Venice Festival: filmmakers call to take a position more firmly in favor of the Palestinian cause

A collective of filmmakers and cinema professionals, led by Marco Bellocchio, Matteo Garrone and Alice Rohrwacher, published on Saturday an open letter calling for Venice Mostra to take a position more firmly in favor of the Palestinian cause. Gathered under the banner Venice4Palestine (V4P), the signatories denounce the “genocide in progress in Gaza” and call the festival and the biennial to “be more courageous and clear” in their conviction. Among the international supports are Ken Loach, Abel Ferrara, the French Audrey Diwan or the Palestinian directors Arab and Tarzan Nasser.

The Biennale reacted quickly, saying that the festival has always been “an open place of discussion and sensitivity to the most pressing issues in society”. The organization recalled that films such as The Voice of Hind Rajab From Kaouther Ben Hania, inspired by the tragic death of a Palestinian girl in Gaza, testify to this commitment. And to conclude: “The Biennale is, as always, open to dialogue. »»

A serious tone crosses the letter, which opens with a poetic quote: “Stop the Clocks, turn off the stars. The filmmakers express their amazement there in the face of images from Gaza and the West Bank: “For almost two years now, we are witnessing incredulous on the torture of a genocide led live by the State of Israel. »» A direct arrest at a festival which has been claiming, since its creation, a conscience of the world and its dramas.

The Venice Mostra, founded in 1932, is the oldest film festival in the world. Organized each year on the Lido, it is part of the Venice Biennale, a prestigious Italian cultural institution. Renowned for its artistic requirement and its international dimension, the Mostra has contributed to revealing major filmmakers and remains today one of the most influential meetings of the seventh art, alongside Cannes and Berlin. The 82nd edition of the Venice International Film Festival will be held from August 27 to September 6, 2025.

This movement echoes a broader mobilization of the European cultural world in the face of the war waged in Gaza. In Italy, he takes a particular resonance, as much Venice remains a place of symbolic influence in the world cinematographic landscape. By calling on the Mostra to get out of its neutrality, the signatories recall that art and cinema cannot be held at a distance when whole peoples fight for their survival.