The Venice Film Festival on Saturday became the focus of possibly the largest protest ever seen at a major film event over Israel’s ongoing military assault on Gaza.
Thousands, young and old, made up of festival guests and members of the public, took part in a major march denouncing Israel and calling for an end to genocide. Amid a sea of Palestinian flags, there were chants of “Free Free Palestine.” Despite the serious nature of the message, there was a carnival-like feel, with protestors on stilts waving “Peace” banners, music blasting from speakers, flares and foghorns.
The protest — arranged with the support of numerous groups, associations and organizations — was aimed at ensuring that the festival had a visible and public stance on the war in Gaza and was used as a platform.
“The Venice Film Festival must not remain an event isolated from reality, but rather become a space to denounce the genocide being carried out by Israel, the complicity of Western governments, and to offer concrete support to the Palestinian people,” the organizers said in a statement beforehand.
To that end, the visibility was undeniable. The main roads of the Lido were closed by the police as the march slowly made its way to the main festival area. The noise could be heard far and wide.
“In Gaza, hospitals, schools and refugee camps are being bombed; civilians are being deprived of food and water; journalists and doctors are being killed; humanitarian ships such as the Freedom Flotilla are being seized. At the same time, in the West Bank, apartheid and settler violence continue unabated. The permanent occupation of Gaza by the Israeli government marks an escalation that has gone beyond every limit of humanity and international law,” the statement added.
“Italy and Europe — through arms supplies, economic agreements, and diplomatic cover — are complicit in this barbarity. It is time to stop the massacre: stop the genocide, stop arms sales, stop Western complicity.”
With international condemnation of Israel’s war on Gaza growing as the number of civilians killed continued to rise, the Venice Film Festival — generally a less political event compared to other A-list festivals — has become one of the noisiest.
Earlier in the week, protestors waved Palestinian flags and held a banner that read “Free Palestine. Stop the Genocide” in front of the festival’s headquarters, Palazzo del Cinema.
Ahead of the festival, Venice organizers were urged by hundreds of international filmmakers and artists to take a “clear and unambiguous stand [in] condemning the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing across Palestine carried out by the Israeli government and army.” They were also called to disinvite celebrities who have shown public support for Israel, such as “In the Hand of Dante” stars Gal Gadot and Gerard Butler. Gadot was later confirmed as not attending the fest.
In response to the letter, Biennale said that the Venice Film Festival has “always been, throughout their history, places of open discussion and sensitivity to all the most pressing issues facing society and the world. The evidence of this is, first and foremost, the works that are being presented [at the festival].”
Venice chief Alberto Barbera was asked about the festival’s stance on the war in Gaza during the jury press conference, to which he said, “We have been asked to turn down invitations to artists; we will not do that. If they want to be at the festival, they will be here. On the other hand, we have never hesitated to clearly declare our huge sadness and suffering vis-à-vis what is happening in Gaza and Palestine. The death of civilians and especially of children, who are victims, the collateral damage of a war which nobody has been able to terminate yet.”
Meanwhile, Venice jury president Alexander Payne diplomatically chose not to offer his viewpoint on the matter. “I’m here to judge and talk about cinema. My political views, I’m sure, are in agreement with many of yours.”