Film festival in Switzerland breaks silence on Gaza

An artistic director at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland condemned Israel and expressed his solidarity with Palestinians, while events for the wider film industry have reportedly avoided addressing the topic, as reported by Middle East Eye on August 22nd.

In the wake of October 7th 2023 and the Gaza attacks, major film festivals across Europe and the United States avoided direct comment. Instead, programmers chose to convey their stance through film choices, often highlighting works that have been sympathetic to Palestinians.

Some sought “balance” or avoided the subject altogether. Although, for around two years, no leading festival director openly addressed the situation in Gaza. That silence ended at the opening of Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival, when Italian artistic director Giona A Nazzaro became the first western festival head to declare solidarity with Palestinians amid wider Western complicity with Israeli actions.

Amid the progressing anti-Israeli sentiment, Switzerland, the film festival’s base, advanced plans on July 2nd to disband its branch of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – a US and Israeli backed aid group – over its legal deficiencies.

Furthermore, the US government faces a lawsuit from the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which has been filed in a bid to challenge the reportedly dubious nature of the foundation’s finances.

Speaking before 8,000 people at the Piazza Grande, Nazzaro stated: “As a community and as individuals, we have a duty to keep our eyes open, especially towards places where suffering is a daily struggle, and therefore to denounce the intolerable destruction of Gaza and the terrible humanitarian tragedy that is afflicting the Palestinian people with the violence of bombs and famine.”

Local activists had staged a peaceful protest before the ceremony, urging for an end to Israeli actions. Nazzaro’s impassioned words echoed the anger of a film community unable to bear silence any longer. His speech ultimately raised expectations for other directors.

Nazzaro said the festival’s president and Swiss billionaire Maja Hoffmann, fully supported his stance. Festival staff members admitted, however, that some sponsors disliked his statement. Public endorsement of his stance shielded him from demands to “tone it down”, yet the risk of backlash remained. Locarno therefore became the first major western stage to confront Gaza directly.

Middle East Eye, Maghrebi.org