Johnny Depp's film festival awards insulting, domestic abuse: Charity organizations
The Women's Aid Federation said Johnny Depp winning the San Sebastian film festival award is disrespectful to abuse survivors
A leading domestic abuse charity has criticised two major European film festivals for deciding to honour Johnny Depp at their forthcoming events.
Johnny Depp will be feted at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival later this month and is also due to receive the San Sebastian Film Festival's Donostia award in September, reports BBC.
The Women's Aid Federation said this was disrespectful to abuse survivors.
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Solace Women's Aid, another charity that is one of its member organisations, said such awards were "misleading" and "insulting".
Spain's leading group of women filmmakers also condemned the San Sebastian film festival's decision to award Johnny Depp its highest honour.
The Spanish filmmakers stated that honouring the actor gave the international event a bad name after a British judge ruled last year that allegations of domestic violence against the actor were "substantially correct."
Cristina Andreu, the President of Spain's Association of Female Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media, said she was "very surprised" by the decision, announced Monday, to award Depp the Donostia Award at the festival's 69th edition next month. The award is the event's top prize and aims to honour lifetime achievement.
"This speaks very badly of the festival and its leadership, and transmits a terrible message to the public: 'It doesn't matter if you are an abuser as long as you are a good actor'," Andreu told The Associated Press.
The San Sebastian Film Festival in northern Spain announced on Monday that Depp would receive its "highest honorary award" on 22 September.
It hailed Depp as "one of contemporary cinema's most talented and versatile actors" with a reputation for playing "almost always misfits".
On Tuesday, the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic said it would pay its own tribute to the actor's "extensive career and lasting legacy".
It described him as a "multifaceted artist" and "icon of the contemporary cinema" whom it was "thrilled" to honour at the festival, which runs from 20 to 28 August.
