Carlos Vermut, the winner of the 2014 San Sebastián Golden Shell, has been accused of committing sexual abuse by three women. Two film employees and a student denounced the director for having taken advantage of his position, power and influence to have sexual relations with them. All acts were not consensual and had an ingredient of violence. The victims told the newspaper The country — which includes an extensive report on their testimonies — that, in all cases, the director took advantage of his position to force them to submit to aggressive acts.
Carlos Vermut is considered one of the most avant-garde directors of Spanish cinema. The filmmaker, who studied illustration at the Number Diez Art School in Madrid, dedicated a good part of his years in the artistic genre to drawing in the newspaper El Mundo. By 2006 he was already publishing his first comic, The red banyanwhich was multinominated andn the 25th Barcelona International Comic Fair. Already at that time, his taste for the perverse and the fearsome was an essential part of his work.
But it was in the following decade, in which the variety of themes of his interest became more concentrated on terror, suspense on the uncomfortable. From your collection of stories Psychosoda until Pluto BRB Nero, Maripili’s revenge, in the same universe as Álex de la Iglesia’s series. Thanks to the experience, he created the production company Psychosoda Films and released his first feature film diamond flash independently. The film, financed by the director himself, became an immediate success.
Then came his best-known works, Magical Girl, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2014. It was also presented in the official selection of the San Sebastián Film Festival. With its dark and twisted theme, the film caused a sensation and became an immediate success. In 2022, his second work would arrive, Manticorea grim work about a pedophile and the horror that surrounds his life. The film was screened at the Sitges International Film Festival, out of competition.
The accusation against Carlos Vermut
The events, which occurred between the month of May 2014 and the first days of February 2022, involve Vermut in three different attacks. According to testimonies, the director used brute force to subdue one of the women. Although she refused verbally and physically — the description of the events includes, as she expressed out loud, that she did not want to maintain relations and resisted the director — Vermut subdued her. Additionally, he tried to strangle her and forced her to have sex.
In the other two cases, the attacks include touching, violence and degrading treatment. Always with the result of non-consensual sexual relations, which the director forced through pressure, manipulation and use of physical violence. On at least two occasions, the testimonies of the injured parties describe how the filmmaker used promises of a better job to get closer to them. Which later led to situations of violence and rape that they suffered at the hands of the aggressor.
And what does the director respond?
Always according to El PAÍS, which interviewed Vermut on three occasions, he denies having been aware “of exercising violence against any woman.” The director, who admits to having practiced what he calls “rough sex,” insists that there were always situations in which he made sure that his partner gave his consent. In fact, one of the points he highlights is that he is aware of the importance of being sure that his partner approves of aggressive sexual practices.
However, he also suggests that he admits that it is likely that some of the women with whom he had relationships may have felt uncomfortable. To which she apologizes, explaining that she “has no way of knowing” that something like this has happened. To repeated questions about his behavior, the director has been open in admitting that his sex life has been “promiscuous and that he has had sex, which can lead to situations like this.” In any moment, Vermut accepts that the victims could have been coerced or that it could have been physical attacks in the midst of non-consensual relationships or situations.
A shady fact that only gets worse
The victims explained to the newspaper that they did not report what happened, for fear of losing their jobs or being left out of the world of Spanish cinema. Something that has also caused their names to be kept confidential to avoid reprisals or situations that compromise their integrity. With everything, The country claims to have sworn statements, in which They detail what happened point by point and correspond to a specific complaint of the acts of violence they suffered.