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September 3, 2009 | 6:13 pm

Protest sparked over Toronto Film Festival’s focus on Tel Aviv

Posted by Danielle Berrin

The Toronto International Film Festival may not be a friendly place for the Israeli filmmakers invited to screen their films there next week. What began as one filmmaker withdrawing his work in protest of the festival’s spotlight on Tel Aviv, is fast becoming a full-fledged boycott. This past week, more than fifty writers, directors and actors have signed an open letter protesting Toronto’s choice to feature Tel Aviv in their “City To City” sidebar.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, British director Ken Loach, Jane Fonda, Wallace Shawn, musician David Byrne and actor Danny Glover are among those who signed a document entitled “The Toronto Declaration: No Celebration of Occupation,” which says that Toronto, “whether intentionally or not, has become complicit in the Israeli propaganda machine.”

The protesters say they do not object to the inclusion of Israeli films, but rather, the special focus on Israel, which to them is akin to “staging a propaganda campaign on behalf of an apartheid regime,” as the letter stated.

In a twist of irony, the Coen brothers (“No Country for Old Men”) are scheduled to world premiere their latest film “A Serious Man” at the festival, which ranks high with Jewish content. Though the film does not concern itself exactly with Israel, it follows the journey of a Jewish man seeking wisdom from his rabbis—content that may rankle alongside debate about the Jewish State.

According to THR, Toronto has chosen Tel Aviv as the subject of its first ever “City to City” program, which spotlights films from a selected city. As part of the series, the festival will screen Etyan Fox’s “The Bubble,” Uri Zohar’s “Big Eyes,” Efraim Kishon’s 1969 farce “Big Dig” and Niv Klainer’s “Bena,” among others.

The open letter’s primary criticism is that the selection of films does not include any from a Palestinian perspective. The letter claims that focusing on Tel Aviv without including perspectives from the West Bank or the Gaza Strip is “like rhapsodizing about the beauty and elegant lifestyles in white-only Cape Town or Johannesburg during apartheid without acknowledging the corresponding black townships of Khayelitsha and Soweto.”

Backlash against the protest has already begun.

Cameron Bailey, Co-Director of Toronto posted a response to the letter on the festival’s website. “I was attracted to Tel Aviv as our inaugural city because the films being made there explore and critique the city from many different perspectives,” Bailey writes. “The goal of City to City is to take a closer look at global cities through a cinematic lens, especially cities where film contributes to or chronicles social change in compelling ways…We encourage everyone to see the films, engage in debate and draw their own conclusions.” But apparently, the protesters threatening a festival boycott refused to see the films selected and therefore, have little knowledge of the realities they portray.

In a separate story, THR spoke to Canadian documentary filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici, who was born in Israel. Jacobovici suggested to the paper that John Greyson, the filmmaker who withdrew his short from the festival, should test his sympathy for the Palestinians by screening his short film about the Sarajevo Queer Festival in Tel Aviv and on the West Bank.

“He will be invited to screen the film at the local (Tel Aviv) cinematheque. He can then walk around with the same sign down the streets of Palestinian Ramallah. He should document the experience on video and then enter it into next year’s TIFF—posthumously,” Jacobovici told THR.

Bailey also took a stab at Greyson in his letter: “John writes that his protest isn’t against the films or filmmakers we have chosen, but against the spotlight itself. By that reasoning, no films programmed within this series would have met his approval, no matter what they contained. For us, the content and form of films does matter.”

Read more about the protest at The Hollywood Reporter
Responses from filmmakers who support Israel
Filmmakers protest uncritical view of Tel Aviv at Toronto film festival in Haaretz

17 Comments — Leave your comment

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Regarding jane Fonda: About 29 years ago the LA Times printed my letter supporting Fonda.  i regretted that when I learned more details about what she did in North Vietnam. And now this. People don’t know the real Danny Glover who gets photo ops at Charity events. I know someone who won a dinner with him as a First Prize and Glover reneged.

Comment by Morton Wright on 9/03/09 at 9:33 pm

OPEN LETTER to John Greyson

Dear Mr. Greyson,

Having now watched your film…

1) Your film is not a coherent piece of storytelling. Presumably it was invited to the festival in the first place due to your relationship with the festival heads.

2) One aspect of what you attempt to illuminate in your film is important: The violence against that festival in Sarajevo. What I learned from your piece of filmmaking here I could have learned reading one paragraph in 20 seconds. Where is your art here, as a filmmaker? Why are you telling us this story, rather than showing it? (One of the cardinal rules of screenplays and filmmaking is SHOW US, don’t tell us.) And what is this voiceover of someone teaching another words in presumably the Bosnian language? To hit us over the head with the written narration you want us to read? Pointless. No connection to the story you’re attempting to tell. Just let us read the narration.

3) What is the point with famous musicians in this story, doing covers of songs? How does this “cover” aspect relate or connect in any way with the violence to shut the festival down? That the festival was “covered” with silence by the news media? Or that the festival got “covered” with violence? Either way, the connection between the former and latter makes absolutely no logical or poetic sense.

I do not know you. I’ve never seen any of your work before. And this is the first time in my life, in my career, that I have ever written non-praiseworthy comments about another filmmaker. If I don’t like someone’s feature or short, I keep the comments to myself or among conversation with friends.

Because of the quality of your film (or my perceived lack of), this pulling your film from Toronto strikes me as a publicity stunt. Sure, some can say you don’t do this kind of stuff, because you don’t care about Hollywood. But you do care about publicity, I’m sure. We both know the power of this, and what it can do for one’s career. This appears to be no more than a publicity stunt.

And this is disconcerting to me. Using the complicated politics of the Middle East to promote yourself is, in my view, dishonest, disingenuous, and opportunistic.

I am an American Jew. I do not claim to know all the intricacies of all the issues between Israelis and Palestinians. But I have been following the issues since the first Palestinian intifada in 1987.

While I have never personally approved of the way the Israeli government handled that, or the second intifada, one MUST have perspective on the entirety of the issues in that region, and NOT pull aspects out of the larger issue to look at them individually and out of context. I believe most Jews, as myself, do not want to ever see an Israeli soldier killing anyone. But I also don’t want to see terrorists blowing innocent people up in Tel Aviv clubs and hotels, or see Hamas firing rockets into Israel killing children.

So let’s cut to the chase here, because I (or anyone) could write about all the back & forth between the two sides ad nauseam, and who’s to blame or who first started “the latest round.”

The Arab world, particularly the Arab nations that attempted to destroy Israel and wipe Israel off the map in 1967 and 1973, hold much responsibility in there being no peace in the Middle East. Anyone who truly understands the issues there—TRULY UNDERSTANDS—knows that for a lasting peace to take effect, it will require the real participation and backing of these Arab nations.

What does this mean? For one, they stop funding the Palestinians’ various military wings (and past and current terrorist activities) and they come to the bargaining table in sincerity. What many people not educated on these regional issues don’t realize, is that it serves some of these Arab nations’ OWN politics to maintain Israel as the pariah. As long as Israel is hated and despised, it focuses attention away from some of these corrupt Arab governments. (The leaders of these governments are not stupid.)

It is not in their best interests, in their minds, to have a “global” peace with Israel. Egypt became the exception in the late ‘70s due to the foresight and forward thinking of that nation’s leader then, and Jordan in the ‘90s as well. But this is not the norm. You have textbooks—TEXTBOOKS—in some of these Arab nations that schoolchildren read, that teach hatred of the Jews and Israel.

Propaganda? Damn right it is. The leaders of some of these nations do not want their citizens blaming them for their social ills, or high unemployment, or—God forbid—the reason there is no peace in that region. Blame the Jews. It’s easy and convenient. And of course, historical.

I apologize for my bluntness here, but people like you, Mr. Greyson, do not truly understand ALL the issues at play. The regional issues and the geopolitical issues. You glom onto pieces of the debate, and believe you understand everything.

If there is ever going to be peace in the Middle East, it will NOT take leaders, but statesmen. It will take all the Arab nations, and Israel, and the U.S., to come together to hammer out something everyone can live with. It will take the Arab Nations forcing the Palestinians to accept compromises that the Palestinians don’t want to accept, and it will take the U.S. forcing Israel to accept compromises that Israel does not want to accept.

One thing most people forget, is that Israel is a democracy. The leader that gets elected is either a “conservative” or “liberal,” and very contingent upon the mood of that nation at the time of election. (Just like the U.S.) Unfortunately, this affects their policies and engagement of the peace process. When there are terrorist attacks in Israel, the people there want revenge, not peace. (Just like here in the U.S. with 9/11.) Unfortunately, the human element of feeling injustice and wanting revenge cannot be removed from the human psyche. Awareness of this psychology, however, can sometimes help. But I digress.

You think that Israel engaging in some governmental propaganda, to try to change some of the world’s low opinions of it, is wrong. And thus, you pull your film and assert you’re making a statement. And yet, by doing so, you are asserting that Israel IS in the wrong here, and that they should be “punished” in some way. Forget about the latest round of Hamas rockets being fired into Israel last year, forget about the Palestinian leaders (Yasser Arafat, for one) in the past refusing to make peace with Israel when Israel had leaders who tried, and forget about discussing the Arab Nations’ leaders and their lack of real participation.

Just blame Israel.

This is short-sighted of you, and shows you have a real lack of comprehension of the all the issues at hand.

This is beside the point, but if Israel wants to engage in some propaganda around the world, why shouldn’t they? The Palestinians do it. And when looking at the entire history of U.N. resolution votes (and Security Council votes) since the birth of Israel, you have nearly every nation in the world voting AGAINST Israel the majority of the time. Except for the U.S.  This speaks volumes about the world’s prejudices still existing today. Volumes.

Pulling your film from TIFF for publicity purposes? That’s your choice as a filmmaker and as a person. Pulling it under the guise of bringing light to your judgement that the TIFF is wrong in showcasing Israeli films? Naive, uneducated, and opportunistic.

Jerome Courshon
Producer/Writer
Los Angeles, CA

Comment by Jerome Courshon on 9/03/09 at 11:58 pm

I am proud of Israel. The Jews are still defending their right to exist against a hostile, anti-semitic world, from the destruction of the first Temple to the Holocaust to the suicide bombers. I will never again support the misguided, ignorant actors and singers Jane Fonda, Wallace Shawn, David Byrne and Danny Glover. What movies are they showing in Palestine? What freedom is there in Palestine? How much hate is there in Palestine?

Comment by Yankel Gorokhofskij on 9/04/09 at 7:52 pm

I’m in shock!

I just posted a polite comment suggesting constructive action on the part of our readers, and got feedback that it was being moderated as possible spam!!!

What on earth could have triggered that reaction?  I really feel I should be accorded the courtesy of an explanation!

Comment by Pace on 9/07/09 at 8:35 pm

I am not “Pace”.  The above comment was posted by me,
Hypatia.  How did this get attributed to “Pace”.  Please, Webmaster and Moderator, get your attributions straight!

Comment by Pace on 9/07/09 at 8:37 pm

OK, I give up.

Hypatia

Comment by Pace on 9/07/09 at 8:38 pm

This lens is very good explanation. Thank you.

Comment by Beden on 9/08/09 at 11:17 am

Ask any vietnam vteran about Jane Fonda. See what they say.

Comment by bill Pearlman on 9/10/09 at 8:07 am

Get rid of this spam:
This lens is very good explanation. Thank you.
  Comment by Beden on 9/08/09 at 9:17 am

This person has been spamming various columns non-stop with links to Turkish gibberish

Comment by Yankel Gorokhofskij on 9/11/09 at 11:22 am

David Byrne was married to a Jew, Jane Fonda is engaged to a Jew, and worst of all, Wallace Shawn IS a Jew. Come on, Jewish people, get your act together. You should be loving Israel, and not continuing to spawn this self-hatred/qualified/lack of support for our ancestral home. You’ve been in diaspora so long you are afraid to love yourself and the homeland of your own people. Speak out so there is less impetus and reward for this kind of radical, Jew-hating posturing.

Comment by Yankel on 9/11/09 at 11:30 am

I have lost any respect I once had for Belafonte, Fonda, Glover, and Shawn.  I would love to see Greyson show his films in Gaza, the West Bank, Tehran, Saudi Arabia, Cairo, Damascus, Baghdad, Islamabad, Jakarta, and Kuala Lampur.  The ugly, violent, hate-filled reception that the gay film fest got in Sarajevo is precisely what one can expect for anything progressive or different, for that matter, in most, if not all, Islamic and Arab-controlled countries. Israel is the only country in the Middle East, in fact, that has gay rights—to even a greater extent than the US—and the only place in the region where Greyson could screen his films and walk out of the cinema alive and in one piece.  The very films he wants to boycott are quite critical of Israeli society and yet do so without wanting to destroy the country.  All these self-righteous, hypocritical, monomaniacal bigots like Greyson who single out Israel above all, and to the exclusion of, all other countries for boycotts, isolation, unbridled vitriol, and ultimate annihilation are either antisemites by design, by choice, or at the very least abettors of the propaganda and agenda of the heirs of the Nazis.  What else could it be but Judeophobia when only the world’s only _Jewish_ state is their constant target to virtually the exclusion of all else?

Comment by Mike on 9/11/09 at 2:59 pm

Dear Friend of Israel,

A Facebook friend sent the below hyperlink to me below. As an American Gay Jew;
I found the articles one sided and defamatory. I find it irresponsible not to point out
what the Palestinians have done to Israel. 

Having said that I agree that anymore building in the West Bank and Jerusalem on Palestinian designated land by the United Nations needs to be frozen for peace to happen. Also Israel needs to withdraw from all lands in the West Bank during this time of relative calm between the West Bank and Israel. Otherwise the Palestinians will become frustrated and a new intifada may arise. Israel is their worst own enemy on this issue. And this may be why the apartheid banners were displayed. Though I do not view it as apartheid.

Plus LGBT Palestinians have no rights in the territories . They are killed by their families and community if they do not change their sexual orientation = HONOR KILLING. LGBT Palestinians flee to Israel to seek asylum because of this. I can not support the hate movement indicated in the hyperlink. Please contact the below
IGLTA contacts and tell them you support LGBT tourism to Israel and that you dis-approve of the extremist and defamatory one sided view in the hyperlink ASAP.
PLEASE PASS ONTO OTHERS WHO ARE FRIENDS OF ISRAEL TO BREAK THIS
UNREASONABLE BOYCOTT TODAY. Thanks. paw



Please email your letter to all management and staff members of IGLTA:
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
(John Tanzella, Executive Director; Richard Brower, Strategic Development & Marketing Manager; Deven Chism, Administrative Assistant; Babs Daitch , Special Projects; Ann Corbitt, Event Planner; Tom Nibbio, Manager – Partnership Development; Aaron Riggins, Manager – Membership Development; Carlos Kytka, Manager – Europe; Mark Proffit, Australia / New Zealand Ambassador; André Rojer, Latin America Ambassador; Alfredo Ferreyra, Argentina Ambassador; Clovis Casemiro, Brazil Ambassador; Canadian Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce , Canada Ambassador; Clark Massad, France Ambassador; Edwin Brown, Germany Ambassador; Andreas Balakakis, Greece Ambassador; Shai Doitsch, Israel Ambassador; Bertho Makso, Lebanon Ambassador; Ron Kuijpers, Mexico Ambassador; Piotr Wojcik, Poland Ambassador; Adriaan Coetzer, South Africa; Brian Kruger, South Africa Ambassador; Juan A. Carmona Del Solar, Spain Ambassador; Tobias Holfelt, Sweden Ambassador; Spyros Petridis, Switzerland Ambassador; Mustafa Kartopu, Turkey Ambassador; Darren Cooper, United Kingdom Ambassador; Babs Daitch, United States of America Ambassador)
Source: http://www.iglta.org/staff.cfm

Extremist Propaganda:

“fyi: http://www.facebook.com/l/c746e;queersagainstapartheid.org/”

Patrick Abraham Weiss .

 

 

Reply Forward

Comment by Patrick Weiss on 9/14/09 at 5:11 pm

After all is said and done I still think that a lot of the anti-Israel B.S. is just latent anti-Semitism!!!  Like Mel Gibson…only with him it took a coouple of drinks to let it out. What pisses me off are the misguided Jewish celebrities who support this and other anti-Israel crusades under the guise of supporting human rights for the palestinian “underdogs”. They might as well become “Jews for Jesus” while they’re at it!!!  I’m an old Liberal from way back and usually support the underdogs automatically…however I’m bright enough to understand that it’s the Israeli’s who are the true underdogs!!! The fight is against the entire arab world with the palestinians as the pretext.  What is it about 4/5 thousand years the Jews have been fighting extinction…we shall survive this too.

Norm Galston
Newbury Park, CA

Comment by norog on 9/15/09 at 10:53 am

Norm, that was so well said. We Jews are our own worst enemies. We have been massacred throughout our history. Every Arab country attacked us in 1948. The Arab countries supported Hitler (particularly the Grand Mufti of Palestine), and they still deny the holocaust. If Israel laid down their weapons, they would be murdered like dogs. Yet most Jews like Patrick Abraham Weiss above find it necessary to qualify their support of their ancestral homeland, Israel. Many American Jews are actually ashamed of the wonderful success of Israel and feel a need to criticize it to show that they are “liberal” and “enlightened.” They are foolish. If Israel eases up for a second, they will be compromised or wiped out. The Arabs will never agree to allow Israel to exist, that has always been the crux of the issue. Jews, wise up! NEVER AGAIN!

Comment by Yankel on 9/16/09 at 2:42 pm

Check out the cry-me-a-river jews on this site!

Poor jews being boycotted by those anti-semites-dreadful.

They have to kill and lie and steal because if they don’t they’ll get Holocausted again!

Keep talking chumps - it shows the world what the jews are really all about…

Comment by stevieb on 9/20/09 at 5:27 pm

And we will never be the victim of scum like you again!

Comment by Sgt. Bilko on 9/22/09 at 1:00 am

I am not “Pace”.  The above comment was posted by me,
Hypatia.  How did this get attributed to “Pace”.  Please, Webmaster and Moderator, get your attributions straight!

Comment by download games pc on 7/07/10 at 3:06 am

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