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Israeli Creatives Discuss Being Boycotted, ‘Systematically Canceled’ by Film Festivals Over Gaza War
Ticket holders at the Tribeca Festival, formerly the Tribeca Film Festival, at the SVA Theatre in Chelsea in New York on Saturday, June 8, 2024. Photo: Levine-Roberts/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect
Israeli filmmakers, television producers, and other creatives in the entertainment industry opened up to Variety in an interview published on Thursday about being backlisted from prestigious film festivals and losing collaborators, jobs, and funding since the start of the Israel-Hams war last year.
Directors, producers, and actors discussed with Variety how their projects have been intentionally excluded from film festivals, which would prefer not to stir controversy and incite anti-Israel protesters by featuring Israeli films. Israeli filmmaker Shoval Tshuva told the publication that her short film “Funky,” which is about her personal experience facing sexual assault, was dropped from multiple festivals following the Hamas-led Palestinian terrorist attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“I made a film about the most dehumanizing experience that I ever had to go through. And in a way, I was so focused on being a woman and telling a female story that I forgot that I’m Israeli and Jewish and that that comes with a whole other sort of discrimination,” Tshuva explained. “The fact is Israeli filmmakers are getting systematically canceled.”
The Toronto Film Festival in September only included one Israeli project – Shemi Zarhin’s relationship drama “Bliss” — which was included last-minute and not part of the initial lineup, according to Variety. The film festival did, however, include four films from Palestinian directors.
“During my participation at the Jerusalem Film Festival in July, filmmakers and producers shared with me that they are being told by programmers for the major festivals, including Sundance and Toronto, that they are not comfortable taking Israeli films or documentaries at this point in time,” said veteran Hollywood attorney Craig Emanuel, who counsels Ryan Murphy Productions and has advised the Sundance Film Festival in the past. “Programmers are saying they are concerned about pushback and demonstrations regardless of whether [a film] is political or not. That’s just not a healthy thing for us as an industry or a society.”
Sundance last year rejected “Come Closer,” a drama by Israeli director Tom Nesher that in September became Israel’s submission for the 97th Academy Awards in the category of best international feature film. The same film, about a young woman struggling with the sudden death of her brother, was initially rejected by the Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year before later being approved by a senior programming team after Tribeca Enterprises CEO Jane Rosenthal intervened, Variety revealed. “Come Closer” ultimately won the Viewpoints Award at Tribeca. The film also screened last month at the Thessaloniki Film Festival.
Variety also reported on an email that “Fauda” producer Liat Benasuly wrote in mid-October about a “significant number” of investors and partners pausing their working relationships with Israeli creatives since the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. Benasuly encouraged supporters to donate to a newly formed organization called the Friends of Israeli Film & TV Producers Association.
The post Israeli Creatives Discuss Being Boycotted, ‘Systematically Canceled’ by Film Festivals Over Gaza War first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.