On December 4th, the series debuted Movistar Plus+ Terra Altadirected by Edward Curtis, the director who, in the past ten years, has accused 27 women in El País of being sexually harassed by them. Photographer Sylvia Graf, who was the first to share in October 2024 via her Instagram account some old messages with the director, whom she accused. Grooming (accused online), is now complaining on the same social media network that the company is “cancelling” the series forever. “We filed a public complaint on social networks, and we finished the session, and we were not aware of any kind of accusations by the outside producer, nor of any conflicting actions by the director,” he responds to EL PAÍS on the platform. “At all times we have acted responsibly and transparently. We have launched the series in which hundreds of professionals have participated, and we will closely follow the development of the topic.”
In 2024 the platform announced the launch of production and since then there was no way to know anything about the possible closing of the launch, until this youth appeared, without mere promotion, in its catalogue.
“Movistar decided to discontinue it, and now I have decided that enough time has passed, in a year, and it has just been removed,” Graf denounces in an Instagram video in which he mentions the platform and invites his more than 30 thousand followers to leave comments in the post in the Movistar Plus+ account in which the series is promoted. “The director of this series assaulted more than 55 women,” is one of the messages repeated in the post.
“In the face of the public accusations against Edward Curtis, we from Movistar Plus+ confirm that we take seriously any case of harassment or inappropriate behavior and sympathize with the victims of any kind of abuse,” the platform confirms to this newspaper.
“I hope the victim wakes up in the morning and sees this… There’s no need to be completely prepared to know the emotional impact it has,” Graf says. “If the connection was safer, even if you received a lot of condemnations, you would wait a few months and at the end of the day… what kind of producer would open his mouth? Nadi. There is no kind of incentive for Nadi.”
Ecuadorian actress and writer Nicole León, one of the women who in this periodical denounced being harassed by Curtis, also posted a video on Instagram calling for a boycott of the series. “This case cannot go unpunished,” he complains. “We will not allow it to be normal or that silence protects them.” The translator asks not to be seen or published Terra Alta“Justice must be on our side. Boycott the series and the director.”
In the same way, actress Nora Alexandra Vega expressed herself on her Instagram account. He wrote in his email: “The series directed by Anonymous will be released. Boycott the harassers.” stories This is the woman who also testified to the newspaper EL PAÍS at the end of 2024.
Curtis, a two-time Goya Award nominee and director of the popular series Merly y Not another one, Dozens of women accused him of exploiting his position in the sector by offering to work in some of their productions on the condition of being naked, masturbating, or performing other types of sexual acts. The majority were between 20 and 30 years old, and were younger then. This journal has access to nearly a hundred of these conversations with them dating from mid-2007 to October 2024.
When the accusations spread on Instagram, Curtis had just finished filming the series Terra Altaproduced by Secuoya Studios and Movistar Plus+, is based on the novel of the same name by Javier Cercas. “At that moment, I remember having conversations with friends about the ethics of downloading a series after what happened. How fair it is to the people working on this series, who have no fault, that the work that was started does not come to light,” Graf reflects. “Yes, it’s unfair. But it’s even more unfair to be abused by someone like you. I’m grateful that compassion is expressed in anything else that doesn’t involve the victims.”
Sh How it works What the women reported to EL PAÍS was a conversation starter on social networks. Thank you for your work, and follow up on letters submitted to this journal afterwards. The majority of the testimony, according to the letters, is that when Curtis’ attempt to have a sexual relationship failed, the director planned to engage in certain sexual acts because of “the demands of the project.”
More than 20 women organized themselves in October 2024 to take the first steps so that their stories are not killed on social networks, as often happens. At that point they received legal advice and were initially encouraged by a potential class action complaint, but they temporarily ignored this option due to the high costs imposed by the legal advice they received at the behest of counsel.
They then decided to contact an external victim care service linked to the Catala Film Academy, of which Curtis was at the time, and from there it was announced that only two days later an investigative committee would be set up to deal with the case. Last year, the committee concluded that women were suffering from “cybersexual harassment,” a type of sexual harassment or sexual harassment via the digital sphere. They said from the institution: “The procedure is suspended, but in the Cerrado. It is scheduled that, in the event of submitting an application or wanting to participate in any activity at the academy, it will be activated again.”
These women also helped the Unity Against Machista Violence organization in the audiovisual and cultural sector which the Ministry of Culture had already launched in October 2024.
“Going forward, things are changing,” says Graff, who seems exhausted by the issue. “There are no repercussions of any kind. At any point in time, there will be no real change.” “I’m bored, I am at the same time. For all these people talking about cancel culture, and these guys not keeping their heads up…this guy lives his whole life abusing people and has no repercussions.” “A year ago, I thought we were doing something else, but I will go to the grave with this nonsense,” the photographer said.