More than 300 directors and actors including Paradise Now filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad are calling for a boycott of Israeli movies playing at this year’s Venice International Film Festival in Italy, claiming the movies engage in the so-called “artwashing” of “apartheid, occupation and now genocide.”
While the petition accuses Israel of a host of offenses, it makes no reference to the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack, which sparked the larger Gaza war, nor does it reference the Hamas terrorist organization in any way.
The two Israeli films at the center of the boycott campaign are Amos Gitai’s Why War and Dani Rosenberg’s Hebrew-language Al Klavim Veanashim (Of Dogs and Men). The latter title explicitly addresses the October 7 Hamas terrorist attack and was shot during the early days of the current Gaza war.
“Like Of Dogs and Men, Why War was created by complicit Israeli production companies that contribute to apartheid, occupation and now genocide through their silence or active participation in artwashing,” the letter, published by a group called Artists for Palestine Italia, states.
The festival itself “has remained silent about Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinian people. This silence outrages us deeply.”
Hany Abu-Assad attends the Huda’s Salon Photocall during the Red Sea International Film Festival on December 07, 2021 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. ( Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images for The Red Sea International Film Festival)
Taking a page from post-modern decolonization studies, the letter condemns Israel for “its crimes and system of colonial oppression against Palestinians.”
The letter concludes: “Artwashing Israel’s genocide in Gaza on the international cultural stage, including film festivals, is profoundly immoral.”
Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad is among the most prominent signatories. His movies Paradise Now and Omar both received Academy Award nominations for foreign language film.
Festival head Alberto Barbera said he has no plans to withdraw the two Israeli movies from this year’s festival, which is currently underway.
“I understand filmmakers signing a petition in support of Palestinians and the awful, painful position of the population there, especially the children. It’s hard to even think about it. What Netanyahu is doing in Gaza is a war crime, and so was October 7,” he told Deadline.
“But we wouldn’t ever withdraw a film on ideological grounds. The films that were asked to be withdrawn by the 300 filmmakers are not anti-Palestinian films in any way, quite the opposite.”
Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai defended his movie during a press conference last week at the festival, saying it had not received any state funding.
“The film is not actually focused on Israel Palestine, although they love always to think that they are the center of the world,” he reportedly said. “There is no center of the world. The planet is round. [It’s] a very important conflict, but they are not the only one on the planet,” he said.
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