Open letter urges Venice Film Festival to take pro-Palestinian stance

A broad coalition of filmmakers and cultural figures has launched an open letter urging the Venice Film Festival and its organizing bodies to take a decisive pro-Palestinian stance as the 82nd edition opens later this month. Under the banner Venice4Palestine, the signatories call on the Biennale di Venezia, along with the festival’s independent sections Venice Days and the International Critics Week, to condemn what they describe as genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing across Palestine, and to expand spaces for Palestinian narratives during the event.

The letter, signed by hundreds of industry professionals from Italy and abroad, begins with a stark appeal: “Stop the clocks, turn off the stars,” and argues that the festival has a duty to confront the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe rather than overlook it. Signatories include prominent Italian filmmakers such as Marco Bellocchio, Matteo Garrone and Alba and Alice Rohrwacher, as well as international figures like Abel Ferrara, Ken Loach and Audrey Diwan. Palestinian directors Arab Nasser and Tarzan Nasser, who won top Cannes recognition, are among those lending their voices to the appeal.

The authors contend that for nearly two...