Luc Golfin

Spanton vs The French Police

On February 1, 2019, after three weeks of trial before the french criminal trial court, two police officers of the French Research and Intervention Brigade (BRI), Antoine Q and Nicolas R, were sentenced to seven years in prison for the rape of Émily S in the premises of the police station 36 Quai des Orfèvres. Neither her dress nor her blood alcohol level, or even her supposedly «sexual» attitude mentioned by the defense managed to minimize the seriousness of the facts: she did not consent to sexual intercourse. This conviction comes in a particular context of collective awareness on sexual violence. It is symptomatic of a change of mentalities. A symbolic, but equally universal story in the post #MeToo era.

Global Homophobia: The Roots of Hatred

This hard-hitting documentary reveals the abuse suffered by the gay community all over the world. France, despite having legalized gay marriage in 2013, has seen a rise in homophobic violence in recent years. In Tunisia, gay people can be sentenced to three years in prison, simply for their sexual orientation. When arrested by the police, they are subject to an “anal examination”, a humiliating procedure of no scientific value. Uganda is one of the 27 sub-Saharan countries in which homosexuality is repressed, with active state-encouragement of homophobia, and where homosexuality is punishable by lifetime imprisonment. In the United States, more progressive laws have not translated into progressive attitudes. 700,000 Americans, in a desperate attempt to change their sexual orientation, have gone to see therapists who claim to be able to “transform any homosexual into a heterosexual.”

Maléfique

Four prisoners discover a handwritten book of black magic in their cell, and decide to use it to escape.