Artists urge Venice Film Festival to condemn Gaza 'genocide'

A group of actors, directors and singers sent a letter to the organizers of the Venice Film Festival, which begins next Wednesday (27), to demand a more courageous stance from the world of culture and condemn Israel for a "genocide" in the Gaza Strip.

The manifesto is signed mainly by Italian artists, such as filmmakers Alice Rohrwacher, Marco Bellocchio and Matteo Garrone, actors Alba Rohrwacher, Laura Morante, Toni Servillo and Valeria Golino and singer Fiorella Mannoia, but also includes American director Abel Ferrara.

"The burden is too great to continue living as before. For almost two years, we have been receiving unequivocal images from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We have watched, in disbelief and powerlessness, as the State of Israel committed genocide live in Palestine. No one will be able to say: 'I didn't know, I didn't imagine, I didn't believe,'" says the text submitted to the Venice Biennale by the artists, under the acronym V4P, or "Venice for Palestine."

"Yet, as the spotlight shines on the Venice Film Festival, we risk experiencing the umpteenth major event impervious to such human, civil, and political tragedy. The show must go on, we are told, as if the world of cinema had no connection to the real world," the letter adds.

The artists call for the creation of spaces and opportunities at the exhibition to promote initiatives related to Palestine, so that one of the world's largest film festivals "is not a sad and empty showcase." "We believe that, for once, the spectacle can stop, interrupt the flow of indifference, and open a path to awareness," the text concludes.

In response, the Venice Biennale stated that the festival has always been "a place for debate and sensitive to all of society's most pressing issues", but has not yet announced any specific initiatives on the topic.