The 82nd Venice Film Festival opens this week under mounting pressure from a coalition of international filmmakers calling for the event to condemn what they describe as genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
Operating under the banner Venice4Palestine, the group issued an open letter to La Biennale di Venezia, the festival’s governing body, as well as its Venice Days and International Critics’ Week sections. The signatories warn that without a clear position, the festival risks becoming “a sad and empty showcase,” urging organizers instead to reclaim their role as “a place of dialogue, active participation, and resistance.”
The letter calls for Palestinian stories to be highlighted and for the festival to acknowledge long-standing issues, including apartheid, illegal occupation, colonialism, and other alleged crimes against humanity attributed to Israel, extending beyond the events of October 7.
The appeal has drawn support from high-profile names across Europe and beyond. Italian actor Toni Servillo, filmmakers Alba and Alice Rohrwacher, French directors Céline Sciamma and Audrey Diwan, British director Ken Loach, actor Charles Dance, and Palestinian filmmakers Arab and Tarzan Nasser are among those who signed.
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“As the spotlight turns on the Venice Film Festival, we risk witnessing yet another cultural event indifferent to this human, civil, and political tragedy,” the letter states. “We are told ‘the show must go on,’ as though the film world has nothing to do with the real world.”
The signatories stress the need to “interrupt the flow of indifference and open a path to awareness,” insisting that “there is no cinema without humanity.” The message concludes with a call to action:
“Let us ensure that this Mostar carries meaningful values and does not turn into a shallow vanity fair once more. Let’s do it all together, with courage, with integrity. Free Palestine.”
