'Biutiful' producer fined for damaging father's tomb

Barcelona City Hall and the producer of Biutiful, Alejandro González Iñarritu's Oscar-nominated film starring Javier Bardem, have been ordered to pay 20,000 euros to a woman for damaging and altering her father's tomb. A court ruled the woman had the right to compensation for the "moral harm" she suffered upon seeing her father's niche in Sants cemetery apparently covered in graffiti and looking abandoned.

The woman had arrived at the graveyard on September 10, 2008 as she does "every two days" and been shocked by the devastated state in which she found the niche. The Biutiful film crew had been shooting there - with the permission of City Hall - several days before and had wanted to give the place a grimmer look. To achieve this, technicians placed fake coffins around the area and painted some niches a dark color.

The woman asked municipal company Barcelona Cemeteries for an explanation and filed a complaint, which has now been resolved in her favor. In her written statement she specified the incident had caused her both psychological (she received treatment for several months to recover from the scare) and financial damage - in her opinion her mental state prevented her from continuing to look for work.

The Barcelona court specified that the compensation should be paid equally by City Hall and Mod Producciones.

City Hall has announced it does not intend to appeal the sentence. "The woman will be paid what is owed to her," said a municipal spokesman. What the local government does expect is that, via an agreement among the insurance companies, it will be the producer that ultimately pays the compensation, since it is the one responsible for the damage.

Following the woman's complaint, Barcelona Cemeteries is considering a claim against Mod Producciones for altering the niches. EL PAÍS unsuccessfully tried to contact the production company on Monday to get its version of events.