Austrian film director Ulrich Seidl will not travel to San Sebastián on Sunday for the world premiere of his controversial new film “Sparta”. His presence could overshadow the reception of the work, which should speak for itself, Seidl said Saturday morning.
“The first impulse to come to San Sebastián (location of the film festival, ed.) was not to abandon the film that my team and I have been working on for so many years. However, I realized that my presence at the premiere could overshadow the film’s reception (…)”, said the 69-year-old. At the same time, he thanked festival director José Luis Rebordinos on Saturday morning, who, despite the pressure of the media and major turbulence had assisted “Sparta.” That means a lot to Seidl.
Festival director: “One of Seidl’s best works”
Rebordinos recently described the film as “one of Seidl’s best works ever”. He hopes that with the premiere, “all debates about the shooting will finally fade into the background”. “Anything that could disturb or shock the viewer is out of the picture. It becomes dangerous when, through media pressure and mere accusations without evidence, film festivals adopt the principle of guilt and not the principle of innocence.”
In “Sparta”, which celebrates its world premiere in the competition on Sunday evening, Georg Friedrich plays a man with pedophile tendencies. As things stand now, the actor shouldn’t be traveling to the film festival either.
As reported, investigations by the German news magazine “Der Spiegel” raised allegations that Seidl had confronted the underage Romanian amateur actors and actresses with scenes related to alcoholism, violence and nudity without adequate care and information for the families.
Articles about this recently appeared in the Austrian weekly magazines “Falter” and “profil”. Seidl dismissed the charges and announced legal action.
Source: Krone
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
