Hundreds of filmmakers urge Venice Film Festival to take a stronger stand on Gaza

The 82nd Venice Film Festival kicks off on Wednesday and both Italian and international filmmakers have called on the festival to condemn what they describe in an open letter as genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza. 

The appeal, under the banner of Venice4Palestine, was sent to the Venice Film Festival's umbrella organisation the Biennale di Venezia, as well as the festival's Venice Days and International Critics’ Week sections.

The group urges the festival to avoid becoming “a sad and empty showcase”. To be better, the group asks the festival to take a “clear and unambiguous stand”, to provide “a place of dialogue, active participation, and resistance, as it has been in the past” and highlight Palestinian narratives to better address “ethnic cleansing, apartheid, illegal occupation of Palestinian territories, colonialism and all the other crimes against humanity committed by Israel for decades, not just since October 7.” 

Signatories include Italian actor Toni Servillo, Italian actress and director siblings Alba and Alice Rohrwacher, French directors Céline Sciamma and Audrey Diwan (who won the Golden Lion for Happening in 2021), British filmmaker Ken Loach (who won the Honorary Golden Lion in 1994) and British actor Charles Dance, as well as Palestinian directorial duo Arab Nasser and Tarzan Nasser - who won best director in Cannes Un Certain Regard this year for their film Once Upon A Time In Gaza. 

In the letter, they write: “As the spotlight turns on the Venice Film Festival, we’re in danger of going through yet another major event that remains indifferent to this human, civil, and political tragedy. ‘The show must go on,’ we are told, as we’re urged to look away - as if the ‘film world’ had nothing to do with the ‘real world.'” 

“We must interrupt the flow of indifference and open a path to awareness,” they add, stating that “there is no cinema without humanity.” 

The letter concludes: “Let us ensure that this Mostra has meaningful values and does not turn into a sad and shallow vanity fair once more. Let’s do it all together – with courage, with integrity. Free Palestine!” 

The Biennale was quick with their response, saying they and the Venice Film Festival “have always been, throughout their history, places of open discussion and sensitivity to all the most pressing issues facing society and the world.” 

They cite as evidence “the works that are being presented”, citing the case of the film The Voice of Hind Rajab by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, which is in competition this year and centres on the killing of a 5-year-old Palestinian girl in a car that had been attacked by Israeli forces in Gaza in 2024.

In its statement, the Biennale further noted that last year’s Venice line-up featured Israeli director Dani Rosenberg’s film Of Dogs and Men shot in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.  

“The Biennale is, as always, open to dialogue,” the statement concluded. 

Both statements from Venice4Palestine and the Biennale come as the global hunger monitor, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, announced last week that people in the Gaza Strip are officially facing “a man-made” famine in the territory – despite what the Israeli government has said. 

The statements also come prior to the upcoming United Nations meeting in September, with many nations including Britain, France and Canada saying that they are preparing to officially recognize a state of Palestine. 

The 82nd Venice International Film Festival runs from 27 August to 6 September.