Christophe Ruggia

Christophe Ruggia was born in Rueil-Malmaison, France.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

He is a graduate of the Free Conservatory of French Cinema (Conservatoire libre du cinéma français), and laureate of the Fondation Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet in 1993.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

In 1991, he conceived and produced a short film as part of a campaign against HIV/AIDS in the West Indies entitled, Sovè l'anmou. After L'Enfance Égarée (1993), a short film released in theaters in the program Four Urban Legends, he directed his first feature, {{ill|Le Gone du Chaâba (film)|lt=Le Gone du Chaâba|fr|Le Gone du Chaâba (film)|italic=y}} (1997), that was nominated at the César Awards.

He directed two other feature films, Les Diables (2002) and {{ill|Dans la tourmente|fr|Dans la tourmente (film, 2011)|italic=y}} (2011).

Ruggia became known for his numerous activist commitments, and, according to Libération, he was several times co-president or vice-president between 2003 and June 2019 of the {{ill|Société des réalisateurs de films|fr}} (SRF, "Society of Film Directors"), as well as co-chair for the period 2014–2015.{{cite web|title=Nouveau Conseil d'administration de la SRF pour 2014-2015|trans-title=New SRF Board of Directors for 2014-2015|url=https://www.afcinema.com/Nouveau-Conseil-d-administration-de-la-SRF-pour-2014-2015.html|publisher=French Society of Cinematographers|language=fr|date=28 June 2014}}

According to Libération in 2003, "he played a preponderant role in the coordination of the struggle" of recurring status entertainment workers.{{cite web|language=fr|first1=Cyril|last1=Simon|title=Qui est Christophe Ruggia, le cinéaste accusé d'attouchements par l'actrice Adèle Haenel ?|trans-title=Who is Christophe Ruggia, the filmmaker accused of touching by actress Adèle Haenel?|url=http://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/qui-est-christophe-ruggia-le-cineaste-accuse-par-adele-haenel-d-attouchements-04-11-2019-8186376.php|website=Le Parisien|date=4 November 2019|accessdate=9 February 2020}}

In 2005, shortly before the conviction of director Jean-Claude Brisseau for sexual harassment, he was one of the signatories of a petition in support of the latter launched by Les Inrockuptibles. This petition denounces "the way in which certain media have reported on the trial against him".{{cite web |first1=Lénaïg |last1=Bredoux |title=Noémie Kocher, victime de Brisseau: "On a tellement été niées" |trans-title=Noémie Kocher, victim of Brisseau: "We have been denied so much" |url=https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/201119/noemie-kocher-victime-de-brisseau-tellement-ete-niees |date=20 November 2019 |website=Mediapart |language=fr |accessdate= 21 November 2019}}

In 2015, he launched with other filmmakers "The Call of Calais", which denounces a disengagement of the French government from the problem of the Calais Jungle, where thousands of migrants lived in miserable conditions.{{cite web|language=fr|last1=Le Guen|first1=Erwana|title=Affaire Adèle Haenel: Christophe Ruggia, réalisateur militant et peu prolifique|trans-title=Adèle Haenel case: Christophe Ruggia, militant and not very prolific director|url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/cinema/affaire-adele-haenel-christophe-ruggia-realisateur-militant-et-peu-prolifique-20191107|website=Le Figaro|date=7 November 2019|accessdate=18 January 2020}}{{cite news |language=fr |title=" Appel de Calais " : quatre cinéastes parmi les " 800 ", en éclaireurs |trans-title="Call of Calais": four filmmakers among the "800", as scouts |newspaper=Le Monde |date=21 October 2015 |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/cinema/article/2015/10/21/dans-la-jungle-de-calais-quatre-cineastes-et-le-son-du-marteau_4793899_3476.html |accessdate=18 January 2020}}

He is the initiator of a support movement in France for the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, an opponent of the annexation of Crimea, who was sentenced by Russia in 2015 to twenty years in prison for "acts of terrorism" and "arms trafficking" during a trial described as "Stalinist" by Amnesty International. When the Ukrainian filmmaker did not eat for three months, Ruggia launched in September 2018 with a collective of filmmakers a rotating hunger strike that he organized in front of the Russian embassy in Paris.{{cite web|language=fr|title=Des cinéastes jeûnent pour faire libérer Oleg Sentsov|trans-title=Filmmakers rush to free Oleg Sentsov|url=https://www.telerama.fr/cinema/des-cineastes-jeunent-pour-faire-liberer-oleg-sentsov,n5807293.php|website=Télérama|date=14 September 2018|accessdate=5 February 2020}}{{cite web|language=fr|title="Oleg Sentsov devient une figure dissidente du XXIe siècle" : des intellectuels français se lancent à leur tour dans une grève de la faim tournante|trans-title="Oleg Sentsov has become a dissident figure of the 21st century": French intellectuals take turns embarking on a rotating hunger strike|url=https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/europe/manifestations-en-ukraine/crimee/oleg-sentsov-devient-une-figure-dissidente-du-21e-siecle-des-intellectuels-francais-se-lancent-a-leur-tour-dans-une-greve-de-lafaim-tournante_2942137.html|website=France info|date=16 September 2018|accessdate=5 February 2020}}{{cite web|language=fr|title=Christophe Ruggia : " Oleg Sentsov a son corps pour seule arme "|trans-title=Christophe Ruggia: "Oleg Sentsov has his body as his only weapon"|url=http://www.politis.fr/articles/2018/10/christophe-ruggia-oleg-sentsov-a-son-corps-pour-seule-arme-39470/|website=Politis|date=17 October 2018|accessdate=5 February 2020}}

In the 2010s, he signed numerous forums and petitions, defending in particular undocumented workers, high school students engaged against police violence, Cédric Herrou—known for his help to migrants—and human rights in Syria.{{cite web|language=fr|last1=Onana|first1=Sandra|title=Christophe Ruggia, mis en causes|trans-title=Christophe Ruggia, implicated|url=https://www.liberation.fr/france/2019/11/05/christophe-ruggia-mis-en-causes_1761772|website=Libération|date=5 November 2019|accessdate=6 February 2020}}

{{too long |section|date=February 2025}}

On 3 November 2019, an article appeared in Mediapart in which actress Adèle Haenel accused Ruggia of "touching" and "sexual harassment", when she was between twelve and fifteen years old.{{cite web|url=https://www.francetvinfo.fr/societe/harcelement-sexuel/lactrice-adele-haenel-accuse-le-realisateur-christophe-ruggia-d-attouchements-et-de-harcelement-sexuel_3687121.html|title=L'actrice Adèle Haenel accuse le réalisateur Christophe Ruggia d'"attouchements" et de "harcèlement sexuel"|trans-title=Actress Adèle Haenel accuses director Christophe Ruggia of "touching" and "sexual harassment"|website=France info|language=fr|date=3 November 2019|accessdate=6 November 2019}}{{cite web|language=fr|last1=Turchi|first1=Marine|title=#MeToo dans le cinéma : l'actrice Adèle Haenel brise un nouveau tabou|trans-title=#MeToo in the cinema: actress Adèle Haenel breaks a new taboo|url=https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/031119/metoo-dans-le-cinema-l-actrice-adele-haenel-brise-un-nouveau-tabou|website=Mediapart|date=3 November 2019|accessdate=6 November 2019 |author1-link=Marine Turchi }}{{cite web|language=fr|author=Mediapart staff|title=Violences sexuelles : Adèle Haenel veut que " les bourreaux se regardent en face "|trans-title=Sexual violence: Adèle Haenel wants "the executioners to look each other in the face"|url=https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/france/041119/violences-sexuelles-adele-haenel-veut-que-les-bourreaux-se-regardent-en-face|website=Mediapart|date=4 November 2019|accessdate=6 November 2019}} Ruggia refuted the accusations through his lawyers and in a right of reply published on Mediapart on 6 November 2019, writing: "I never had towards her, I repeat, the physical gestures and the behavior of sexual harassment of which she accuses me, but I made the mistake of playing Pygmalion with the misunderstandings and the obstacles that such a posture gives rise to, such as the hold on the actress he has directed and with which he dreamed of shooting again",{{cite web|language=fr|title=Accusations d'Adèle Haenel : "Je n'ai jamais eu à son égard les gestes physiques dont elle m'accuse", se défend le réalisateur Christophe Ruggia|trans-title=Accusations of Adèle Haenel: "I never had towards her the physical gestures of which she accuses me", defends the director Christophe Ruggia|url=https://www.francetvinfo.fr/societe/harcelement-sexuel/accusations-d-adele-haenel-je-nai-jamais-eu-a-son-egard-les-gestes-physiques-dont-elle-maccuse-se-defend-le-realisateur-christophe-ruggia_3691193.html|website=France info|date=6 November 2019|accessdate=12 November 2019}} and asking her for forgiveness, saying that his "adulation" for Haenel could have been "painful at times" for her, declaring: "At the time, I had not seen that my adulation and the hopes that I placed in her might have appeared to her, given her young age, as painful at times. If so, and if she can, I ask her to forgive me";{{cite web|language=fr|title=Harcèlement sexuel : Christophe Ruggia réagit aux accusations d'Adèle Haenel|trans-title=Sexual harassment: Christophe Ruggia reacts to the accusations of Adèle Haenel|url=https://www.lesinrocks.com/2019/11/06/actualite/societe/harcelement-sexuel-christophe-ruggia-reagit-aux-accusations-dadele-haenel/|website=Les Inrockuptibles|date=6 November 2019|accessdate=12 November 2019}} however, at the same time he denounced a "media pillory" against him.{{cite news |language=fr |title=Une enquête judiciaire pour " agressions sexuelles " ouverte après le témoignage d'Adèle Haenel |trans-title=A judicial inquiry for "sexual assault" opened after the testimony of Adèle Haenel |newspaper=Le Monde |date=6 November 2019 |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2019/11/06/le-parquet-de-paris-ouvre-une-enquete-pour-agressions-sexuelles-apres-les-revelations-d-adele-haenel_6018242_3224.html |accessdate=12 November 2019}} The Société des réalisateurs de films (SRF) launched a delisting procedure against him.{{cite web|language=fr|title=Accusations d'Adèle Haenel : le réalisateur Christophe Ruggia n'a pas été radié de la SRF|trans-title=Accusations of Adèle Haenel: director Christophe Ruggia has not been expelled from the SRF|url=https://www.lexpress.fr/culture/accusations-d-adele-haenel-le-realisateur-christophe-ruggia-n-a-pas-ete-radie-de-la-srf_2106281.html|website=L'Express|date=8 November 2019|accessdate=27 November 2019}}

Director Mona Achache, Ruggia's former romantic partner, testified for the investigation of Mediapart: "He had confided to me to have feelings of being in love for Adèle during the promotional tour of Les Diables." Achache claims that he told her about a precise instance of physical contact with Haenel, in which Ruggia "got his hand on the belly of Adèle and then ran it up to her chest, under a T-shirt", while they were watching a film together and Adèle was lying with her head on his knees. According to the claim, Ruggia, seeing fear in Haenel's eyes, and getting scared himself, then withdrew his hand. Achache stated that she remained silent because it "seemed unfair to her to speak for Adèle Haenel", and that afterwards she left Ruggia.{{cite web |first1=Daniel |last1=Sprimont |title=Adèle Haenel : "Les monstres ça n'existe pas. C'est notre société. C'est nous, nos amis, nos pères." |trans-title=Adèle Haenel: "There is no such thing as monsters. It's our society. It's us, our friends, our fathers." |url=https://www.franceinter.fr/societe/l-actrice-adele-haenel-accuse-le-realisateur-christophe-ruggia-d-attouchements-et-de-harcelement-sexuel |date=4 November 2019 |website=France Inter |language=fr |accessdate= 11 November 2019}}{{cite interview |last=Haenel |first=Adèle |subject-link=Adèle Haenel |interviewer=Marine Turchi |title=Adèle Haenel explique pourquoi elle sort du silence |trans-title=Adèle Haenel explains why she broke her silence |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFRPci2wK2Y |work=Mediapart |language=fr |date=4 November 2019 |accessdate=6 November 2019}} In an interview presented as a "counter-investigation" in Marianne, Ruggia claimed that the rupture between him and Achache took place after he found her with another man on a set and that it was he who left the apartment where they lived together. He adds to having confided to his partner, at the beginning of their relationship, his "fascination" for Haenel, but, according to him, "the rest is only pure invention". According to this "counter-investigation", Achache is still friends with Laetitia Cangioni. Cangioni had to quit the filming of Les Diables in 2001 due to "burnout" and she is presented by Marianne as being one of the four people who, during the investigation by Médiapart, claimed "to have felt something abnormal" in the relationship between Ruggia and Haenel during the shooting.{{cite web|title=Adèle Haenel, la contre-enquête|trans-title=Adèle Haenel, the counter-investigation|url=https://www.pressreader.com/france/marianne-magazine/20191220/283223035036439|website=Marianne|language=fr|date=20 December 2019|accessdate=25 December 2019}}

A preliminary investigation was opened by the Paris prosecutor's office for counts of sexual harassment and sexual assault "on a minor under 15 years by a person in authority", and has been entrusted to the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police.{{cite web|url=https://www.lapresse.ca/cinema/201911/06/01-5248557-allegations-de-harcelement-christophe-ruggia-fait-lobjet-dune-enquete.php|title=Allégations de harcèlement : Christophe Ruggia fait l'objet d'une enquête|trans-title=Allegations of harassment: Christophe Ruggia investigated|date=6 November 2019|accessdate=6 November 2019|website=La Presse|language=fr}} Following this, Haenel filed a complaint against Ruggia,{{cite web|language=fr|title=Adèle Haenel porte plainte contre le réalisateur Christophe Ruggia|trans-title=Adèle Haenel files complaint against director Christophe Ruggia|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2019/11/26/adele-haenel-porte-plainte-contre-le-realisateur-christophe-ruggia_6020604_3224.html|website=Le Monde|date=26 November 2019|accessdate=26 November 2019}} who was indicted on 16 January 2020 for "sexual assault on a 15-year-old minor by a person having authority over the victim".{{cite web|language=fr|title=Agression sexuelle : Christophe Ruggia, accusé par Adèle Haenel, placé en garde à vue|trans-title=Sexual assault: Christophe Ruggia, accused by Adèle Haenel, placed in police custody|url=http://www.leparisien.fr/faits-divers/attouchements-sexuels-christophe-ruggia-accuse-par-adele-haenel-place-en-garde-a-vue-14-01-2020-8235483.php|website=Le Parisien|date=14 January 2020|accessdate=14 January 2020}}{{cite news |language=fr |title=Accusé par Adèle Haenel, Christophe Ruggia est mis en examen pour " agressions sexuelles sur mineur de 15 ans " |trans-title=Accused by Adèle Haenel, Christophe Ruggia is indicted for "sexual assault on a minor of 15 years" |newspaper=Le Monde |date=16 January 2020 |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2020/01/16/christophe-ruggia-mis-en-examen-pour-agressions-sexuelles-sur-mineur-de-15-ans-par-personne-ayant-autorite_6026113_3224.html |accessdate=17 January 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20240208-prosecutors-demand-trial-for-french-director-over-alleged-abuse-of-actor|title=Prosecutors demand trial for French director over alleged abuse of actor|date=8 February 2024 |publisher=France24}}

In 2024, Ruggia went on trial for abusing Haenel. He faced a five-year prison sentence{{cite news |last1=Gozzi |first1=Laura |title=French actor Adèle Haenel confronts director Ruggia in sexual assault trial |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c80vynerd9po |access-date=27 December 2024 |work=www.bbc.com |date=11 December 2024}}{{cite news |last1=Goodfellow |first1=Melanie |title=Landmark French #MeToo Trial Over Sexual Assault Allegations Against Director Christophe Ruggia By Adèle Haenel Kicks Off In Paris |url=https://deadline.com/2024/12/trial-over-sexual-assault-allegations-christophe-ruggia-adele-haenel-1236198402/ |work=Deadline |date=9 December 2024}} On 3 February 2025, Ruggia was found guilty of sexual assault and sentenced to four years, of which two were suspended and two were to be spent under house arrest. He was also ordered to pay €15,000 in damages to Haenel and €20,000 for the treatment she underwent in several years of psychological therapy.{{cite news |last1=Willsher |first1=Kim |title=French director found guilty of sexual assault but not jailed in #MeToo trial |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/03/french-film-director-christophe-ruggia-found-guilty-of-sexual-assault-but-spared-jail-in-landmark-me-too-trial |access-date=3 February 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=3 February 2025}}

• 1992: Sové l'anmou, short film
• 1993: L'Enfance égarée, short film, later adapted into the feature film Les Diables
• 1997: {{ill|Le Gone du Chaâba (film)|lt=Le Gone du Chaâba|fr|Le Gone du Chaâba (film)|italic=y}}
• 2002: Les Diables
• 2011: {{ill|Dans la tourmente|fr|Dans la tourmente (film, 2011)|italic=y}}

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Category:1965 births

Category:Living people

Category:French film directors

Category:French male screenwriters