Alcoy denies authorizing an “adult film” to be set in a cemetery

The People’s Party group in the Alcoy (Alicante) City Council has accused the Mayor, Toni Francés, of “allowing the filming of an adult film in the municipal cemetery, specifically at the tomb of Camilo Sesto, a space that should be treated with the utmost institutional, cultural, and moral respect.” The local government, which is made up of the Socialist Party (PSPV) and Compromís, says through the municipal Film Office that it did not “authorise any filming of a sexual nature in the municipal cemetery.”

Carlos Pastor, the PP’s representative on the city council, says that “it is incomprehensible that Toni Francés’s government has not established clear limits or minimum ethical criteria to authorise filming in such sensitive public spaces.” He also says that “the permissiveness shown in this case demonstrates a worrying dereliction of duty and a total lack of common sense.”

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The Popular Party group said in a statement, “For us, this act shows a serious lack of sensitivity towards the memory of the artist, towards his family, and towards all the people of Alcoy, who see the cemetery as a place of reflection, respect, and dignity, not as a stage for activities like this.”

The PP has also asked if “this is the Film Office that Toni Francés wants.” “We want answers and, most importantly, an immediate review of the rules for filming permissions to make sure that this kind of embarrassing thing never happens again.” They said, “Promoting the city cannot be done at any cost, nor by sacrificing the respect, dignity, and values of the people of Alcoy.”

The PSPV and Compromís parties make up the City Council’s governing team. They responded to these accusations in a statement, in which they completely denied the PP’s claims that they allowed an adult film shoot to take place in the municipal cemetery, specifically at Camilo Sesto’s tomb.

So, they said that “at no time was any scene of a ‘sexual or pornographic nature’ requested, authorised, or recorded,” and that “if such a request had been made, it would have been automatically denied.”

They also say that “the Alcoy Film Office got a request to record two scenes of an audiovisual work that, according to the documents provided, only had one shot of an actor walking down one of the cemetery’s streets and another shot of him sitting on a bench in front of a tomb.”

They say that “the request clearly stated that no names on any tombstone would be shown, that the recording would last about 60 minutes, and that the scene would be set in a context of mourning, introspection, and human encounter, with no explicit or inappropriate content.”

Lorena Zamorano, the Councillor for Tourism, has said that the City Council and the Film Office “take the protection of the San Antonio Abad cemetery as a heritage, cultural, and memorial space very seriously.” She also said that “this sensitivity has been shown many times.”

He remarked, “In fact, previous requests to film here have been turned down, even for strange TV shows, because they were thought to be disrespectful to this place.”

The city government thinks it’s “irresponsible to twist the facts and confuse the public.” In this regard, they stress that “there is no mention of Camilo Sesto’s tomb or any other specific part of the city’s funerary heritage in the application or the synopsis, and that the accusations made are not backed up by any documents.”

Rules for filming

Francés’s executive also said that “an ordinance regulating filming is currently being processed, and a draft of it has been made available to all municipal groups, including the PP, so that they could make contributions or objections.”

In this regard, they stressed that “none of the political groups have suggested, so far, adding a specific clause about this kind of production.” The municipal government, on the other hand, has said that it “will review the text of the ordinance to make sure that it includes a clear ban on filming adult productions or those that may violate human dignity, human rights, or animal welfare, before sending it to the full council.”

Zamorano ended by saying, “The Film Office’s work is always done with professional and technical standards and with respect for heritage.” He also said, “People are trying to discredit this work and cause social alarm based on a biassed interpretation of the facts, which does not help respect for either the heritage or the people who work to protect it.”

The Alcoy local administration has said again that “the audiovisual promotion of the city is done with care and responsibility, making sure that any filming that is allowed is fully in line with the values of respect, dignity, and memory that the people of Alcoy stand for.”