Ulrich Seidl accused of exploiting minors filming “Sparta”


The Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidlhas been accused to explode to minors Romanians during the filming of his new film “Sparta”, which premieres on September 9 at the Toronto International Film Festival and is up for the Golden Shell at the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival.

According to an investigation by the weekly “Spiegel”, Seidl deliberately hid the minorsnon-professional actors between the ages of 9 and 16 at the time of the filmingand to his parents the fact that the film also addresses the issue of pedophilia.

Apparently during the filming they were confronted with alcoholism, violence and nudity without sufficient preparation or proper supervision, the publication indicates.

In addition, according to the weekly, the director violated the rules and guidelines in force for working with minors at the cinema.

Seidl denies the accusations and assures that the parents and minors they were briefed on the film’s content and told that the film is about an adult “who is attracted to children” and “assumes a sort of fatherly role.”

The drama about a man with pedophile tendencies who teaches martial arts to minors it was shot between 2018 and 2019 in northwestern Romania.

Seidl is one of the best-known contemporary German-language filmmakers with films such as “Hundstage” (“Dog Days”, 2001), “Import Export” (2007) and “Paradies: Liebe” (“Paradise: Love”, 2012), which were presented at festivals such as Venice, Cannes and Berlin.

Source-www.diariolibre.com