Filmmakers Decry Showing Israeli Movies at Venice Festival

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Approximately 300 filmmakers signed an open letter protesting the screening of two Israeli movies at the Venice Film Festival, including Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The protest centers on Dani Rosenberg’s Hebrew-language film “Al Klavim Veanashim (Of Dogs and Men),” which is set against the backdrop of Iranian-backed Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack in southern Israel, and Amos Gitai’s “Why War.”

“‘Of Dogs and Men,’ shot in the midst of Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza, whitewashes the genocide,” the letter, published by Artists for Palestine Italia, stated. “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.”

According to the Reporter, the artists include a number of Palestinian filmmakers and actors, including Oscar-nominated Hany Abu-Assad, Rosalind Nashashibi, Raed Andoni, and Saleh Bakri. Other signatories include filmmakers Enrico Parenti and Alessandra Ferrini; actors Niccolò Senni, Simona Cavallari, Chiara Baschetti and Paola Michelini; and screenwriter Davide Serino.

Although the letter goes into detail about Israel’s alleged crimes during its war against Hamas, it does not mention the terrorist group’s brutal incursion into the Jewish state on Oct. 7 that resulted in the massacre of at least 1,200 Israeli civilians with about another 250 taken hostage.

“The Venice Film Festival has remained silent about Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinian people,” the letter stated. “This silence outrages us deeply. As art and film workers around the world, we call for effective and ethical measures to hold apartheid Israel to account for its crimes and system of colonial oppression against Palestinians.

“We say that it is unacceptable that films made by production companies complicit in a regime engaged in continuous atrocities against the Palestinian people should be shown in Venice. The film festival should not [program] productions complicit in apartheid crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide, regardless who perpetrates them and should refrain from doing so in the future.”

The artists concluded by stating that “artwashing Israel’s genocide … on the international culture stage … is profoundly immoral.”

Festival head Alberto Barbera told Deadline he does not plan to pull either Israeli film from this year’s lineup.

“I understand filmmakers signing a petition in support of Palestinians and the awful, painful position of the population there, especially the children,” Barbera said. “It’s hard to even think about it. What [Israel Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is doing in Gaza is a war crime, and so was Oct. 7.

“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.”

Gitai reportedly defended his film during a news conference at the festival last week.

“The film is not actually focused on Israel Palestine, although they love always to think that they are the center of the world,” he 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.”