The artistic director of the Venice Film Festival, Alberto Barbera, has firmly defended his intention to invite three controversial directors to the festival, which will take place at the end of August. The three controversial directors include Roman Polanski, Woody Allen and Luc Besson.
In 2018, French director Luc Besson (64 years old) was accused of rape by actress Sand Van Roy. In 2019, after the incident was investigated twice by the authorities, both times, the court in France dismissed the lawsuit because of a lack of evidence.
French director Luc Besson (Photo: New York Post).
In June this year, director Besson was declared completely innocent by the French Supreme Court, which means that actress Van Roy, who has been pursuing litigation for the past few years, will no longer be able to continue suing director Besson.
Despite his innocence, Besson’s reputation in the film industry has been tarnished. In fact, anonymous women have come forward to say they were once Besson’s assistants, students, or employees, and have all suffered sexual harassment from the director.
Regarding the invitation to director Besson, Mr. Barbera said: "Luc Besson was recently confirmed by the court as being completely innocent. Similarly, director Woody Allen was also investigated twice in the late 1990s and was also confirmed by the investigating agency as being innocent. Regarding the two of them, I see no problem at all."
For American director Woody Allen (87 years old), his biggest scandal was when his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow (adopted with her one-time lover - actress Mia Farrow) accused him of sexual harassment in August 1992. At the time of the accusation, Dylan was only 7 years old.
American director Woody Allen (Photo: New York Post).
Director Woody Allen has always denied these allegations and asserted that what Dylan said was "manipulated" by her adoptive mother - actress Mia Farrow - as a way for her to "get revenge" on Allen, after discovering that he had a relationship with one of her adopted daughters - Soon-Yi Previn.
Investigations by the authorities later confirmed that Dylan was not sexually abused by Allen. However, over the years, Dylan Farrow has always maintained that he was abused by director Woody Allen, which has greatly affected Allen's name and image in the film industry as well as in the public.
Regarding Soon-Yi Previn - the adopted daughter of actress Mia Farrow, when Allen first started his relationship with Previn in 1992, Woody Allen was 57 years old, and Soon-Yi Previn was only 22 years old.
After their relationship was discovered, Allen and Previn decided to go public with their relationship. They later married in Venice, Italy, in 1997. They adopted two children and have remained together ever since.
Polish-French director Roman Polanski (Photo: New York Post).
Unlike directors Luc Besson and Woody Allen, French-Polish director Roman Polanski (89 years old) has admitted to rape. In 1977, when Polanski was 43 years old, he raped a 13-year-old girl.
Polanski initially pleaded guilty and believed he would be given leniency, but as he was about to receive his sentence, he fled the United States for France. Since then, Polanski has never returned to the United States, and to this day, he remains a fugitive from the United States. As soon as Polanski sets foot on American soil, his sentence will be carried out.
Regarding the case of director Polanski, Mr. Barbera commented: "Director Polanski has accepted responsibility for his actions. I think it is no longer appropriate to continue attacking Polanski after decades, there are many things that deserve more attention than that."
According to Mr. Barbera, currently, among the three controversial directors who received invitations from the Venice Film Festival organizing committee, director Woody Allen has confirmed that he will attend the event.
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