“Upstream color” and “Primer» filmmaker Shane Carruth50, was arrested in Los Angeles for domestic violence. Variety reports that the independent filmmaker was taken into custody last week at the home of his ex-girlfriend (whose name has not been released).
Carruth’s former ex, Amy Seimetz, had gotten a restraining order against Carruth in June 2020, citing years of psychological and physical abuse. An alleged incident at a hotel in 2016 found Carruth strangling Seimetz until it was difficult for him to breathe.
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According to the new report, Santa Monica police were called to the woman’s home around 4:50 a.m. Thursday, according to Lt. Rudy Flores. Once the police arrived, Carruth had left the scene.
The ex-girlfriend called the police again around 6.50am to say Shane Carruth had returned home. Police then found Carruth nearby and arrested him “on suspicion of domestic violence and vandalism”.
According to booking records, Carruth was released on $50,000 bail on Monday afternoon.
Reportedly, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declined to press felony charges and will instead send the case to the Santa Monica District Attorney’s Office, which is handling misdemeanors. A Santa Monica spokeswoman told Variety that the criminal division has yet to receive the filing from the district attorney’s office.
Carruth won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for ‘Primer’ in 2004, then followed that film up with the acclaimed ‘Upstream Color’ in 2013. But Carruth told IndieWire in 2020 that he had stopped the cinema focus on running other projects. “I have one last project ahead of me. I shouldn’t say anything about it. I’m still defining the edges. But that’s it for me. I’m not going to say I’m doing a project and then hope that Paramount offers me a deal or anything. I don’t do that anymore,” he said.
Seimetz’s restraining order gain in visibility on social media during the filing after Carruth tweeted an image of the “Upstream Color” soundtrack on vinyl with part of the restraining order document protruding from below. The film community then rallied in support of Seimetz, whose last film was 2020’s “She Dies Tomorrow.”
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