Pixar And Disney Animator Bolhem Bouchiba Sentenced To 25 Years In Prison

Bolhem Bouchiba, a key animator at Disney and Pixar for decades, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

In Paris’s Assize Court, Bouchiba admitted to a horrific series of crimes, which included ordering the remote rape and torture of hundreds of young girls in the Philippines. In addition to his sentence, the court ordered twenty years of socio-judicial monitoring, the obligation to compensate civil parties, and a permanent ban on working in a profession with minors. If Bouchiba lives to the end of his sentence, he would be 84 years old at the time of release.

In a closing statement to the court, Bouchiba said, “I am aware of everything I have done. I ask the victims for forgiveness.” Bouchiba also said during his trial he was looking forward to “the benefits of prison,” specifically meaning that he would not be tempted to abuse children while behind bars.

Per an English auto-translation of the Le Monde story:

For three days, several experts testified at the bar, detailing the story of this man who became an “international drawing authority,” according to the president of the court, Mahrez Abassi, but with a “complex” past and “disturbed sexuality.” During his interrogation, the accused spontaneously admitted to being guilty of “all the facts” alleged and highlighted “the benefits of prison” in his journey of redemption. “For three years, I did not masturbate while thinking of a child,” he assured. [Note: Bouchiba was arrested in 2021 and has been in prison since then.]

The Le Monde piece has further details on the trial, but Cartoon Brew is limiting the amount of detail it shares about Bouchiba’s crimes.

A significant question that remains unanswered is why Bouchiba was continually hired at major American film studios like Pixar and Dreamworks even after he was placed on the Fijais, France’s national sex offender registry, in 2014, for sexually assaulting his partner’s young daughter.

Following his arrest in 2014, projects in which Bouchiba was involved include Pixar’s Soul, Incredibles 2, Luca, and Elemental; Dreamworks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World and Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia; and Glen Keane’s Oscar-winning short Dear Basketball.