New list of secret abusers set to hit film industry at Cannes

As the Cannes film festival sets to begin this week, it is expected that new allegations about the abuse of women in the European entertainment industry will be made public.

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Rumours have been widespread in France about the existence of a “secret list of 10 men” that is said to include leading actors and directors, who have allegedly been abusive to women.

As reported in The Guardian, the list is being described as “explosive”, and was said to have been sent anonymously to the National Centre for Cinema in Paris along with other “leading finance companies in France.”

Both Le Figaro and Le Canard enchaîné claim that festival organisers have set up a crisis management team ahead of the allegations being made public.

On Wednesday (May 15), a short film about abuse in the industry is also set to premiere, Moi Aussi, and it is expected to further hold France’s art sector to account.

The film was made by Judith Godrèche who has been described as the French “ambassador of #MeToo” after she spoke out about assaults she claims to have experienced early in her career.

The film includes the words of many women working in the arts. “Suddenly, before me was a crowd of victims, a reality that also represented France, so many stories from all social backgrounds and generations,” Godrèche said of the piece (via The Guardian). “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?”

Last year, demonstrators on the Croisette opposed Johnny Depp’s appearance in the festival’s opening film, Jeanne du Barry following his trial with Amber Heard. The conflict between Depp and Heard was initiated in 2019, when Depp sued Heard for defamation, following a 2018 op-ed piece Heard had written for The Washington Post, claiming she was a victim of domestic abuse.

The Aquaman actress then countersued Depp the following year, and the case soon made headlines after it went to trial in 2022. In June of that year, a jury concluded that Heard had defamed Depp in the article.

In December, drawing the case to a close, it was reported that Heard would be made to pay her ex-husband $1million (£795,000), significantly less than the $8.35million (£6.64million) she was ordered to pay Depp in June.

In the UK libel case, Depp was found to have subjected Heard to violent domestic abuse. In the US case, however, her claims were found to not be true.

Previously, the director of the Cannes Film Festival, Thierry Fremaux, defended his decision to include Depp.

“I don’t know about the image of Johnny Depp in the US,” he said (via The Telegraph). “To tell you the truth, in my life, I only have one rule, it’s the freedom of thinking, and the freedom of speech and acting within a legal framework.”

“If Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a film, or the film was banned we wouldn’t be here talking about it,” he added. “If there’s one person in this world who didn’t find the least interest in this very publicised trial, it’s me. I don’t know what it’s about. I also care about Johnny Depp as an actor.”

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