Overview

• Gisèle Pelicot was honoured with France’s top civic award after she waived anonymity to expose systemic rape culture in her decade-long abuse case.
• The Pelicot Trial: Tribute to Gisèle Pelicot, directed by Milo Rau and co-written with Servane Dècle, premiered at the Avignon Festival with staged readings of trial transcripts, police files and psychiatric reports.
• Set in a 14th-century open-air Carmelite cloister with 500 seats, the three-hour production is also livestreamed to cinemas and online to accommodate widespread interest.
• Following its seven-hour Vienna debut in June, the play will tour Lisbon, Belgrade and Warsaw to encourage international dialogue on consent and gender-based violence.
• Pelicot’s choice of a public trial led to France’s largest-ever rape case, culminating in convictions for 51 men and a 20-year sentence for her ex-husband, and continues to drive demands for clearer consent laws.