks to this production, last October, the Prosecutor’s Office filed a complaint against Gómez for ongoing sexual abuse, following the testimony of two new complainants. The victims claimed that they were victimized by the touching during their studies and because the other two former principals knew the facts and remained silent.

The case of Maribel Verdú

In 2022, actress Maribel Verdú told the program ‘Lo de Évole’ that there were abuses in the profession. “There are people inside and outside our profession who abuse their power,” she said. Translator claimed he was in pain that he was molested and abused as a child and his parents took him to court. “It happened to me when I was a child, I reported it and went to court. My mother and father went to court for me, of course, because I was a minor. I dared, but I also understand those who did not dare.” he explained.

Anonymous references

There are some testimonies from actresses who declared themselves victims of harassment in the industry, but without naming them. One of the first to speak out after #MeToo Leticia DoleraIn 2017, she published an article on ‘eldiario.es’ describing the harassment and touching she suffered from a director at the beginning of her career, when she was 18, and the harassment and touching she experienced on another shoot ten years later. The actor condemned the abuses throughout his professional career and the silent complicity of some of his colleagues.

In the same year, actresses Aitana Sánchez Gijón, Carla Hidalgo or Maru Valdivieso They described their experiences in a magazine. President of the Spanish Film Academy and Oscar winner as costume designer. Yvonne BlakeShe revealed that a producer raped her when she was 24 years old.

Gerard Depardieu

According to ‘La Vanguardia’, a Spanish journalist accused French actor Gérard Depardieu of rape last December. The events occurred in 1995. Ruth BazaThe complainant was 23 years old and went to Paris to be interviewed by the translator of the magazine ‘Cinemanía’ on the occasion of the premiere of the film ‘Colonel Chabert’.

Depardieu, who was accused by the French justice system of sexual assault against actress Charlotte Arnould and filed more than a dozen public complaints, would kiss the victim on her face and neck and – relaying the information – “got into her clothes with her fingersUntil she puts her hand on her crotch and also on her breasts. The journalist remained in shock until April last year and experienced involuntary forgetfulness of what was happening.