Several screenwriters leave the Film Academy due to the presence of Luis María Ferrández, “signed by several women” for “sexually harassing them”

The ALMA screenwriters union released a statement this Wednesday announcing that over the last year, “more than half a dozen” screenwriters have resigned as members of the screenwriting specialty commission of the Film Academy and in some cases as members of the Board of Directors of the institution.

ALMA has supported its members in their decision and has explained in its press release that these resignations “are motivated by the presence on said commission of Luis María Ferrández, an academic who in 2021, as published, was pointed out by several women. for having taken advantage of his role as a filmmaker and teacher to sexually harass them.”

In the information published by this newspaper, the direct testimony of six women who recounted their experiences with the film producer and director was given. Four of them were his students, to whom he proposed dates with the excuse of providing them with scholarships or job support. Ferrández worked as a professor at the Francisco de Vitoria University, which carried out an internal investigation that concluded “without reasons” to remove him from teaching. However, Luis María Ferrández decided to leave this university.

ALMA’s decision to publish this statement has been accelerated by the new resignation, two weeks ago, of a member of the union of the Academy’s management bodies. “We consider that the Academy does not adequately represent the union,” union sources have told elDiario.es. This newspaper has contacted the Film Academy, which at the moment has not wanted to comment.

The union, according to those internal sources consulted, considers that, although the Academy “has made efforts to address these issues,” in the case of the presence of Luis María Ferrández on the script commission, “nothing has been done.” In the statement they explain that although this information “was brought to the attention of the Academy’s Board of Directors,” it “has not removed this person from his responsibilities.” A situation that has caused “a large group of screenwriters to have preferred to stop participating in the management bodies while Ferrández continues to be part of them.”

“The accusations are serious enough to take them seriously and evaluate them,” one of the people who resigned explained to elDiario.es. “In particular, in the world of teaching, special care must be taken because it is a place from which a certain authority is exercised.”

For this reason, ALMA alludes in its text to the union’s Good Governance Code, which requires paying “special attention to the teaching field and the training dynamics in which there are situations of superiority, authority, admiration or influence.”

ALMA supports the decision of its members, and considers that “any person who displays this type of behavior is not a worthy representative” of their profession. At the same time, they emphasize their “concern about events that require more forceful action.”