By Angela Charlton & Oleg Cetinic
PARIS (AP) --Filmmaker Roman Polanski is skipping the awards ceremony for France's equivalent of the Oscars — where his latest movie leads this year's nominations — because of protests prompted by a new rape accusation against him.
Women's rights activists have called for a boycott of Friday's Cesars ceremony in Paris, and plastered anti-Polanski banners and graffiti at the event venue and the Cesar academy headquarters.
The entire male-dominated leadership of the Cesars stepped down recently amid a spat over its byzantine decision-making structure and over how to deal with the Polanski problem.
In a statement Thursday provided to The Associated Press, the Paris-based Polanski said the ceremony was turning into a "public lynching." Addressing the new accusation against him and other allegations over the years, he said: "Fantasies of unhealthy minds are now treated as proven facts."
"We know ahead of time how this evening will play out," Polanski wrote in his statement.
Polanski is still wanted in the United States decades after he was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977 and then fled.
Last year, a Frenchwoman came forward to accuse Polanski of raping her in 1975 in his Swiss chalet when she was 18. Polanski denied it, and the allegations are too old for an investigation.
But the accusation put the director under fresh scrutiny in France, where he has long been revered as one of the country's premier filmmakers despite the outstanding rape charge in the U.S. Other accusations have also emerged.
Polanski's "An Officer and a Spy," about anti-Semitic persecution of French army Capt. Alfred Dreyfus and his wrongful treason conviction in the 1890s, is up for multiple Cesars on Friday.
Polanski, who survived the Holocaust in Poland as a child, said this year's awards "have no place for a film whose subject is defending truth and fighting injustice, blind hate and anti-Semitism."
Polanski, 86, said he decided not to attend the ceremony to protect his colleagues and his wife and children.
However, critics say he is using the film to paint himself as a victim of unfair persecution.
"The parallel that is made between the anti-Semites who attacked Dreyfus and feminists of today who fight for equality between men and woman and the end of impunity for sexual offenses is simply disgusting," Celine Piques, of activist group Osez le Feminisme, told The AP.
Fellow activists painted banners ahead of a demonstration planned outside the Cesars.
"Roman Polanski is not a victim, he is not a persecuted man, he is just a rapist, a child rapist, who is protected by the whole world of cinema in France," she said.
"And this is completely crazy, two years after #MeToo, that while in the U.S. (Hollywood producer Harvey) Weinstein has been found guilty of rape and sexual assault in France, we celebrate Roman Polanski, who is accused of child rape," she added.
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More