Rafa Roche, digital image technician in films and series, has been expelled as a teacher from the Madrid film school ECAM for his involvement in “a recent case of sexual harassment on a film set outside the school.” The film school published a statement this Wednesday in which his name was not mentioned but Roche has recognized it and has apologized for what happened” with a message on your Instagram account.
Roche published the message last Monday, before the school made public its decision to no longer have him as a collaborator. It has been the newspaper Público who has advanced that the dismissed teacher was Rafa Roche, due to a testimony published on networks by audiovisual technician Inma Castañón.
The story became public last Sunday when Castañón opened an Instagram profile in which he published a screenshot of an episode of the video podcast. Pre-Lighting, dedicated to photography direction. In chapter six, which has been deleted from all platforms, Roche talks about his work as a digital imaging technician (DIT) in Víctor Erice’s latest film, Close your eyes. “It occurred to me to throw my hat in the ring. video assist and he reported me,” Castañón quotes Roche in the interview in that episode.
“This video has been circulating around for a week, I’m not going to reveal any mystery, I’m the one.” video assist of which he speaks. It’s as easy as going to IMDB and seeing my name,” says the technician.
Castañón recounts the circumstances of the filming, in which Rafa Roche was a digital image technician: “He was almost 30 years older than me, we had only been filming for a week and he sent me some disgusting messages in which he invited me to get into his bed, among other things. things”. “That’s not a pushover,” he adds and points out that his position was “of power” compared to his.
According to Castañón, he did not report it but brought it to the attention of his superiors. They established a meeting with her for which “witnesses were asked so that there were no misunderstandings but with him there were none.” The video assistant claims that he got “a fight.” “They told me that if I felt very uncomfortable they would fire me but to keep in mind that if that happened the project would stop” until they found another director of photography. “They didn’t kick him out, I lived with this for the seven weeks of filming and they made me feel guilty in many ways,” he concludes.
In his message apologizing, Roche points out that his “action” is “neither ethical nor defensible.” “In therapy I have learned to take responsibility for my actions,” he adds. “During filming I apologized to my partner personally and now I want to do it publicly,” he says.
“After more than 45 years of career, it is my first and only stain on my professional history. I regret and am ashamed of it, but it is something I did at a time in my life when I was not well. Unfortunately, I am an alcoholic and at that time I was at the height of the illness,” writes the cinematographer. “My last apologies are addressed to all my colleagues for the damage caused to the profession and its image. Of course also to all the women who work in this sector.” elDiario.es has tried to contact those involved, including the film’s producer, without success.
Roche specializes in digital cinema and stereoscopy and is “one of the relevant figures of digital cinema in Spain”, according to list of teachers of the ECAM. For its part, this prestigious film school belonging to the Community of Madrid has stated that it “manifestly rejects any act of abuse of power and sexist behavior in the industry and in the school.” “We do not tolerate these behaviors in our teaching staff and the same measures will be taken in cases that may occur in the future as soon as the school is aware of them,” they add, noting that they have a protocol for cases of harassment that allows complaints to be filed. through different channels.
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