Prominent figures from cinema and culture have urged the Venice Film Festival to fly the Palestinian flag throughout this year’s edition, citing the presence of two Palestinian films in the official selection.

In an open letter released ahead of the festival, which opens next week, the Venice4Palestine initiative said the inclusion of "Al Mowaten Osama" ("Citizen Osama") by Ahmed Hassouna and "Hiwar ma’ albahr" ("Conversation with the Sea") by Muayad Alayan should be marked in the same way the festival normally recognizes other countries’ films.

The group urged organizers to fly the Palestinian flag "alongside those representing all the other films in the official selection for the duration of the event.”

The letter also called on film, media and cultural workers to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and join a boycott of entities and institutions linked to the Israeli government, due to the ongoing genocide in Gaza and Israel’s attacks in the region.

"The exceptional nature of the historical moment we are living through compels us to isolate Israel diplomatically, culturally, and economically,” it stated, adding that such measures should continue until the Israeli government complies with international law and ends the occupation and colonization of Palestine.

Signatories included Italian directors Matteo Garrone and Marco Simon Puccioni, actors Guy Pearce, Indya Moore and Adele Haenel, musician Roger Waters and Nobel Prize-winning writer Annie Ernaux, among more than 200 film and cultural workers and other prominent figures.