(Paris) A short film by French actress and director Judith Godrèche, who has become a spearhead in the fight against sexual violence in French cinema, will be presented on May 15 at the Cannes Film Festival, we learned on Tuesday from organizers.
The world of French cinema has been hit by a succession of accusations of sexual violence from actresses and actors in recent months.
Titled Me too, this film “highlights the stories of victims of sexual violence. So many individual experiences which add to their own and underline their sadly universal character”, indicated the Cannes Festival which “wishes to make these testimonies resonate”.
Lasting 17 minutes, this short film was produced after Judith Godrèche’s punchy speech during the César ceremony, where she denounced the “level of impunity, denial and privilege” of the middle of the cinema concerning sexual violence.
“Exactly one month after this salutary speech, on March 23, 2024, Judith Godrèche seized the two means of expression that she knows best – writing and cinema – and brought together women and men who testified to their traumatic experience,” explains the Cannes Film Festival.
The actress launched a call for testimonials on Instagram. “Then the question arose what I was going to do with it. What do we do when we are overwhelmed by what we hear, by the quantity of testimonies? », Confides the actress, quoted in a press release from the Festival.
Without revealing the content of the short film, the Festival lets us guess that it will be about music and collective dance, in which a thousand women and men will participate.
Me too will be presented during the opening ceremony of the Un certain regard section as well as at the Cinéma de la Plage on May 15.
Judith Godrèche, 52, filed a complaint at the beginning of the year against directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon for rape and sexual and physical violence which dates back to her adolescence.
These accusations, for acts that the latter deny, and the positions taken by Judith Godrèche have led to a new movement to free the voices of victims in the cinema industry, seven years after the birth of the #metoo movement in Hollywood.
The National Assembly approved last week the creation of a commission of inquiry into “abuses and violence” in cinema, audiovisual, performing arts, fashion and advertising, giving substance to a request from the ‘actress.
On the legal front, a preliminary investigation was opened in Paris against the two directors.