Chilean Filmmaker Nicolás López Sentenced to Five Years in Prison for Sexual Abuse

variety.com:

Anna Marie de la Fuente In one of the first high-profile sexual assault cases in Latin America following the #MeToo reckoning, Chilean director Nicolás López, who was renowned for his raunchy box office comedy hits “Sin Filtro,” “No Estoy Loca” and the “Que Pena” trilogy, has been sentenced to five years and one day in prison for two cases of sexual abuse.The charges against López first surfaced in 2018, when several actresses came forward to accuse him of rape and sexual abuse.

The court dismissed the charges of rape, but found López guilty of the latter charge.López has also been banned from coming near his accusers and is permanently disqualified from running for public office.

He’s expected to file an appeal on May 20. During these past five years, López’s production company, Sobras, stopped operating and producing content.Netflix, which had licensed several of López’s films in the past and had an agreement for one of his new projects, placed their collaboration with the filmmaker under review.At least eight actresses and models, among them Josefina Montané, Lucy Cominetti, Daniela Ginestar, Andrea Velasco and María Vidaurre, came forward with damning allegations of sexual harassment against López.In an Instagram post then, López said: “I don’t understand what is happening nor the break in my years-long relationships of trust and affection.

If I sometimes have been misunderstood, I apologize. But I’m not a stalker nor an abuser.”López also posted a video to YouTube, in which he announced he has decided to resign from his company, Sobras, in order prevent the controversy from affecting his partners and collaborators.Ironically, some of López’s films on Netflix, “No Filter” (“Sin Filtro”) and “I’m Not Crazy” (“No.