The appeal trial against Dominique Boutonnat, former director of the National Center for Cinema and Animated Images (CNC), convicted in June 2024 for sexual assault of his godson, will be held on October 27, the prosecutor’s office informed AFP on Tuesday night.
Figured then among the most powerful men in French cinema, the fifty-year-old was sentenced to three years in prison, including one year in Nanterre, for having sexually assaulted his godson in August 2020, a decision after which he announced his resignation.
He reaffirmed “his innocence” in an email after this conviction.
In its ruling, the court considered the complainant’s version “more credible” than that of the head of the CNC, who exercised “real influence” over his godson in “a context”, an alcoholic summer afternoon in Greece, “in which it was difficult to resist” the accused.
The court also considered that the explanations of Mr. Boutonnat, 55, “did not necessarily have rationality” and “could lead to confusion and suggest that, of the two”, he was “the one who had more interest in things not being said.”
Dominique Boutonnat was also sentenced to three years of prohibition from contact with the victim.
An emblematic case of #MeToo in French cinema
In 2019, actress Adèle Haenel’s revelations about sexual assaults committed between the ages of 12 and 14 by director Christophe Ruggia – for which he was convicted in the first instance – opened the way to #MeToo in French cinema.
Since then, several key filmmakers have been accused of sexual violence, including directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon.
Actress Judith Godrèche, 53, caused an explosion in France in early 2024 by denouncing rapes committed by these two men when she was a teenager. Investigations are ongoing and both men dispute the allegations.
Following the report of a parliamentary commission of inquiry, which made nearly 90 recommendations at the beginning of April to stop “the talent crushing machine” in culture, the CNC committed in May to strengthening its action on sexual and gender violence (SGBV) through several measures.
Source: BFM TV
