The new director of the Deauville American Film Festival, Aude Hesbert, announced in La Tribune Dimanche that trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf is no longer part of the jury, due to “unease within the team” linked to the #MeToo wave.
“It is not up to me to judge, punish or condemn, but the presence of Ibrahim Maalouf was becoming more and more problematic for the smooth and peaceful running of a festival that is celebrating its 50th anniversary, which is also my first edition and which I wish to carry with clarity and transparency,” she declared in an interview with the newspaper, before this edition from September 6 to 15.
Fanny Colin, the musician’s lawyer, responded by saying that the festival was “sacrificing an innocent person.” Ibrahim Maalouf had been accused several years ago of sexual assault on a minor, a case in which he was acquitted in 2020.
A “difficult” but assumed decision
Aude Hesbert reports that “when the composition of the jury was announced on August 8, there were many reactions on social networks and in the media, a malaise set in among the team, already hurt by the previous affair.”
She has in fact succeeded Bruno Barde as head of the festival, who stepped back after accusations of sexual assault in Mediapart. Aude Hesbert has therefore “taken the difficult decision”, which she “will assume until the end, to exclude Ibrahim Maalouf from the jury”.
The director also indicates that she will “extend the work on cinephilia” led by Bruno Barde, “while bringing her DNA as well as a new form of governance.”
“At the beginning of the festival, we will publish a charter against sexist and sexual violence to avoid all abuses of power, even beyond MeToo. We will be extremely vigilant on these subjects in the future,” she promises.