Art Stars Call on Venice Film Festival to Support the Palestinian Cause

SadaNews - The humanitarian situation in Gaza did not escape the discussions of filmmakers in Italy and around the world during the events of the Venice International Film Festival 2025, in its 82nd edition, especially after several of them launched a call for the festival to take a clear stance in favor of the Palestinian cause, to which the festival management responded by affirming its openness to dialogue.

The call came from a group calling itself "Venice for Palestine," which included celebrities such as directors Marco Bellocchio, Matteo Garrone, and Alice Rohrwacher, who published a letter demanding that the festival and its parent organization, the "Biennale," as well as parallel sections like the Critics' Week, act with more courage in condemning the genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing carried out by the Israeli army.

The text of the letter stated: "Stop the clocks, cut off the telephone. The burden is too heavy to continue living as before. For nearly two years, we have been receiving clear images from Gaza and the West Bank. Shocked and powerless, we continue to watch scenes of genocide carried out live by the State of Israel in Palestine. No one will ever be able to say: I didn’t know, I couldn’t imagine, I didn’t believe it."

Several stars joined in signing that letter, including French director Audrey Diwan, who won the Golden Lion for her film "The Happening," and the Palestinian duo Arab and Tarzan Nasser, who won the Best Director award in the "Un Certain Regard" section at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for their film "Once Upon a Time in Gaza."

In response to this, the Biennale Foundation issued a statement affirming that the festival management has historically been open to discussion and engagement with the pressing issues facing society and the world.

The foundation emphasized that the films participating this year in the Venice Film Festival 2025 stand as clear evidence of that, particularly the film "The Voice of Hind Rajab" by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, which is participating this year in the official competition and tells the story of the 5-year-old Palestinian girl Hind Rajab, who was left trapped in a car targeted by Israeli forces in Gaza in 2024, before being found dead despite her cries for help.

Festival director Alberto Barbera stressed that he was deeply affected by the Tunisian director's use of the actual recordings of the last phone call that the girl Hind Rajab made before her body was found.

The foundation noted that last year’s competition also included the film "Of Dogs and Men" by Israeli director Dani Rosenberg, filmed in the aftermath of the Hamas attack on October 7, which tells the story of a sixteen-year-old girl returning to her kibbutz in search of her lost dog during the attack. The statement concluded by affirming: "The Biennale, as it has always been, is open to dialogue."

Alongside the statement issued by the celebrities, a number of protesters gathered yesterday in front of the festival headquarters waving Palestinian flags, announcing a march on Saturday under the slogan "Free Palestine.. Stop the genocide."

There were also calls to rescind invitations to certain stars such as Gal Gadot and Gerard Butler due to their positions on the conflict, but Barbera confirmed that the festival "does not boycott artists nor issue political statements."

For his part, renowned Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, director of the opening film "La Grazia," described the situation in Gaza as genocide. This came when he was asked during the opening about Mubi, the distributor of his film, which has faced criticism due to one of its funders' connections to the Israeli army. He referred the question to a representative of the company who declined to comment, prompting the organizers to steer the discussion back to cinematic matters.

It is worth noting that UN food security classifications officially announced last week that Gaza is experiencing famine due to the closure of crossing points since March and the prevention of aid entry.