The idea comes weeks after allegations were made against Spanish film-makers Carlos Vermut and Armando Ravelo. Vermut was accused of sexual violence and Ravelo of making sexual advances to a minor.
ADVERTISEMENTThe recent echoes of the first #MeToo case in Spanish cinema are getting louder.
The latest organisation to make noise is Spain's Ministry of Culture, which has announced the creation of a unit for "awareness and prevention of sexist violence in the cultural sector".
The announcement comes after the country's film industry was criticised for its initial silence and contradictions, for being very cautious in its statements regarding the allegations of sexual violence against filmmaker Carlos Vermut, while on other occasions the industry served as a platform to speak out against war or other issues such as forced evictions.
It was only last Saturday, during the Goya Awards gala - the most important in the industry - that Spanish cinema was at its most reactionary.
"We want to tell the victims that they are not alone. (Sexual violence) is over here," said actress and singer Ana Belén, one of the gala's presenters.
Vermut, the Spanish filmmaker who won the Golden Shell in San Sebastian for Magical Girl, was accused of sexual violence last month by two women, one works in the audiovisual industry and the other is a film student.
In an investigation published by El País, the women accused the director of using his fame and position in the film industry to engage in violent sexual relations to which they never consented.
One of the women claimed that the Spanish director choked her, and that at the time she only felt that something was wrong, but only realised later that she had been sexually assaulted.
What will change with the new unit against gender violence?
"We have to be very aware that we are talking about structural violence that requires the commitment of everyone, including public institutions," said Pedro Sanchez, the Spanish Prime Minister, during the Goya Awards.
Little is known about the new unit to combat male violence in the sector, neither its structure, nor the budget that will be allocated to it, nor the professionals who will make up the unit.
The only thing that is known is the little that the Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, has revealed: "It will support any denunciation of sexual abuse or any form of male violence".
"We must respond to a very serious problem," Urtasun told Spanish media.
The unit will have two objectives: to help victims of gender-based violence in the sector and to produce reports to identify what is wrong in the sector in order to advise women working in it.
"The intention is for culture to be a safe space for all women," says the statement published by the ministry itself.
The cabinet has assured that it will also help women who have not reported their situation to the police, such as the three who denounced filmmaker Carlos Vermut in El País.
Euronews Culture contacted the Ministry of Culture for more details about the unit or an expected launch date, but did not receive a response.
Armando Ravelo admitted his "unethical behaviour", said he understood it would end his career and called on men to "review their behaviour".
