"What Netanyahu is doing in Gaza is a war crime, and so was October 7": Venice Film Festival Director pushes back on boycott calls

Venice Film Festival Director Alberto Barbera publicly rejected calls to boycott Israeli films on the grounds that they were "artwashing" Palestinian suffering in the war, stating unequivocally that "we wouldn't ever withdraw a film on ideological grounds."

In an interview he gave to Deadline, Barbero said that "I don't want to take sides and I can't make such public statements for the festival in my role as festival director" even though "I have my own personal views. My own personal view is that Netanyahu is a criminal. Many of the Israeli population feel the same. There are demonstrations to that effect every week."

According to the Algemeiner, the original petition, submitted last week by over 300 directors, actors, and other workers in the film industry, stated among other things that "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. Artwashing Israel’s genocide in Gaza on the international cultural stage, including film festivals, is profoundly immoral."