Israeli Creatives Discuss Being Boycotted, ‘Systematically Canceled’ by Film Festivals Over Gaza War

Shiryn Ghermezian

Ticket holders at the Tribeca Festival, formerly the Tribeca Film Festival, at the SVA Theatre in Chelsea in New York on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Photo: Levine-Roberts/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

Israeli filmmakers, television producers, and other creatives in the entertainment industry opened up to Variety in an interview published on Thursday about being backlisted from prestigious film festivals and losing collaborators, jobs, and funding since the start of the Israel-Hams war last year.

Directors, producers, and actors discussed with Variety how their projects have been intentionally excluded from film festivals, which would prefer not to stir controversy and incite anti-Israel protesters by featuring Israeli films. Israeli filmmaker Shoval Tshuva told the publication that her short film “Funky,” which is about her personal experience facing sexual assault, was dropped from multiple festivals following the Hamas-led Palestinian terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

“I made a film about the most dehumanizing experience that I ever had to go through. And in a way, I was so focused on being a woman and telling a female story that I forgot that I’m Israeli and Jewish and that that comes with a whole other sort of discrimination,” Tshuva explained. “The fact is Israeli filmmakers are getting systematically canceled.”

The Toronto Film Festival in September only included one Israeli project – Shemi Zarhin’s relationship drama “Bliss” — which was included last-minute and not part of the initial lineup, according to Variety. The film festival did, however, include four films from Palestinian directors.

“During my participation at the Jerusalem Film Festival in July, filmmakers and producers shared with me that they are being told by programmers for the major festivals, including Sundance and Toronto, that they are not comfortable taking Israeli films or documentaries at this point in time,” said veteran Hollywood attorney Craig Emanuel, who counsels Ryan Murphy Productions and has advised the Sundance Film Festival in the past. “Programmers are saying they are concerned about pushback and demonstrations regardless of whether [a film] is political or not. That’s just not a healthy thing for us as an industry or a society.”

Sundance last year rejected “Come Closer,” a drama by Israeli director Tom Nesher that in September became Israel’s submission for the 97th Academy Awards in the category of best international feature film. The same film, about a young woman struggling with the sudden death of her brother, was initially rejected by the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year before later being approved by a senior programming team after Tribeca Enterprises CEO Jane Rosenthal intervened, Variety revealed. “Come Closer” ultimately won the Viewpoints Award at Tribeca. The film also screened last month at the Thessaloniki Film Festival.

Variety also reported on an email that “Fauda” producer Liat Benasuly wrote in mid-October about a “significant number” of investors and partners pausing their working relationships with Israeli creatives since the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. Benasuly encouraged supporters to donate to a newly formed organization called the Friends of Israeli Film & TV Producers Association.