Jerusalem Film Festival Chief: Boycotts Empower Hardliners
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Roni Mahadav-Levin, executive director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Jerusalem Film Festival, published an open letter calling on Palestinian filmmakers to submit work for next year's edition, framing the appeal around Israel's upcoming elections "in just three months."
- The 43rd Jerusalem Film Festival ran July 9–19 and concluded Sunday, hosting more than 30 international industry guests despite ongoing calls for a boycott of Israeli-linked film institutions.
- Ehab Elias Salami won the festival's best acting award for his role in Assaf Machnes's feature "Where To?," and the program screened "All That Remains," a short-film compilation by six Palestinian filmmakers curated by Fadi Far.
- Mahadav-Levin argued that "boycotts and cultural withdrawal do not punish the hardliners; they empower them," claiming boycotters and censors share a "common interest" in silencing discourse and isolating the public.
- The letter explicitly stated that the participation of international artists "was not an endorsement of the Israeli government's hardline policies," positioning the festival as a venue for resistance through cultural exchange rather than political alignment.
Why it matters: The festival's executive is making a direct public appeal to Palestinian filmmakers to override the boycott movement roughly three months before Israeli elections. By arguing that withdrawal plays into censors' hands, Mahadav-Levin is positioning the Jerusalem Film Festival as one of the few remaining cross-communal venues in a city governed by a hardline Israeli coalition — though the letter itself concedes international participation carries no endorsement of that government.
