The director who won in 2006 for best screenplay allegedly forced a woman into intercourse for two days and then dropped her off at Brindisi airport.
Canadian Academy Award-winning director Paul Haggis was detained today in Ostuni (Brindisi) on charges of sexual violence and aggravated personal injury. According to what was communicated by the Public Prosecutor of Brindisi in a note, the director would have forced a young foreign woman to undergo sexual intercourse for two days in Ostuni where she participates in the Allora Fest event. According to what was reported by the investigators, the woman was then accompanied by the director to the Papola Casale airport in Brindisi and left there at the crack of dawn, despite her precarious physical and psychological conditions.
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At the airport, the alleged victim of the violence was assisted by the staff of Aeroporti di Puglia and the border police who, after having given her first aid, accompanied her to the offices of the mobile squad. The agents then took the woman to the Perrino hospital in Brindisi where the pink protocol for victims of violence was activated. Subsequently, the alleged victim formalized the complaint. The detention order also required the probative incident of the injured party aimed at crystallizing the statements made. The measure carried out derives – informs the Public Prosecutor – from a tight and articulated investigation activity, conducted by the mobile team, which collected evidence subjected to scrutiny by the judicial authority. According to what is learned, the director had known for some time the alleged victim who, after one of the episodes of violence, she would have been forced to be medicated.
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Born 70 years ago in London but a Canadian citizen, Paul Haggis won an Oscar in 2006 for his screenplay for the film Crash – physical contact. He was also the screenwriter of the film Million Dollar Baby directed by Clint Eastwood. The filmmaker was in Puglia, as mentioned for the then Ostuni fest: he should have interviewed and conversed with directors Edward Norton and Michael Nozik and had recently been in Salento because he had curated the short film for Mesagne nominated Capital for culture 2024. The director had already received similar allegations in the past: in 2017, press secretary Haleigh Breest said she was raped by Haggis after a premiere in 2013. Since 2018, four other women have come forward claiming to have been victims of harassment and assault sexual by the director. Haggis has always denied all allegations.
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June 19, 2022 (change June 19, 2022 | 19:39)
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