In the new issue of the news magazine “profil”, some employees who were involved in the preparations or shooting of Ulrich Seidl’s film “Sparta” expressed exculpation and rejected allegations made by “Spiegel”. Scenes that were “difficult or might have turned out to be difficult were discussed very well in advance so that there were no grounds for accusations,” says production designer Andreas Donhauser.
Klaus Pridnig, who worked on “Sparta” as an assistant director and production consultant, among other things, is quoted in the article as follows: “Everyone knew what “Sparta” was regarding. We have of course informed all parents regarding this, and of course made it clear that no child will be confronted with sexuality or violence in any form. “That was not the case either.
“Completely harmless”
What was filmed was “completely harmless”: “The children played soccer, did sports, had a lot of fun during the shoot, were happy to be the center of attention.” “ functions, for the summer shooting two additional teachers were brought into the team.
The article also quotes costume designer Tanja Hausner, who “didn’t notice anything wrong with the children,” and cameraman Wolfgang Thaler, who found working with the children on the winter shoot, where he was there, to be extremely respectful want.
Allegations made by an ex-assistant in the “Berliner Zeitung” are also quoted. She was supposed to find child actors in Romania, but didn’t get a script to read and therefore refused to continue working: “Ulrich Seidl then said to me that he wanted to push people to their limits in his work. And if I were afraid of contact, I guess I wasn’t right for the project.” After that, she quit.
Investigations in Romania
Harsh allegations by the young Romanian amateur actors and their families were discussed in the “Spiegel”. They were not correctly informed that the issue of pedophilia played a role, children on the set felt uncomfortable. The 69-year-old Austrian director himself has strongly rejected this and announced legal action. According to media reports, investigations that have already been suspended in Romania have now been resumed.
The film festival in Toronto, where the world premiere of “Sparta” should have taken place, has taken the film out of the program at short notice. Ulrich Seidl himself took part in the Vienna premiere of Kurdwin Ayub’s film “Sonne” as producer of the film “Sonne”. Whether he will personally travel to San Sebastian, where “Sparta” is scheduled to start in competition at the film festival next week, is apparently not yet certain. The film will be shown there for the first time next Sunday.