Shame on Naomi Klein....
Gee, you can even celebrate the city of Tel Aviv without ridiculous protest...
Several Canadian filmmakers plan to withdraw their movies from next month's Toronto International Film Festival to protest a weeklong cinematic homage to Tel Aviv.
They claim that the screenings will show Israel in a positive light instead of creating a critical forum in which to discuss the occupation.
The Tel Aviv-centric week launches the Toronto Festival's new City to City event and is intended to celebrate Tel Aviv's centennial.
According to the protesting artists, including culture critic Naomi Klein and director John Greyson, the problem is not the official participation of Israeli films at the festival but the character of the forum in which they will be screened.
They refer to an interview given last year by the Israeli consul in Toronto, Amir Gissin, to the Canadian Jewish News, in which he said that Israel's image would be improved by participating in the festival.
Among the films to be shown are "Kirot" ("Walls") by Danny Lerner, "Phobidilia" by Yoav and Doron Paz, "Bena" by Niv Klainer, "Jaffa" by Keren Yedaya, "The Bubble" by Eytan Fox, "A History of Israeli Cinema, Part I and II," by Raphael Nadjari, "Life According to Agfa" by Assi Dayan, "Big Eyes" by Uri Zohar, and "Big Dig," a 40-year-old film by Ephraim Kishon.
In a letter sent to the Toronto festival administration, Greyson wrote that the protest was not against Israeli films or filmmakers chosen for the festival.
He expressed admiration for film work by Israelis shown at previous festivals and said that he would attend Israeli films in the future.
Rather, he wrote, his protest was about the "spotlight" itself, the business-as-usual atmosphere advanced by the choice of Tel Aviv as a young, dynamic metropolis, in a celebration free of confrontation with less pleasant parts of Israel, such as what he termed the "brutal occupation."
posted by GayandRight @ 11:17 PM
4 Comments:
The anti Israel nonsense continues. In my opinion the shoe is on the other foot. How can any intelligent human being not support the right of Israel to exist. All, and I mean all, of Israel's responses to attacks, however questionable, were still in self defense against Arab provocation and lies.
There would be no refugees if the suurounding countries had taken them in the way the Jews expelled by Arab countries were taken in by Israel.
So to today the Christians from Arab lands are also being taken in by the West.
So to are Arab Muslims taken in even if they are only economic refugees.
It is time that the so called Arabs of palestine make peace with Israel.
It seems like Hoarfrost wants the Arabs of Palestine to make peace with Israel by leaving Palestine/Israel.
Skinny Dipper: Not at all. He's making a very sensible point that the Palestinian refugees have been kept in camps for decades - when they should have been resettled.
Vietnamese refugees have gone around the world to be resettled - into countries with different languages, religions, cultures, climate, etc. The palestinians could have been resettled into areas with the same language, same religion, same climate, and same culture.
fred
"Several Canadian filmmakers ... claim that the screenings will show Israel in a positive light ..."
Certainly something no anti-semite propagandist worth his salt would stand for.
At least withdrawing from the festival is a civil form of protest. Kudos for that.
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