The Canarian film director Armando Ravelo has been accused of sexual abuse by several women related to the world of arts and cinema. One of them has been the Gran Canaria artist Koset Quintana, who used her social networks and accused Ravelo of having incited her to have sex and offering her drugs when she was only 14 years old. Facts that the filmmaker acknowledged to EFE, although he denied that they could be considered sexual violence.
The multidisciplinary creator has been encouraged to make this public complaint after reading in recent days “the testimonies hidden for so long against Carlos Vermut”; she referring to the three women related to the film industry who have accused the filmmaker of subjecting them to sexual violence.
According to Ravelo, he met the Canarian creator in 2014, during a film workshop. It was there that their first conversations began, and the filmmaker, according to him, believed that she was joking with him when she told him that she was a minor. What’s more, the Canarian filmmaker denies having exercised sexual violence against her, or any physical contact of that nature, but it is “reprehensible” behavior that he understands is being reported against her.
Quintana, for his part, remembers everything very differently. “Not only did he encourage me to have sex with him, but he talked to me about drugs and porn.” With his testimony, he wants the abuse of power that the filmmaker exercised for years. What’s more, he claims to know “much more serious testimonies” than his, even showing screenshots.
“We are very tired of there being so many men in high places using their power to rape, harass and manipulate others,” she says.
At that time, the Canarian director was 31 years old. In statements to the aforementioned news agency, the filmmaker himself explained that in those years “he was very high and thought he went unpunished”, which, together with a manifest addiction to sex that he claims to have overcome after going to therapy, led him to “do a lot of harm to many women” with whom he had “long-term relationships.”
However, he does not accept many of the complaints that have appeared after Quintana’s, because he understands that “many people have joined the bandwagon” of the creator’s complaint “because she has left many bodies along the way.”
However, the testimonies that have been seen since Quintana made his complaint public are shocking. “I know what it is with this person. Sadly I discovered it since he was devastated inside,” says one. “I owe the darkest time of my life to that person,” adds another.
Their complaints add to the controversy over accusations of sexual violence against figures in Spanish cinema, such as filmmaker Carlos Vermut. Last week, an investigation published by El País was shown in which it was revealed that three women reported having suffered “sexual violence” by Vermut, winner of the San Sebastián Golden Shell with Magical Girl (2014).
Some events that took place between May 2014 and February 2022, in which the director allegedly took advantage of his recognition and position in the cinema to have violent sexual relations that they did not consent to. However, the director and screenwriter from Madrid responds bluntly: “I have always practiced rough sex in a consensual manner.”
Unlike Vermut, Ravelo does recognize what happened with Quintana. Even so, he emphasizes that the therapy he has undergone in recent years has helped him “take control of his life and improve”, to the point of being able to have “beautiful relationships” with the women around him.
