Venice Filmmakers Protest ‘Complicit’ Israeli Films at Festival 5

Around 300 filmmakers attending the Venice Film Festival have signed an open letter opposing two Israeli films in the marquee festival.

The protest by filmmakers and artists amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict is aimed at Dani Rosenberg’s Hebrew-language film Al Klavim Veanashim (Of Dogs and Men), which is set against the backdrop of the Oct. 7 terror attacks in southern Israel, and Amos Gitai’s Why War. The latter stars Irène Jacob, Mathieu Amalric, Micha Lescot and Jérôme Kircher and is set for a world premiere on Aug. 31 out of competition.

Of Dogs and Men, shot in the midst of Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza, whitewashes the genocide. 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 Artists for Palestine Italia, states.

The artists are represented by 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 and David di Donatello nominee Davide Serino.

Tony Award nominee Kathleen Chalfant, Neo Sora, director of Happyend, and filmmakers Saul Williams, Brett Story and Monica Maurer, as well as composer Nitin Sawhney also signed the letter, which claims Venice “has remained silent about Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinian people. This silence outrages us deeply.”

Read the full open letter below.

No Artwashing at 81 Mostra Del Cinema di Venezia

We, the undersigned artists, filmmakers and cultural workers, reject complicity with the Israeli regime of apartheid and oppose the artwashing of its Gaza genocide against Palestinians at the 81st Film Festival in Venice. Two films screening at the Festival—Of Dogs and Men and Why War—were created by Israeli production companies that are complicit in whitewashing Israel’s oppression against Palestinians. 

The world’s highest court, the International Court of Justice, has declared that Israel is plausibly perpetrating genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza and that its regime of apartheid and military occupation is unlawful. The International Criminal Court Prosecutor has applied to the court for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, on charges of ‘extermination’ and ‘deliberately starving the civilian population and causing the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people’. 

Of Dogs and Men, shot in the midst of Israel’s ongoing attacks on Gaza, whitewashes the genocide. 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. Palestinian society, including the absolute majority of filmmakers, has called for refusing to screen such productions.

The Venice Film Festival has remained silent about Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinian people. 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 programme productions complicit in apartheid crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide, regardless who perpetrates them, and should refrain from doing so in the future. 

Artwashing Israel’s genocide in Gaza on the international cultural stage, including film festivals, is profoundly immoral.