The global outrage over the war in Gaza and the resulting humanitarian catastrophe has reached the Venice Film Festival.
As the 82nd edition kicked off on Wednesday, a broad group of Italian and international cultural and activist groups announced their intention to use the platform of the festival to protest Israel for its military conduct in the Gaza Strip. And they did just that by assembling in front of the famed red carpet shortly after 10 a.m. this morning, just hours ahead of the opening night festivities.
A couple of dozen activists waved Palestinian flags and unveiled a banner that read “Free Palestine. Stop the Genocide.” The group repeatedly chanted both slogans, “Free Palestine” and “Stop the Genocide,” before spokespeople briefly addressed the assembled press (in Italian) to kick off what was initially billed as a press conference during which they intended to reveal their plans for the duration of the festival. As it’s currently underway, this story will be updated with their comments. They closed the event with a chant of “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free,” a slogan seen as controversial, even antisemitic by some.
Among the organizations supporting the protest are trade unions, anti-racist and feminist groups, student collectives, environmental activists, religious and peace associations, and local cultural, political, and community organizations from across Italy, alongside Palestinian community groups, NGOs such as Emergency and Mediterranea Saving Humans, and international networks including Extinction Rebellion and Refugees Welcome. They are joined by numerous film-industry associations and festivals — from editors, casting directors, and technicians’ guilds to groups like ZaLab and the Perugia Social Film Festival — reflecting a broad coalition that spans civil society, grassroots movements, and the cultural sector.
The group is demanding that the Venice festival take a public stance on the war in Gaza by opposing what they term ” the genocide in Palestine perpetrated by Israel” and to “denounce the complicity of Western governments.”
A protest is planned for Saturday, Aug. 30 at 5 pm local time, where activists will gather at the Santa Maria Elisabetta water bus stop on the Lido and march across the island to the festival red carpet. The groups call the march “a symbolic and political choice, aimed at breaking the silence and turning the spotlight of the festival on Palestine.”
Separately to this in-person protest, hundreds of Italian and international filmmakers, artists and cultural figures signed an open letter ahead of the festival, calling on Venice organizers to take a “clear and unambiguous stand” against what they described as genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
The appeal, organized under the banner of Venice4Palestine (V4P), was sent on Friday, Aug. 22 to the Venice film festival umbrella organization the Biennale di Venezia, as well as the festival’s independent sections Venice Days and International Critics’ Week.
In the letter, the group accuses the Israeli government and military of carrying out genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing across Palestine, and urges the festival to avoid becoming “a sad and empty showcase” by instead providing “a place of dialogue, active participation, and resistance, as it has been in the past.”
In response to the letter, the Biennale said they and the Venice festival “have 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].”
The statement noted that The Voice of Hind Rajab, a real-life drama from Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania, about the killing of a 5-year-old Palestinian girl by Israeli forces in Gaza in 2024, will be screening in competition at Venice this year. Several Hollywood heavyweights, including Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, and Oscar-winning directors Jonathan Glazer, and Alfonso Cuaron, have come on board Ben Hania’s film as executive producers.
Film industry figures are increasingly putting themselves on the front lines of protests against Israeli’s actions in Gaza.
On Monday, Paul Laverty, Ken Loach‘s longtime screenwriter and a signatory to the Venice letter, was arrested during a pro-Palestine protest in Scotland. The Guardian reports that Laverty has been charged for “showing support for a proscribed organization” after wearing a t-shirt in support of the group Palestine Action during a protest outside a police station. Laverty’s t-shirt said, “Genocide in Palestine, time to take Action”. The British government controversially proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group on July 5 under the U.K.’s Terrorism Act.
More to come.