The director of the Deauville film festival withdrawn after accusations of harassment and sexual assault

Bruno Barde is targeted by the testimonies of seven collaborators in an investigation published Wednesday by Mediapart.

Bruno Barde was “exemption” from his position as director of the Deauville American Film Festival (Calvados), announced Hopscotch, the group which oversees the event, Thursday June 13. He is the target of accusations of harassment and sexual assault from seven employees, for acts committed between 2014 and 2023, according to a Mediapart investigation published on Wednesday.

The Hopscotch communications group told AFP it was taking “these testimonies take these testimonies very seriously” against the general director of its subsidiary Public Système Cinéma, which notably organizes festivals. He claims that“no reports” did not have “was reported neither to the group’s human resources teams nor to harassment referents”.

Bruno Barde “was officially exempted from activity while the necessary investigations were carried out”, adds Hopscotch, who assures that he will not be director this year of the Deauville American Cinema Festival, which will celebrate its 50th edition. He is also director of the Gérardmer International Fantastic Film Festival (Vosges) and the Reims Police Film Festival (Marne), the 2024 editions of which have already taken place.

Hopscotch says he decided to “mandate an independent organization to set up a system for listening and supporting employees”. A new management of Public Système Cinéma “is confirmed and will be announced in the coming days.”

The seven women who testified anonymously in the Mediapart investigation mentioned sexist remarks, a proposal for a bath with massage and gestures that amounted to sexual assault, including an attempt to kiss a colleague or a hand slipped under the t -shirt of another young woman without her consent.

“If it is true that I have a Latin temperament, that I am an aesthete, who is perhaps too easy to compliment, I have never made a remark with a sexual connotation, nor had the slightest gesture or incitement to sexual or sexist character towards my colleagues”Bruno Barde defended himself to Mediapart. “And, if anyone has ever felt offended, I sincerely apologize,” he added.