Israel-Gaza Conflict
‘Bliss (Hemda)’ Director Talks Israeli Film Backlash by Major Festivals: “They Don’t Want Us Anymore”
Israeli novelist and director Shemi Zarhin is set to screen his latest movie, Bliss (Hemda) at the Toronto Film Festival with virtually all the certainties in his life and work scrambled by the current war in Gaza that followed the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on southern Israel. “I can’t explain my people. I can explain […]
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Paramount+ Sets Premiere for ‘We Will Dance Again’ Documentary About Oct. 7 Hamas Terrorist Attack
Paramount+ will premiere We Will Dance Again on Sept. 24. The film documents the Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack at the Nova Music Festival last year. The premiere date is tied near to the first anniversary of the attack that killed about 1,200 Israelis and took roughly 250 hostages. To retaliate against Hamas after the attacks, Israel […]
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Gwyneth Paltrow, Gal Gadot and More Hollywood Figures React to Six Israeli Hostages Killed in Gaza
As protests seeking a ceasefire lit up across Israel this weekend, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gal Gadot and Debra Messing joined other Hollywood stars in expressing sorrow and sympathy for the families of six Israeli hostages whose bodies were discovered in a tunnel below Gaza after 11 months in captivity. Nearly a year after their abduction by […]
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Family Confirms Death of Israeli-American Hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin
The family of Israeli-American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin announced the young man’s death early Sunday, ending a relentless campaign by his parents to rescue him that included meetings with world leaders and an address to the Democratic convention last month. Goldberg-Polin, 23, was seized by militants at a music festival in southern Israel on Oct. 7. […]
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Venice: Amos Gitai Rejects Calls for Boycott of New Film ‘Why War’
Israeli director Amos Gitai has batted back calls for a boycott of his new film Why War and said both sides of the Israel–Palestine conflict need to clean out their current leaderships for peace to prevail. Premiering this weekend of out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, Why War takes its cue from correspondence […]
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Venice Filmmakers Sign Open Letter Protesting “Complicit” Israeli Films in Festival
Around 300 filmmakers have signed an open letter opposing two Israeli films set to screen at the Venice Film Festival. The protest by filmmakers and artists amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict is aimed at Dani Rosenberg’s Hebrew-language film Al Klavim Veanashim (Of Dogs and Men), which is set against the backdrop of the Oct. 7 […]
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Elia Suleiman on Being A Palestinian Director in a Post-Oct. 7 World
Elia Suleiman has not lost hope. The Palestinian filmmaker, who will receive the honorary Heart of Sarajevo award at the 2024 Sarajevo Film Festival, has spent his career chronicling the experiences of his people, and the politics of the troubled Middle East. His features: Chronicle of a Disappearance (1996), Divine Intervention (2002), The Time That […]
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Scooter Braun to be Honored by Anti-Defamation League for Nova Festival Exhibit
Music mogul Scooter Braun will be honored by the Anti-Defamation League for his efforts in bringing the Nova Music Festival Exhibition to U.S. audiences. The exhibition makes its Los Angeles debut in a sprawling studio space in Culver City on Aug. 21, after a successful run in New York City, where 113,000 people experienced it. […]
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President Biden Condemns Pro-Palestine Protest Violence at L.A. Synagogue Event
A heavily Jewish Los Angeles neighborhood became a flashpoint of outrage over the Israel-Gaza conflict when a violent demonstration outside a synagogue over the weekend between pro-Palestine demonstrations and counterprotesters supportive of Israel ended with the deployment of dozens of police officers, one arrest and the condemnation of the city’s mayor and President Joe Biden. […]
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Ben Stiller on the Israel-Hamas War and the Need for Global Peace: “Human Suffering Must End”
Ben Stiller is speaking out about the Israel-Hamas war, more than nine months after the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7. In an opinion essay published Thursday by Time magazine, the Emmy-winning actor explained why he felt obligated to share his stance on the ongoing conflict, the rise of antisemitism and the need […]
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Jerry Seinfeld Roasts Pro-Palestine Heckler Who Disrupts Comedy Show: “Get Out of Here”
Jerry Seinfeld roasted a pro-Palestine heckler who interrupted his comedy show over the weekend in Sydney, Australia. In a video shared on X (formerly Twitter) by the Australian Jewish Association, the person could be heard shouting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” at the Seinfeld creator and star during his stand-up […]
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German Jewish Film Festival Kicks Off Under the Shadow of Oct. 7
Bernd Buder is tired of talking about politics. “Israel and Gaza, antisemitism, the far-right, that’s all anyone asks about,” says the program director for the Jewish Film Festival Berlin Brandenburg (JFBB). “I’d prefer to talk about the movies.” But for Germany’s largest Jewish film festival, which kicks off Tuesday, June 18, running through June 23, […]
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