Last October, Devin Faraci, the Editor-in-Chief at the film criticism publication Birth.Movies.Death (which is owned by the movie theater chain Alamo Drafthouse), was accused of sexual assault by a woman on Twitter.
“Quick question: do you remember grabbing me by the pussy and bragging to our friends about it, telling them to smell your fingers?” the user @spacecrone, later revealed to be a woman named Caroline by The Hollywood Reporter, tweeted to Faraci. “I do not remember this,” he replied. “I can only believe you and beg forgiveness for having been so vile.”
The accusation led to Faraci stepping down from the site, writing in a statement: “I will use the coming weeks and months to work on becoming a better person who is, I hope, worthy of the trust and loyalty of my friends and readers.”
On Monday, a member of the film community, George Hickman, pointed out that some copy and film blurbs for the upcoming film festival Fantastic Fest (which takes place at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar) are written by Faraci.
In a statement posted to Facebook Tuesday, CEO and founder of Alamo Drafthouse Tim League writes about the reasoning behind Faraci contributing writing again for the theater. “Devin has spent the time since this allegation examining the choices he made that led to it,” League writes. “He has recognized and acknowledged his struggles with substance abuse; after stepping down, he immediately entered recovery and has been sober ever since. This is an important step in the right direction.”
League also writes in his statement that after Faraci stepped down from Birth.Movies.Death, he did not write for the site. But once it became clear “his efforts were sincere,” League offered him copywriting work, which has now included writing blurbs for the Fantastic Fest guide. League says Faraci does not hold a leadership position at either site, and he will not be attending the festival.
Jezebel has also reached out to League to clarify exactly when Faraci first began contributing again to Drafthouse properties after stepping down from Birth.Movies.Death.
In a statement sent to Jezebel, the initial accuser @spacecrone writes:
I am happy that Devin got into treatment and genuinely support his ongoing healing work and at the same time I wonder what message bringing him back on board at Alamo Drafthouse in such a secretive way sends to women and other people subject to his abuse over the years, especially those who are interested in working in the film industry and in criticism. The message I personally get from it is that it seems like Alamo Drafthouse is not interested in conversations about how to become a more supportive space for women except in the most performative way.
The conversation about Devin Faraci, Alamo and returns at a time when film communities are grappling with accusations of sexual misconduct and assault. Jezebel reported last month on the sexual harassment allegations at Cinefamily, a non-profit Los Angeles movie theater; on Monday, Cinefamily’s board released a statement about a hotline their investigative agency they had created for individuals to report “provide information in a safe and secure manner that might be relevant to the independent investigation into recent allegations against members (current or former) of the organization and its culture,” specifying that anonymity would be granted to callers and calls would be answered by women.
Jezebel has reached out to Devin Faraci for comment and will update this post if he responds.