A week before its kick-off, the Cannes Film Festival has made a last-minute addition with “Moi Aussi,” a short film directed by Judith Godreche.
The actor-turned-filmmaker made headlines in recent months for spearheading France’s new MeToo reckoning with her revelations that she had been preyed upon and groomed as a minor by directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon. Both directors have denied her allegations of sexual assault.
Godreche’s testimony has also led the French parliament to approve the creation of a commission whose task is to investigate abuse and sexual violence within France’s film and TV industry, as well as performing arts, advertising and fashion.
In her short film “Moi Aussi,” Godreche highlights the stories of victims of sexual violence. “These individual experiences add to her own, underscoring their sadly universal nature. The Festival de Cannes thus wishes to give resonance to these personal accounts,” said the festival in a statement.
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“Cinema looks at the world, and sometimes, calls it out. Through gestures or silences, words or glances. Three months ago, the resounding call for action and collective responsibility in the fight against persistent sexual abuse in French cinema was striking in its strength and courage, its clarity and assurance. And it went far beyond the boundaries of the Seventh Art to question the whole of society, which is struggling to open its eyes,” the festival added.
After speaking out about her experiences, Godreche said she received testimonies from a “crowd of victims, a reality that also represented France, so many stories from all social backgrounds and generations.”
“Then the question was, what I was going to do with them? What do you do when you’re overwhelmed by what you hear, by the sheer volume of testimonies?” she said. She went on to create a film based on intimate audio and visual landscape with personal accounts told in fragments from about 1,000 people.
“Moi Aussi” will bow during the opening ceremony of the Un Certain Regard section. The festival will also a free screening of the short film at the Cinéma de la Plage on May 15.
