The president of the National Center for Cinema and Animated Images was sentenced this Friday, June 28, to three years in prison, including one year, for having sexually assaulted his godson. He immediately announced that he was leaving the management of the institution.
The president of the National Cinema Center (CNC), Dominique Boutonnat, was sentenced this Friday, June 28 by the Nanterre criminal court to three years in prison, including one year, for having sexually assaulted his godson in August 2020, a case for which associations requested his departure. The court found that the acts described at the June 14 hearing were “particularly far in the context of a sexual assault.”
In its judgment, the court considered the “more credible version of the complainant” than that of the boss of the CNC, who exercised – again according to this body – “a real ascendant” on his godson. Dominique Boutonnat, who will have to serve his one-year prison sentence at home with an electronic bracelet, was also given a three-year ban on contact with the victim.
Reaffirming its «innocence», Dominique Boutonnat has decided to appeal this judgment.
As soon as the court decision was known, he announced that he was leaving the head of the CNC, in a message addressed to the agents of the CNC that Liberation was able to consult. He estimates that, “although the alleged facts are unrelated to my professional situation, […] The publicity given to them may have created a particular context for the CNC, particularly in recent weeks. Deciding “to stop exercising” of its “functions from today”, Dominique Boutonnat has “warned” Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture. She confided “the interim presidency of the CNC to its current deputy general director, Olivier Henrard.”
Many associations fighting against sexist and sexual violence in the cinema sector had already requested its withdrawal, and had notably demonstrated in front of the CNC last May. “No one can anymore pretend they didn’t know,” had then hammered home Judith Godrèche, actress and director who became the spearhead of the #MeToo cinema movement.
