The detainment and expulsion from Mexico of five European porn stars during the first Mexico Erotic Film Festival last week made headlines around the world.
AVN.com, in an exclusive interview with Festival organizers Salvador and Victor Diago, has learned details about the controversial incident not previously available to the press.
The Diagos, father and son, own Spain’s International Film Group, a major European distributor and manufacturer. Salvador is president, Victor the director of production and marketing.
They flew to Los Angeles last Monday, just after holding a crowded press conference in Mexico City, to cement IFG’s new distribution deal with Smash Pictures.
After turning the Barcelona Erotic Film Festival into a major international event, they were hoping to do the same in Mexico City. The first day, Victor Diago said, started off great, with 10,000 paid attendees cheering the live show.
The main attraction was five European stars: Nacho Vidal (Spain), Katsumi (France), Rita Faltoyano (Hungary), Jane Darling and Claudia Clair (Czech Republic). Katsumi, the Diagos said, was a particular favorite. The crowds chanted her name like soccer fans: “Kat-Su-Mi, Kat-Su-Mi!”
On the second day of the show, officers from Mexico’s immigration department suddenly showed up and demanded the passports of the foreign performers.
The elder Diago went back to the hotel to retrieve them and when he returned was ordered to take them to immigration headquarters. He waited there for seven hours as the papers were examined. “Seven hours,” he exclaimed, “just to look at passports!”
At issue were the actors’ visas, which were stamped for Tourist, not Work. But, Diago maintained, they were not working in Mexico, they were visiting the country for promotional purposes. His arguments got him nowhere.
Meanwhile, his son was told that the five performers would be taken to a holding area for VIPs while their documents were being checked. Instead, he found out later, they were taken to the immigration jail where they placed in a detainment area. They would remain there for 27 hours.
According to Victor Diago, the four women had to sleep on the floor of a room packed with immigrants. (Vidal was put in the even more crowded men’s cell.)
The girls were wearing skimpy costumes—tank tops and bikini bottoms—from the show, “and it was cold in there,” Diago said. He was not allowed to bring them food or warm clothing. Faltoyano, who had injured her hand, was denied medical attention.
None of the women spoke Spanish, and their inability to find out why they were being detained had them naturally panicked, Diago said. “All night there was no communications, no lawyers, no clothes, no food.”
The elder Diago spent the day contacting lawyers in Spain and Mexico and Spanish embassy officials. He said they told him, “We’re going to help you, because this is illegal.”
By mid-day on Saturday 16 lawyers had shown up at the jail, but they were told that only one of them would be allowed to represent all five detainees. “That’s illegal, right?” said Diago.
When Victor was finally allowed to see the actors at the jail, he found the women in tears and Faltoyano nearly hysterical. “Nacho said, ‘Rita is going crazy, you got to help her.’ Claudia Clair said, ‘This is the worst experience of my life.” Katsumi, he said, was a bit more composed.
Finally, a “solution” was proposed to the elder Diago by the immigration authorities. It was threefold. The Diagos would pay a fine of $36,000 US; sign anything put in front of them; and get the actors out of Mexico immediately, acknowledging that it was not a deportation but a voluntary departure.
When Salvador balked at signing a document that essentially indemnified the authorities and put all the blame on him, he was told that the actors would be held for 15 more days. According to him, “They said, ‘You sign here, here and here, or you’re not leaving.”
He signed. “In one hour,” Victor said, “everything was finished.”
The actors were not allowed to return to their hotel—Victor had to fetch their belongings. They were put in a van and taken to the airport where the Diagos put them on the first flights available to their respective countries.
The press had shown up at the airport in droves but were not allowed to speak to the stars, who, Victor said, “are very, very famous in Mexico.”
As all this was happening, Victor said, the Festival was still attracting crowds. He took to the stage on the last day to explain the absence of the Europorn favorites. Fans again chanted Katsumi’s name, along with anti-government slogans. “They were very, very angry with the government,” Victor said.
The Diagos pointed out that their problems were only with the immigration authorities and that they are on good terms with the Mexican government in general. They have their own theories about why the incident occurred but preferred not to discuss them on the record.
Despite the hassle, and the considerable amount of money they had to shell out in fines, lawyers fees and added transportation costs, the Diagos pronounced the Festival a success. They plan to return to Mexico, where IFG does a high volume of sales, for a second event next year.
