Hundreds of Italian and international cinema professionals have signed an open letter urging the Venice Film Festival, which opens Wednesday, to acknowledge the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
The signatories — including directors Matteo Garrone, Abel Ferrara and Ken Loach — organized under the banner Venice4Palestine (V4P).
In the letter, they called on the festival and its parent body, La Biennale di Venezia, “to be more courageous and clear in condemning the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing across Palestine carried out by the Israeli government and army.”
“Stop the clocks, turn off the stars,” the letter opened, urging the festival not to become “a sad and empty showcase” but instead to serve as “a place of dialogue, active participation and resistance, as it has been in the past.”
Palestinian filmmakers Arab Nasser and Tarzan Nasser — who won best director in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section earlier this year with "Once Upon a Time in Gaza" — also signed the appeal.
The Biennale responded with a statement saying it and the Venice festival “have always been, throughout their history, places of open discussion and sensitivity to all the most pressing issues facing society and the world.”
The V4P letter comes amid mounting international criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and its recent approval of a controversial settlement project in the West Bank.
Grassroots and political groups from the Veneto region and across Italy are also organizing a demonstration on Aug. 30 to call for “an end to the genocide in Palestine perpetrated by Israel and to denounce the complicity of Western governments.” The rally is set to gather at the Venice Lido before marching toward the festival site.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed nearly 62,700 Palestinians since October 2023, according to local health authorities. The enclave faces widespread destruction and famine.
Last November, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over its actions in the territory.
