Dozens of protesters assembled in front of Venice’s famous red carpet Wednesday morning, unveiling a “Free Palestine. Stop the Genocide” banner as the 82nd edition of the film festival kicked off.
Around 10 a.m., just hours before opening night festivities, demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and repeatedly chanted “Free Palestine” and “Stop the Genocide.” Spokespeople briefly addressed the assembled press in Italian before closing their demonstration with “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free.”
Behind the protest stands a broad coalition spanning Italian trade unions, anti-racist and feminist groups, student collectives, environmental activists, and religious organizations. International networks including Extinction Rebellion and Refugees Welcome joined the effort, alongside film industry associations representing editors, casting directors, and technicians’ guilds.
Organizers are demanding that Venice festival leadership take a public stance opposing what they term “the genocide in Palestine perpetrated by Israel” and that they “denounce the complicity of Western governments.”
A larger march is planned for Saturday at 5 p.m. local time. Activists will gather at the Santa Maria Elisabetta water bus stop on the Lido before marching across the island to the festival red carpet in what organizers call “a symbolic and political choice, aimed at breaking the silence and turning the spotlight of the festival on Palestine.”
Separately, hundreds of Italian and international filmmakers signed an open letter ahead of the festival calling on Venice organizers to take a “clear and unambiguous stand” against the Jewish State. In the letter, signatories accused the Israeli government and military of carrying out genocide in Gaza and urged 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.”
Festival organizers pushed back in their response, stating that they “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.”
Paul Laverty, longtime screenwriter for Ken Loach and a signatory to the Venice letter, was arrested Monday during a pro-Hamas protest in Scotland. According to The Guardian, Laverty faces charges for “showing support for a proscribed organization” after wearing a T-shirt supporting Palestine Action during a protest outside a police station. Britain designated Palestine Action as a terrorist organization on July 5 under the U.K.’s Terrorism Act.
Venice will screen “The Voice of Hind Rajab” in competition this year—a propaganda drama from Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania about the killing of a 5-year-old Arab girl by Israeli forces in Gaza in 2024. Hollywood figures including Brad Pitt, Joaquin Phoenix, Rooney Mara, and Oscar-winning directors Jonathan Glazer and Alfonso Cuarón have all signed on as executive producers.
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